Tuesday, April 21, 2009

If you don't know how to fix it stop breaking it.

Wow... Its not every day a 12 year old makes you cry.... The video above, and the speech it broadcasts was made almost 20 years ago at the UN Earth Summit in Rio by a 12 year old girl who's name is Severn Suzuki. Severn Suzuki! Sounds like some kind of made up super hero doesn't she. Well she's not made up but she is indeed a super hero.

At the tender age of 9 this young soul founded the Environmental Children's Organisation (ECO), by 12 had raised enough cash to travel 5000 miles from her home town in Vancouver, Canada to Rio to give a bunch of United Nations Delegates a "passionate and heartfelt tongue lashing"

I know your thinking what the hell does this have to do with photography but I've written before about our precious environment in Costa Rica on my mind and painfully pointed out that while this "Environmental problem" the world seems to be having might appear to have precious little to do with photography Id just like to remind you if the world plummets into another ice age or the sun gets so gosh darn hot your trapped in doors for all eternity we wont have much to take photos of now will we!

What got me was when she said "My father always says 'You are what you do, not what you say' - Well what you do makes me cry at night" Fighting words from such a youngen agreed? That UN summit in 1992 was supposed to be the turning point for the world... So it makes me sad that almost 20 years have passed and we are still facing the same problems, in fact things have gotten worse, however its because of people like this, this and this trying to do there bit for the world I don't cry at night.

To read more on what Severn Suzuki has been up to click here to get to Guernica Magazine for a fantastic read on not only Severn but all things art and politics.


1 comment:

  1. Hey Sophie! I put this video on my enviro blog awhile back. Isn't it amazing?! Thanks for spreading its reach even further... T

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