SEVERN - CULLIS SUZUKI

El 3 de junio de 1992 una niña de 12 años llamada Severn Suzuki, quien a sus 10 años de edad fundó ECO ( Environmental Childrens Organization ) con SUS amigos en la ciudad de Vancouver Canada, Se desplazó, junto a un grupo de niños (Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg) pertenecientes a ECO (Environment Children Organization), desde Canada hasta la Conferencia de Medioambiente y Desarrollo "The Earth Summit" celebrada por la ONU en Río de Janeiro.
Una vez allí hizo este discurso de 6:32 minutos.
Hoy a sus 32 años, graduada en la Universidad de YALE.... sigue su lucha.


It was the year 1992 and Sever Suzuki was a 12 year old kid. She raised money with the members of the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO) and attended the United Nation's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. She gave a 6 minute speech which received a standing ovation from the delegates of various countries.  According to her, a few of them cried too. Her speech was nothing less than a one tight slap-on-the-face of all the "Adults" who think that spending money on War related activities and developing new weapons is more important than spendins it to Remove poverty and illiteracy on Environmental Issues.    
Her speech was hard hitting but whether it lead to some action or not, was something that Severn herself wrote 10 years later in a Special Report in the TIME called "The young can't wait". An excerpt -

"Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. In Johannesburg the delegates will discuss the adoption and implementation of documents by governments. Yes, important stuff. But they did that at Rio. What this meeting must really be about is responsibility--not only government responsibility but personal responsibility. We are not cleaning up our own mess. We are not facing up to the price of our lifestyles. In Canada we know we are wiping out the salmon of the West Coast, just as we wiped out cod from the East Coast, but we continue overfishing. We keep driving our suvs in the city, even though we are starting to feel the effects of climate change--a direct result of burning too much fossil fuel. 

Real environmental change depends on us. We can't wait for our leaders. We have to focus on what our own responsibilities are and how we can make the change happen.

(...)  in the 10 years since Rio, I've learned that addressing our leaders is NOT ENOUGH. As Gandhi said many years ago: "We must become the change we want to see". I know change is possible, because I am changing, still figuring out what I think. I am still deciding how to live my life. The challenges are great, but if we accept individual responsibility and make sustainable choices, we will rise to the challenges, and we will become part of the positive tide of change."