Thursday, December 31, 2009

How Severn Suzuki Saved the World

(Severn Suzuki) In 1992, at the age of 12, Severn Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Along with fellow ECO (Environmental Children's Organization) group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Suzuki presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the summit, where she delivered an impassioned and articulate speech to delegates.

(Teens' Speech) Severn's video has nearly two million views on YouTube and is popularly known as "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes." I'd never seen the video before -- clearly coming to it rather late. It's not like the Teens' Speech film, which is a visual poem, documentary in style, but artistic at heart. It's also serious, because it's time we took young people seriously.

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