When you are little, it's not hard to believe you can change the world. I remember my enthusiasm when, at the age of 12, I addressed the delegates at the Rio Earth Summit2). "I am only a child," I told them. "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."
I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation3). Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur4) action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I've sat through5) many more conferences, I'm not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual's voice to reach them has been deeply shaken.
Sure, I've seen some improvements since Rio. In my home city of Vancouver, most people put out6) their recycling boxes. The organic grocery and café on Fourth Avenue is flourishing. Bikes are popular, and there are a few gas-electric hybrid cars gliding7) around. But as this new century begins, my twenty something generation is becoming increasingly disconnected from the natural world. We buy our drinking water in bottles. We eat genetically modified organisms. We drive the biggest cars ever. At the same time, we are a generation aware of the world—of poverty and social imbalance, the loss of biodiversity, climate change and the consequences of globalization—but many of us feel we have inherited8) problems too great to do anything about.
小时候,相信自己能够改变世界并不难。我还记得自己12岁时的激情,我在联合国里约地球峰会上向大会代表发言 ,“我只是个小孩儿,”我对他们说,“但我知道,如果花在战争上的所有钱都用于解决饥饿和环境问题,这个世界将会多么美好。在学校里,你们教育我们,不要跟别人打架,想办法解决问题,要尊重别人,治理自己制造的混乱,不要伤害其他生命,要懂得分享,不要贪婪。那么,为什么在学校外面,你们却做着不让我们做的事?你们大人口口声声说爱我们,但我请求你们,言行一致。”
我的发言持续了六分钟,代表团集体起立鼓掌,一些代表甚至流下了眼泪。我想,也许我触动了一些人,我的发言可能真的会促使他们行动起来。现在,里约峰会已过去了10年,在耐着性子参加了许许多多的会议之后,我仍无法确定有何进展。我对手握大权的人们的信心,以及一个普通人的声音能触动他们的信心,都已经严重地动摇了。
当然,里约峰会之后,我也看到了一些改善。在我的家乡温哥华,大多数人与人们分享使用环保盒,第四大街上出现了很多有机杂货店和咖啡馆,自行车广受欢迎,周围也出现了一些油电混合动力车穿梭的身影。但随着这个新世纪的开始,和我同龄的二十多岁的这一代人与自然界的接触越来越少。我们买瓶装水,吃转基因食品,开史上最大型的汽车。与此同时,我们这一代人已经意识到这个世界的诸多问题——贫困与贫富悬殊,生物多样性减少,气候变化和全球化的后果——但是,我们之中有很多人认为,遗留给我们的问题过于沉重,我们回天无力。
When I was little, the world was simple. But as a young adult, I'm learning that as we have to make choices—education, career, lifestyle—life gets more and more complicated. We are beginning to feel pressure to produce and be successful. We are learning a shortsighted way of looking at the future, focusing on four-year government terms and quarterly business reports. We are taught that economic growth is progress, but we aren't taught how to pursue a happy, healthy or sustainable way of living. And we are learning that what we wanted for our future when we were 12 was idealistic and naive9).
Today I'm no longer a child, but I'm worried about what kind of environment my children will grow up in. In Johannesburg10) the delegates will discuss the adoption and implementation11) of documents by governments. Yes, important stuff. But they did that at Rio. What this meeting must really be about is responsibility—not only government responsibility but personal responsibility. We are not cleaning up our own mess. We are not facing up to the price of our lifestyles. In Canada we know we are wiping out12) the salmon13) of the West Coast, just as we wiped out cod14) from the East Coast, but we continue overfishing. We keep driving our SUVs15) in the city, even though we are starting to feel the effects of climate change—a direct result of burning too much fossil fuel.
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.
我小时候,世界很简单。现如今作为一个青年人,我发现,当我们必须做出选择时——教育、职业、生活方式——生活也越来越复杂。我们开始感到创造和成功的压力。我们学着用短浅的目光看待未来,只关心四年的政府任期和季度商业报告。我们被告知经济增长是种进步,但却没人教会我们如何追求幸福、健康、可持续的生活方式。我们也已经发现,我们12岁时想象的未来是多么理想化、多么天真。
今天,我已经不再是个小孩儿,但我担心我的孩子将会在一个什么样的环境下成长。在约翰内斯堡世界峰会上,代表团将讨论各国政府对文件的采纳和执行情况。是的,这很重要。但这些他们早已在里约峰会上讨论过了。这次会议真正必须要讨论的是责任——不仅仅是政府的责任,还有个人的责任。我们没有治理自己制造出的混乱,也没有正视我们的生活方式所需付出的代价。我们知道在加拿大,西海岸的鲑鱼已经被人们赶尽杀绝,就像东海岸的鳕鱼一样,然而,我们仍在继续过度捕捞。甚至在我们开始感受到气候变化的恶果之后——燃烧石油产品带来的直接后果——我们依旧在城市里开着SUV。
真正改变环境要靠我们自己。我们不能等待领导者。我们必须关注自己的责任是什么,自己怎么做才能改变现实。
Before graduating from college last spring I worked with the Yale Student Environmental Coalition16) to draft a pledge17) for young people to sign. Called "the Recognition of Responsibility", the pledge is a commitment from our generation to be accountable and a challenge to our elders to help us achieve this goal and to lead by example. It includes a list of ways to live more sustainably—simple but fundamental things like reducing household garbage, consuming less, not relying on cars so much, eating locally grown food, carrying a reusable cup and, most important, getting out into nature. Three friends and I will take the Recognition of Responsibility to Johannesburg, where we will meet with South African students and then present the pledge to the World Summit as a demonstration of personal commitment.
But in 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.
去年春天大学毕业前,我与耶鲁大学学生环境联盟一同起草了一份宣言,让青年人签名。这份宣言叫“责任意识”,是我们这一代人勇于负责的承诺,也是对前人的鞭策,请他们帮助我们达到这个目标,并以身作则。宣言列出了一份可持续性生活方式的清单——一些简单但重要的事情,比如减少生活垃圾,降低消耗,不过分依赖汽车,食用本地生产的食物,携带可多次使用的水杯,最重要的是,出去接近大自然。我和我的三个朋友将把这份“责任意识”带到约翰内斯堡,在那儿,我们会与南非的学生们见面,然后将宣言作为个人承诺的证明递交给世界峰会。
但是,在里约峰会后的10年里,我发现仅仅在领导者面前发言是不够的。正像甘地在很多年前说过的一样:“我们必须按照我们的理想来改变自己。”我知道,改变是可能的,因为我正在改变,仍在解决我思考的问题。我仍然正在决定着自己应该怎样生活。挑战是巨大的,但是如果我们每个人都扛起自己的责任,选择可持续性的生活,我们将会战胜挑战,我们将成为推动改变的积极力量。
1. Severn Cullis-Suzuki: 珊文·卡利斯-铃木,加拿大人,12岁时以“儿童代表”的身份在巴西里约热内卢地球峰会上发表了一篇六分钟的演说,倡导环保,令整个联合国会场足足静默了五分钟。次年,她荣获联合国环境规划署颁发的“全球五百精英荣誉奖”。之后,她一直致力于环保。2002年,22岁的她从美国耶鲁大学毕业,创立了非政府组织Skyfish Project ,努力开展ROR (Recognition of Responsibility,体认责任)计划,旨在提醒大家:改变世界、保护地球并非是政府的责任,而是我们每个人的责任。
2. Rio Earth Summit: 联合国里约地球峰会,于1992年6月在巴西里约热内卢举行,178个国家代表出席。该峰会产生了关于环境及发展的《里约宣言》(The Rio Declaration),通过了一份厚达800页的行动纲领——《21世纪议程》(Agenda 21),第一次确立了可持续发展作为人类发展的新战略。
3. ovation [Eu5veIFEn] n. 热烈欢迎;热烈鼓掌,欢呼
4. spur [sp\:(r)] vt. 促进,激励,鞭策,鼓舞
5. sit through: (听音乐会、演讲等虽不欣赏仍然)一直坐到结束;耐着性子听完
6. put out: 将某物置于某处,供其他人分享或使用
7. glide [^laId] vi. 滑行;滑移
8. inherit [In5herIt] vt. (从前人、前任等)接过,得到
9. naive [nB:5i:v] adj. 天真的
10. Johannesburg [dVEu5hAnIsb\:^] n. 约翰内斯堡[南非东北部城市]。此处指2002年在约翰内斯堡召开的可持续性问题峰会(The World Summit on Sustainable Development)。此次峰会旨在为参会者提供一个作出具体承诺的重要机会,以便采取行动,执行里约地球峰会的行动纲领——《21世纪议程》,实现可持续发展。下一段中的“World Summit”也是指这次世界峰会。
11. implementation [7ImplImen5teIFEn] n. 实施,执行
12. wipe out: 彻底摧毁;消灭
13. salmon [5sAmEn] n. 【鱼】鲑,大麻哈鱼
14. cod [kCd] n. 【鱼】鳕,鳕鱼
15. SUV: sport utility vehicle,运动型汽车
16. coalition [7kEuE5lIFEn] n. 结合体,联合
17. pledge [pledV] n. 誓约
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Severn's Speech Transcript
Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O.—The Environmental Children's Organization. We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference. 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 extinct 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 butterflies, 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 realize, 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 politicians—but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, 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, 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 everything 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, or 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 "everything'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.