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An appeal for future generations Cullis-Suzuki, Severn . Earth Island Journal ; San Francisco 9.3 (Summer 1994): 14.

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ABSTRACT (ABSTRACT)  

Present environmental efforts must protect future generations from the consequences of environmental

destruction. Adults must be more responsible for the sake of their children and their children's children. FULL TEXT  

Severn Cullis-Suzuki, then 12 years old, delivered this speech in 1992 at the Plenary Session of the United Nations

Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She received a standing ovation.

Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki, speaking for ECHO -- the Environmental Children's Organization.

We are a group of four 12- and 13-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference: Venessa Suttie, Morgan

Geieler, Michelle Quigg and me.

We raised all the money ourselves to come 6000 miles to tell you adults you must change your ways.

Coming up here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future. Losing my future is not like losing an

election or a few points on the stock market.

I am here to speak for all generations yet to come. I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the

world whose cries go unheard. I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet -- because

they have nowhere left to go. We can't afford not to be heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the hole in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't

know what chemicals are in it, I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad, until just a few years ago we found

the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day -- vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamed of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and

butterflies, but now I wonder they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about the little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions.

I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize neither do you! You don't know how to fix

the holes in our ozone layer. You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream. You don't know how to

bring back an animal now extinct. And you can't bring back the forests that once grew where there is now desert. If

you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians -- but really

you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles -- and all of you are somebody's child.

I'm only a child, yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong, and we all

share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.

I'm only a child, yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal. In

my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste; we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet Northern countries

will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth,

afraid to share. In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches,

bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets.

And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich, and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes,

medicine, shelter, and love and affection."

If a child on the street who has nothing is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can't stop thinking that these children are my age; that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born; that

I could be one of those children living in the faelas [slums] of Rio. I could be a child starving in Somalia, a victim of

war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I'm only a child, yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental

answers, what a wonderful place the Earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us not to fight with others, to work

things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share -- not be greedy.

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You

are deciding what kind of a world we will grow up in.

Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying, "everything's going to be all right, we're doing the best

we can" and "it's not the end of the world." But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your

list of priorities?

My dad always says, "You are what you do, not what you say." Well, what you do makes me cry at night.

You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you: please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for

listening.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki created ECHO in fifth grade in British Columbia, ECHO raises money, attends conferences and

brings a youthful perspective to environmental issues. For more information, contact: ECHO, 2477 Pt. Grey Rd.,

Vancouver, BC V6K 1A1, Canada. DETAILS

Subject: Public health; Future; Environmental protection; Conservation

Publication title: Earth Island Journal; San Francisco

Volume: 9

Issue: 3

Pages: 14

Number of pages: 0

Publication year: 1994

Publication date: Summer 1994

Publisher: Earth Island Institute

Place of publication: San Francisco

Country of publication: United States

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Publication subject: Conservation, Environmental Studies

ISSN: 10410406

Source type: Magazines

Language of publication: English

Document type: Speech

Accession number: 02046930

ProQuest document ID: 213829553

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Copyright: Copyright Earth Island Institute Summer 1994

Last updated: 2014-05-19

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