Inspiring the Environment: Severn Cullis-Suzuki
Unsung Hero: Severn Cullis Suzuki
By: Farzana Nayani
With major environmental disasters dominating news headlines, it is important to look toward individuals who take the lead in creating positive change for a “greener” globe. Not all of those individuals start as a child and continue throughout their lives. But one did: Severn Cullis-Suzuki.
At age 9, she began the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO), a youth organization committed to teaching young people about the environment.
Then, 12 year-old Severn Cullis-Suzuki made her mark in 1992 when she spoke at the UN Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro with a captivating speech that moved her audience to tears. In her talk she challenges adults to reconsider how they treat the earth, including the poignant statement: "I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realize neither do you...if you don't now how to fix it then please stop breaking it”.
Since then, a video clip of the speech dubbed “The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes” , (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0&feature=related ) has been translated in to Spanish and to date has over 10 million views on YouTube in multiple videos in both languages. It has even been sampled recently by the French DJ Laurent Wolf in the song “2012: Not The End Of The World"(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMp3jNKU-ug ).
Over the years, Cullis-Suzuki has taken on key positions such as an appointment on the UN Secretary 
General Kofi Annan's Special Advisory Panel at the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development, and Commissioner for the UN's Earth Charter. She has served as a spokesperson for various causes on climate change, fish conservation, and the preservation of natural spaces.
Daughter of geneticist and activist David Suzuki and former Harvard literature professor Tara Cullis, Severn completed a BSc at Yale Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and an MSc in the University of Victoria in Ethnobotany.
From her home on the Queen Charlotte Islands in Canada, Severn is still active in community politics, just this month speaking out against provincial leaders moving forward on a dam project that would involve the flooding of Peace River Valley in British Columbia.
Cullis-Suzuki's comments on the value of citizenship and rights of peoples can be applied to all human ideals: “we must still guard our rights, must somehow remain aware enough to protect our fragile, beautiful ideals.”
Through her actions, Severn Cullis-Suzuki reminds us that global change, critical thought, and community activism can start locally -- at any age -- and throughout a person's entire life.
References:
Burrows, M. (2010) Severn Cullis-Suzuki slams Premier Gordon Campbell on environment. Accessed Sept. 2010.
Cullis-Suzuki, S. (2002) Time “The Young Can't Wait” Accessed Sept. 2010.
http://www.time.com/time/2002/greencentury/engeneration.html
Cullis-Suzuki, S. June, 2006. “Freedom and Rights” on Building a Just Society Accessed Sept. 2010. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rights-and-freedoms/023021-1300-e.html
Interview with Severn Cullis-Suzuki. Accessed Sept. 2010.
http://www.thegreatwarming.com/localhero-interviewsevernsuzuki.html
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