The girl who silenced the world for 5 minutes
Summary
TLDRIn this powerful speech, 12-year-old Severn Suzuki addresses world leaders, calling out adults for their environmental irresponsibility. Speaking on behalf of future generations, she expresses fear for the planet's future, highlighting issues like ozone depletion, animal extinction, and poverty. Suzuki urges global unity and challenges the hypocrisy of adults who teach children values like sharing and respect, yet fail to practice them. She emphasizes the need for urgent action to protect the environment and create a better world for children, reminding adults that their actions define the future.
Takeaways
- 🌍 A group of 12 and 13-year-olds, including Severn Suzuki, raised money to attend this conference to urge adults to change their ways and protect the environment.
- 📢 Severn speaks on behalf of future generations, highlighting that losing the future is more serious than losing elections or stock market points.
- 🍃 She expresses fear for her future, such as being afraid of the sun due to ozone depletion and of breathing air filled with unknown chemicals.
- 🐟 Severn laments that activities she once enjoyed, like fishing in Vancouver, are now marred by environmental damage, such as fish with cancer.
- 🦋 She questions whether her children will ever see wild animals and rainforests, expressing doubt about the survival of species due to human impact.
- 🛑 Severn emphasizes that adults don’t know how to fix the environmental problems they've created, like ozone holes, extinct species, or destroyed forests.
- 👨👩👦 She reminds the audience that they are not just officials but also family members, united by the responsibility to care for the planet.
- 🌱 Despite her anger and fear, Severn sees hope, calling for a unified effort to work toward a single goal for the environment.
- 💔 She contrasts the greed of wealthy nations with the generosity of a street child in Brazil who was willing to share what little he had.
- 🌏 Severn challenges adults to act in accordance with the values they teach children, urging them to prioritize the environment and future generations.
Q & A
What is the main purpose of Severn Suzuki's speech?
-Severn Suzuki's main purpose is to urge adults and leaders to take immediate action to protect the environment and ensure a better future for the next generations.
Who does Severn Suzuki represent in her speech?
-Severn Suzuki speaks on behalf of E.C.O., the Environmental Children's Organization, a group of 12 and 13-year-olds advocating for environmental change.
What examples does Suzuki give to illustrate environmental damage?
-Suzuki mentions the depletion of the ozone layer, polluted air, cancerous fish in Vancouver, and the extinction of animals and plants as examples of environmental degradation.
What does Suzuki express fear about in her speech?
-Suzuki expresses fear of going out in the sun due to ozone layer depletion and fear of breathing in polluted air with unknown chemicals.
How does Suzuki contrast the lives of privileged children with those living in poverty?
-Suzuki contrasts the privileged lives of children in wealthier countries like Canada, who have access to food, water, and technology, with children living in poverty, such as those on the streets of Brazil, Somalia, and India.
What criticism does Suzuki offer regarding wealthier nations?
-Suzuki criticizes wealthier nations for being wasteful and greedy, noting that despite having more than enough, they are afraid to share with those in need.
What moral lesson from school does Suzuki remind the adults of?
-Suzuki reminds adults of the moral lessons taught in school, such as not fighting, respecting others, cleaning up one's mess, not hurting other creatures, sharing, and not being greedy.
What does Suzuki suggest could be achieved if money spent on wars were redirected?
-Suzuki suggests that if money spent on wars were redirected towards solving environmental issues, ending poverty, and creating peace treaties, the world would be a much better place.
What emotional appeal does Suzuki make towards the end of her speech?
-Suzuki emotionally appeals to parents, asking them to make the world a place where they can honestly tell their children that everything will be alright, reflecting true love through their actions.
What challenge does Suzuki pose to adults at the end of her speech?
-Suzuki challenges adults to make their actions reflect their words of love and concern for the younger generations, emphasizing the importance of aligning actions with promises.
Outlines
🌍 A Call for Change by Youth
Severn Suzuki, representing the Environmental Children’s Organization, opens with a powerful message about the need for adults to change their ways to save the future. She highlights the efforts of her group of 12- and 13-year-olds, who traveled thousands of miles to advocate for action on environmental issues. She speaks passionately about the consequences of inaction, including pollution, animal extinction, and environmental degradation. Suzuki stresses that she is fighting for the future, not just for herself but for generations to come, and emphasizes the fear she feels about the environment's current state.
🛑 A Plea to Stop Destroying What We Can't Fix
Severn criticizes the notion that humanity has all the time and solutions to address environmental issues. She points out that adults don’t know how to fix critical problems such as ozone depletion, species extinction, and deforestation. Despite their lack of solutions, she urges them to stop worsening the situation. Severn reminds the audience that they are not just professionals but also parents, siblings, and part of a global family. She calls for unity in solving these problems, expressing her disappointment in the wastefulness and greed of the privileged world.
🌎 Children Show More Compassion Than Adults
Severn reflects on her experience with street children in Brazil, emphasizing how even those who have nothing are willing to share what little they possess. She contrasts this with the greed of wealthier nations and shares her realization that the world’s disparity in wealth and opportunities could mean she, too, could have been born into a life of hardship. Her message underscores the injustice that children in less fortunate circumstances face, and the lack of willingness from wealthier countries to help.
💡 Imagine a Better Future Through Environmental Solutions
In this section, Severn imagines how the world could be improved if resources were redirected from war and conflict toward solving environmental problems, ending poverty, and creating lasting peace. She criticizes the hypocrisy of adults who teach children to act responsibly and yet fail to uphold those principles themselves. Severn challenges the audience to remember that their decisions affect future generations, questioning whether children are even a priority in their policymaking.
❤️ Let Your Actions Reflect Your Love for Us
Severn closes with an emotional appeal, questioning whether adults can genuinely assure children that everything will be okay. She conveys the deep sense of betrayal children feel when adults say one thing but do another, leaving children feeling hopeless about the future. Her final challenge is for adults to make their actions align with their words and love for their children, making the world a better place through responsible, compassionate decisions.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Future
💡Environmental destruction
💡Starving children
💡Ozone layer
💡Extinction
💡Greed
💡War
💡Shared responsibility
💡Children's rights
💡Action vs. words
Highlights
Severn Suzuki, a 12-year-old, speaks on behalf of the Environmental Children's Organization, highlighting the concerns of young people about the environment.
Severn emphasizes that her generation is fighting for their future, unlike elections or stock market losses which can be reversed.
She draws attention to the starving children around the world, whose cries go unheard.
Severn raises concerns about animals dying and species going extinct, leaving them with no place to go.
She shares her personal fear of going out in the sun due to the holes in the ozone layer and not knowing what chemicals are in the air.
Severn reflects on how she used to go fishing in Vancouver, but the fish were found to have cancer, and many species are now vanishing.
She questions whether future generations will ever see the great herds of animals or jungles filled with birds and butterflies.
Severn boldly states that adults do not know how to fix the holes in the ozone layer, revive extinct species, or restore destroyed forests.
She pleads with adults to stop breaking the planet since they don't know how to fix it.
Severn reminds the audience that while they may hold important roles in government or business, they are also parents, siblings, and children themselves.
Despite her anger and fear, Severn is not afraid to express her feelings about the state of the world.
She points out the wasteful consumption habits in northern countries, such as buying and throwing away goods, while other parts of the world suffer.
Severn shares a story of a street child in Brazil who wished to help others, showing how those with nothing are willing to share.
She reflects on the unfairness of circumstances, recognizing that where one is born drastically affects their quality of life.
Severn ends with a call for adults to live up to the values they teach children—sharing, respect, and cleaning up their messes—to create a better world for future generations.
Transcripts
hello I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for
Ecco the environmental children's
organization where a group of 12 and 13
year olds trying to make a difference
Vanessa Suttie Morgan Geisler Michelle
Quigg and me we've raised all the money
to come here ourselves to come five
thousand miles to tell you adults you
must change your ways coming up 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 speak on behalf of the
starving children around the world whose
cries go unheard I'm 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 our ozone I'm
afraid to breathe the air because I
don't know what chemicals are in it I
used to go in 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 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 butterflies but now I
wonder if they will even exist for my
children to see did you have to worry of
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 know I want you to realize neither
do you
you don't know how to fix the holes in
our ozone layer you don't know how to
bring the salmon back up and a dead
stream you don't know how to bring back
an animal now extinct and you can't
bring back the forest 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 organisers
reporters or politicians but really your
mothers and fathers sisters and brothers
aunts and uncles and all of you are
someone'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 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
in my anger I am NOT blind and in my
fear I'm not afraid of telling the world
how I feel in my country you 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 some of our wealth in
Canada 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 you
were shocked when we spent time with
some children living on the streets this
is what one child told us I wish I was
rich and if I were I would give all the
street children food cold medicines
shelter and love
affection if a child on the streets who
has nothing is willing to share why are
we who have everything still so greedy I
can't stop thinking that these are
children my own age that it makes a
tremendous difference where you are born
that I could be one of those children
living in the favelas of real I could be
a child starving in Somalia or a victim
of war in the Middle East or a beggar in
India I am only a child yet I know if
all the money spent on war was spent on
finding environmental answers ending
poverty and finding treaties 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
to 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 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
it's not the end of the world and we're
and we're doing the best we can but I
don't think you can say that to us
anymore are we even on your list of
priorities my dad 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 but I challenge you
please make your actions reflect your
words thank you
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