Page 26 - English Expedition Class 6

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I Am Here to Speak

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Do you feel helpless when you try to persuade grown-ups to stop doing something wrong and they
don’t listen to you? How can you have a fruitful discussion with adults regarding the problems that
you are facing? Share with the class your experiences with such discussions.

In the last chapter, you read how young Rigzin stops the adults in his village from killing an endangered
animal. The powerful speech given below is a similar eff ort by a child, Severn Suzuki. In 1992, Severn,
then twelve years old, spoke at the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She gained
universal admiration for her passionate appeal to the adults in our world who have stopped thinking
about the aftermath of their actions. Let us read what this environmental activist said at the summit.

Hello.
’m Severn Suzuki, speaking for ECO, the Environmental
Children’s Organization. We are a group of twelve and thirteen-
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Iyear-olds trying to make a diff erence. We’ve raised all the money
to come here ourselves, to come 5,000 miles to tell you adults you
must change your ways.
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Coming up here today, I have no hidden agenda . I am fi ghting
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
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our ozone . I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it. I used to
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go fi shing in Vancouver – my home – with my dad, until just a few years ago we found the fi sh
full of cancers. And now we hear of 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 butterfl ies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see. Did you

1 The other ECO members who accompanied Severn were 3 ozone: (here) the layer of ozone gas in our atmosphere,
Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie and Morgan Geisler. which absorbs harmful ultraviolet radiation from the
2 agenda: motive; intention sun
4 One of the major cities in Canada, Vancouver is known for
its seaport and scenic beauty.
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