I was reading I.M mag and come across this person, Severn Cullies-Suzuki... if you are a person who care about earth and environment, [and don't mind reading a long article... ]read on to find out more...
Severn Cullis-Suzuki.... Also known as "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes"...
Below is what I found in Wikipedia (I love Wiki, don't you?)
Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born November 30, 1979 in Vancouver, Canada) is an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author. Born to writer Tara Elizabeth Cullis and geneticist and environmental activist David Suzuki, she has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future, in mind, and take individual responsibility.
Cullis-Suzuki was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. While attending Lord Tennyson Elementary School in French Immersion, at the age of nine, she founded the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO), a group of children dedicated to learning and teaching other youngsters about environmental issues. In 1992, at the age of 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Along with group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Cullis-Suzuki presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the summit, where she was applauded for a speech to the delegates. The video has since become a sort of viral hit, popularly known as "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes". In 1993, she was honored in the United Nations Environment Program's Global 500 Roll of Honor. In 1993, Doubleday published her book Tell the World (ISBN 0-385-25422-9), a 32-page book of environmental steps for families.
Cullis-Suzuki graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a B.Sc. in ecology and evolutionary biology After Yale, Cullis-Suzuki spent two years traveling. Cullis-Suzuki co-hosted Suzuki's Nature Quest, a children's television series that aired on the Discovery Channel in 2002.
In early 2002, she helped launch an Internet-based think tank called The Skyfish Project. As a member of Kofi Annan's Special Advisory Panel, she and members of the Skyfish Project brought their first project, a pledge called the "Recognition of Responsibility", to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002. The Skyfish Project disbanded in 2004 as Cullis-Suzuki turned her focus back to school and enrolled in a graduate course in the University of Victoria to study ethnobotany under Nancy Turner.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki. (2009, April 20). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:10, May 16, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Severn_Cullis-Suzuki&oldid=285027844
And more, inspiring piece from her:
The Young Can't Wait...
By SEVERN CULLIS-SUZUKI
(taken from: http://www.time.com/time/2002/greencentury/engeneration.html)
Posted Sunday, August 18, 2002; 7:31 a.m. EST
When you are little, it's not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed the delegates at the Rio Earth Summit. "I am only a child," I 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."
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my 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.
Sure, I've seen some improvements since Rio. In my home city of Vancouver, most people put out their recycling boxes. The organic grocery and café on Fourth Avenue is flourishing. Bikes are popular, and there are a few gas-electric hybrid cars gliding around. But as this new century begins, my twentysomething generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. We buy our drinking water in bottles. We eat genetically modified organisms. We drive the biggest cars ever. At the same time, we are a generation aware of the world—of poverty and social imbalance, the loss of biodiversity, climate change and the consequences of globalization—but many of us feel we have inherited problems too great to do anything about.
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choices—education, career, lifestyle—life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are learning a shortsighted way of looking at the future, focusing on four-year government terms and quarterly business reports. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for our future when we were 12 was idealistic and naive.
We are not cleaning up our own mess or facing up to the price of our lifestyles
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 responsibility. 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, consuming less, not relying on cars so much, eating locally grown food, carrying a reusable cup and, most important, getting out into nature. (For the full text, go to www.skyfishproject.org.) 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 deciding 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 change.
My View:
Most of the time, when we read, any article about environment and global warming, we just nod our head and say... "Yalor... so hot", "True, True...". There you go... full stop. [...]
People just dont take a bit of action. Nodding in agreement but no action in taking effort to make this place, where we live a better place, needless to say, battered with other issues, crime and "wars".
Making excuses and irrelevant remarks, "Other people can do it lah..." and "I dont have time lah...", show how much irresponsible we are...
To me, not everyone can or given such opportunity to make an impact like Severn, but, as the saying goes "charity begins at home" (I remember trying to do something for the community at my hometown, I was the Interact Club President then, but, my guru besar have a different opinion, before we can do anything for the community, do and care for the school first... I was puzzled but I agree with him after all, why push and help others when my school then is like a "tong sampah" and I didnt even do anything to educate my fellows schoolmates...), meaning; we can do those little things starting at home, office and even, "your own car".... some people just have problem keeping their car clean... garbage and "kotak minuman" everywhere.... Tissue papers at every corner of the car.... yikes!
So, try something easy and start with something you are comfortable with... we just need some effort and, a little time management, and a pinch of "energy" to do it... [Leo: I am starting to clean my room and putting all those recyclable stuff in a box.... OMG... it's a lot... damn it...]
Media should continuous to highlight and push for this kind of story, dont just stop and highlight it for "5 mins...": 60 Hours can do better, and I hope it is bigger and better next year.... ya know, human just need lots of reminder... (don't we?)
Like Nike tagline: Just Do It... start something rather than wait.... Do It Babe! :-)
Note: You can search for video on youtube... her speech is.... "Inspiring...." (I can't post her pic here.... don't know why... will try to post it later though...)
Leo+
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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