Severn Cullis-Suzuki was only 12 years old when the Rio Earth Summit took place. Nevertheless, she and 3 schoolfriends from Vancouver raised the money to go. There she gave a speech that made a huge impression on delegates. Since then she has attended many UN conferences and, now 22, she was invited to join Kofi Annan’s World Summit advisory panel in Johannesburg.

At the Rio Earth Summit, 10 years ago, she addressed the delegates: "I am only a child," she told them. "Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be. In school 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? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words."

She spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. She thought that she had actually reached some of them, that her speech might actually spur action. "Now, a decade from Rio, after I’ve sat through many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual’s voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.

"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 respons-ibility. 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.

"Before graduating from college last spring I worked with the Yale Student Environmental Coalition to draft a pledge for young people to sign. Called the Recognition of Responsibility, the pledge is a commitment from our generation to be accountable and a challenge to our elders to help us achieve this goal and to lead by example. It includes a list of ways to live more sustainably —simple but fundamental things like reducing household garbage, con-suming less, not relying on cars so much, eating locally grown food, carrying a reusable cup and, most important, getting out into nature. Three friends and I will take the Recognition of Responsibility to Johannesburg, where we will meet with South African students and then present the pledge to the World Summit as a demonstration of personal commitment.

"But in the 10 years since Rio, I have 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 desiding 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 changes."

SOURCE: GlobalNet: http://positivenews.org.uk/public_html/globalframeset.html

What Severn has been up to since...

Now 23, Cullis-Suzuki continues to speak to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. Often speaking on the necessity of defining our values, acting with the future in mind, and on individual responsibility; she is especially passionate about encouraging young people to speak out for their future.

In 1993, Cullis-Suzuki received the UN Environment Program's Global 500 Award at a ceremony in Beijing, China.

An accomplished television host and presenter, she has appeared and participated in many programs in Canada, the U.S., and Britain - most recently as the host of Suzuki’s NatureQuest, a children’s television series that aired around the world on Discovery Channel. She has also written numerous articles on environmental issues for magazines and newspapers, and has also published a book.

The First Nations people of the West coast have been a major influence on Severn since she was small. She has worked with and learned from the First Nations peoples of British Columbia, Southeast Asia and the Amazon.

She has been honoured by three British Columbian First Nations - she was adopted into the Haida Nation and given the name Killthgula Gaayaa. She has been named Mah Nulth Athluk by the Nuchaanulth people, and is also an adopted member of the Heiltsuk Nation.

Sev loves kayaking, rafting, hiking, fishing and snowboarding. In 2000, she and five girlfriends celebrated the millennium by cycling across Canada in a campaign for clean air called Powershift 2000. In the summer of 2001 she worked at the remote Pinkaiti Research Station in the Xingu valley of the Brazilian Amazon, contributing to her recent B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University.

In the spring of 2002, Severn and some friends spearheaded an internet-based think-tank called The Skyfish Project. And as member of Kofi Anan’s Special Advisory Panel, she and members of the group brought their first project, a pledge called the Recognition of Responsibility to the recent UN World Summit in Johannesburg in August 2002. Their trip also was the subject of a documentary film that aired on CBC’s long running documentary series, The Nature of Things in January 2003. The African adventure was quickly followed up by a speaking tour of Japan in November, 2002.

Severn has just returned from hiking Nepal’s Annapurna Circuit with her mom, and she plans to spend the upcoming summer exploring her home province of British Columbia...

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