Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. -
The Environmental Children's Organisation. We are a group of twelve and
thirteen-year-olds trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler,
Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come five thousand
miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming 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 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.
I am afraid
to go out in the sun now because of the holes 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, my home, 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 dreamt of seeing the
great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and
butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these 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 realise, 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 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, organisers, reporters or
politicians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister,
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 of telling the world how
I feel.
In my
country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, 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 share, we are afraid to let go
of some of our wealth. In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of
food, water and shelter - we have watches, bicycles, computers and television
sets. The list could go on for two days.
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 Favelas
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 this earth would be!
At school,
even in kindergarten, you teach us how 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 world we are growing up in. Parents should be able to
comfort their children by saying "everything's going to be alright',
"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 father 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 !