Who is Severn Suzuki - a famous environmental video: where is she now?

This video is what made Severn famous at the age of 12. She was outspoken, she made her point clearly and spoke so well that many of the delegates cried.

The video is so popular at youtube that there are several versions online - in different languages. All of them have been voted on by hundreds of people. This one speech is a phenomenon in itself.

Check this video out

Great video in which Severn describes her youth in which she visited a village in the Amazon forest.

She shares slides from that adventure and makes clear how that impacted her to become an environmental and social activist.

She also gives the history of Eco: her self-education club on the environment, which eventually led to her speaking on the UN conference. She shares the help she received to raise the money that got her there.

Her conclusion after all that: Real Change does not happen at international conferences.

Severn Suzuki was impressive as a youngster speaking to the UN. She has been asked to speak at conferences ever since. By the time she was 23 however she realized that those conferences weren't the place where real change would come from.

Governments only implement change when they are forced to by the people.

She had met many smart people in college with whom she talked about the environment. She didn't want that energy to go to waste, so she started The Skyfish Project. It's no longer online - apparently the conversation stopped anyhow... Growing up is tough.

Severn Suzuki at 23 about her projects at that age.

From the Skyfish project. They had the following pledge that people could sign.

RECOGNITION OF RESPONSIBILITY

This is a statement of intent for our generation. Our nation represents a small fraction of the world's population, but uses far more than our share of the world's energy, and emits a large percentage of the world's carbon dioxide pollution. We are a country with a huge ecological footprint. Our current lifestyle comes at the expense of the health of the planet and its people. As a citizen in one of the most industrialized, wealthy, and powerful countries in the world, I recognize that with these privileges comes responsibility. I recognize that the Earth is finite and in a finite world, steady growth forever is impossible. I see that measures of economic growth are not directly correlated with human well-being or happiness. I recognize that my everyday actions continue to affect communities on a local and global scale, today and in the future, for better or for worse.

Today, I commit to a more sustainable lifestyle. I will take environmental responsibility and promote sustainable development in my daily life by:

1. Respecting and protecting ecological integrity by:

1. Exploring my local natural environment.
2. Supporting efforts to conserve natural resources and ecosystems.
3. Avoiding products damaging to humans and the natural world.
4. Supporting and promoting the humane treatment of all life.

2. Promoting a culture of democracy, social justice, and peace by:

1. Learning about international social, political, and environmental issues and recognizing how they are interconnected.
2. Advocating the basic human right to clean air and water.
3. Making my voice heard through voting and social activism.
4. Respecting everyone's right to free speech and opinion.
5. Supporting efforts to use non-violence in conflict resolution.
6. Investing my money in a socially, ethically, and environmentally responsible manner.

3. Reducing my consumption of resources by:

1. Resisting the urge to buy things I don't need.
2. Understanding the environmental and social impact of the things I do buy.
3. Reducing the amount of garbage I create.
4. Reducing my waste of fresh water.
5. Recycling and buying items made from recycled or reused material where possible.
6. Travelling by foot, bike, public transit, train, and carpool when possible.
7. Being aware of where my food comes from and making best efforts to buy food produced locally and sustainably.

I also call on our elder generations and those in power to support and mentor this vision -- to help shape the present so that the future citizens will not remember this time as one of wasteful consumerism and social blindness. Today, I take responsibility, so that the generations of tomorrow will think of this era as one of responsible living and positive change.

podcast from 1993

podcast
from 2007

For those of you that don't know Haida Gwaii is also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands. These are a set of islands in the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada.

In a recent interview Severn shared that she's moving to this national park to be with her fiancé. She's learning not only the language, but also the traditional food gathering practices.

Quite the change for this college graduate.

Thanks mimi at growwear.com :)