The girl who silenced the world

If you don’t know how to fix it, stop breaking it

You've got to be inspired by any child who dares do this, when so many adults keep quiet.

This video is from the UN Earth Summit in Brazil 1992. The speaker in this video is the then 12-year-old Canadian girl Severn Cullis-Suzuki.

I am only a child. 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.

1992. 16 years ago and every single word is just as valid today. Really, nothing has changed. Growing awareness over environmental issues, a much bigger climate change with far worse effects, and yet... nothing has changed. For all the nice words, politicians have done precious little apart from talking.

10 years after the Rio Earth Summit, Severn Cullis-Suzuki wrote a piece in Time Magazine, no longer a child but a young adult, who had learned that the world is a lot more complicated than it looks as a child. But complicated does not mean impossible.

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.

...

[I]n 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.

In three weeks, the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 (COP15) starts in Copenhagen. It is already a disappointment. It is already clear that the summit cannot lead to a binding treaty. Instead, it can be at the most the first step to such a treaty. World leaders are still stalling.

It is still unclear whether President Obama will attend the summit, even though he will most likely be in Northern Europe for the Nobel Peace Price ceremony on the 10th of December. I cannot think of any reason for him not to attend the COP15.

Last week, November 10, he said to Reuters (from Telegraph.co.uk) : "If I am confident that all of the countries involved are bargaining in good faith and we are on the brink of a meaningful agreement and my presence in Copenhagen will make a difference in tipping us over edge then certainly that's something that I will do" Well, after the weekend's clear message that there can be no binding treaty from the COP15, this still remains to be seen.

I refuse to give up hope in our ability to change our ways and work for the environment instead of as against it, but I know this: We cannot wait for leaders and legislation. We cannot wait for politicians to tell us to change. We have to be the change. "We must become the change we want to see."