1992年里約熱內盧地球高峰會議,12歲加拿大女孩鈴木(Severn Suzuki)的演講。台下是世界各國的環境部長。
底下是演講全文。(出處:http://www.sustainablestyle.org/sass/heirbrains/03suzuki.html)
Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.
We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.
Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.
I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.
I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.
I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.
I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?
All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!
* You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
* You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
* You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
* And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!
Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are somebody's child.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.
I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.
In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.
In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.
In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.
Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."
If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?
I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.
I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!
At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. 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?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.
大家好,我是鈴木,今天在這裡代表兒童環境組織(Environmental Children's Organization,ECO)發聲,我們是一群12和13歲的小孩,包括蘇提(Vanessa Suttie)、蓋斯勒(Morgan Geisler)和奎格(Michelle Quigg),我們正努力造成一些改變。我們募得所有費用來到這個離家5000應裡的地方,為的是想告訴你們這些大人,必須改變自己的做法。
今天站在這裡,我沒有隱藏的議題,我要為我的未來奮戰,失去未來可不是像選舉失敗或股市失利。我在這裡要替未來的世代說話;我在這裡要代表在世界各地挨餓、沒有人聽到他們哀號的兒童說話;我在這裡要替地球上因為無處可去而面臨死亡的無數動物說話。
現在我不敢出去曬太陽,因為臭氧層有破洞;我甚至不敢呼吸,因為不知道空氣中有什麼化學物質。過去我和爸爸會在我的家鄉溫哥華釣魚,可是幾年前我們發現魚全身長滿了癌;現在我們每天都會聽到某些動植物絕種,永遠消失不見。我曾夢想這輩子要去看一大群野生動物,以及充滿鳥類和蝴蝶的叢林、雨林,但現在我懷疑他們能否活得夠久,讓我的孩子也能看到。當你們像我一樣大的時候,需要擔心這些事情嗎?
這些情況都發生在我們眼前,而我們卻表現得好像還有充裕的時間,也都知道怎麼解決。我只是個孩子,我不知道該怎麼解決,但我希望你們瞭解,你們也不知道……你們不知道怎麼讓鮭魚重新回到乾涸的小溪;不知道怎麼讓絕種的動物死而復生;也不知道怎麼讓現在變成沙漠的森林重新生長。如果你們不知道怎麼修復,就請別再破壞!
在學校,甚至在幼稚園裡,你們教導我們在這世界上應如何守規矩,你們教導我們:不要和別人打架、想辦法解決事情、尊重別人、清理善後、不要傷害其他生物、要分享、不要貪心。但為什麼你們做的,都是你們告訴我們不要做的事?不要忘記你們為什麼參加這些會議,你們做這些事是為了誰。我們是你們的孩子,你們正在決定我們會在什麼樣的世界成長。父母應該有辦法安慰孩子,告訴他們:「一切都會沒事」、「這不是世界末日」,還有「我們正在盡力而為」。但我想你們已經沒辦法再告訴我們這些話了,我們或許根本不在你們的優先名單上吧!
我爸爸總是說:「看一個人要看他做的是,而不是他說的話。」你們做的事讓我在晚上哭泣,你們大人說愛我們,但我感到懷疑。希望你們能說到做到,謝謝。(《世界又熱又平又擠Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America》頁459)
美國加州大學洛杉磯分校(UCLA)醫學院生理學教授、美國國家科學院院士賈德.戴蒙(Jared Diamond)則在為人父後,為了子女的未來,寫了《大崩壞Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed》這本精彩的好書。
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2 意見:
還有一個很大的問題是,有很多事物人們甚至不知道它會對環境造成破壞。再加上全球不景氣,在拼經濟求生存與環保之間是否會有一些衝突,環保問題可能會延後至經濟問題解決以後才會被重視。
我覺得《世界又熱又平又擠Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America》寫得不錯的原因,就在於它對您提到的所有問題,提出了解釋與可行的建議。
就像「為什麼推動綠能產業能增加就業機會?」這一篇所摘錄的,推動環保時也同時解決了經濟與生存的問題。
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