A Plea for Our Planet --David and Severn Suzuki*

My 12-year-old daughter, Severn, attended the Rio ECO (Environmental Children's Organization) to "act as the conscience for grown-ups." The girls set up a booth at the Global Forum and gave talks that created much interest. Eventually Severn was invited to address a plenary session at the Earth Summit. Here is part of her speech.

"... We have come here to tell you adults you MUST change your ways of life. 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 to go. We can't afford not to be heard.

"I am afraid to go out in the sun because of the hole in the ozone layer. 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 cancer. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day, vanishing forever. I have dreamed of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rain forests 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 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 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 a 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 the 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 country, we make so much waste; we buy and throw away, buy and throw away... 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 time with some children living in the streets. 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 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 these children living in the favellas 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 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 and not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? "My dad always says 'you are what you do, not what you say.' You grown-ups say you love us, but what you do makes me cry at night. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying 'everything's going to be all right,' 'It's not the end of the world'and 'We are doing the best we can. ' But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. I question you: Are we even on your list of priorities?"

It sometimes takes a child to point out the obvious. U. S. Senator Al Gore said Severn's speech was the best one given at the Earth Summit and as a proud father, I have to agree. I hope some people heard.

Notes: David Suzuki is a writer, TV and radio host and a world-renowned geneticist. He is also a leading spokesperson on social and environmental issues.