I want to speak

　　In 1992, a 12-year-old Canadian girl raised her own money to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and asked to speak at the upcoming UN summit. In just 5 minutes, her speech made the leaders, scientists and other important figures sitting in the audience, some showing a sly expression, some seem to be hit, some began to shed tears, more people bowed They can’t look directly at the girl’s clear eyes…

　　Hello everyone, I am Shan Wen Suzuki, representing ECO – focusing on environmental children’s organizations.

　　We are a couple of 12-year-old Canadian children: Vanessa, Morgan Michelle and me. We raised our own money and traveled 5000 miles to tell you about adults. You have to change. I am here today to fight for our future.

　　Losing my future is not like losing a campaign or losing some points on the stock market. I am here for all future generations.

　　I am going to speak to all the hungry children in the world because their crying is not heard.

　　I am going to speak for the countless animals that are dying on Earth because they have nowhere to go. Someone must listen to our voice.

　　I dare not go out to the sun now because there is a hole in the ozone layer. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemical ingredients are inside.

　　I used to fish with my father in Vancouver until a few years ago we found that the fish had cancer. Now every day we can hear the news of the extinction of animals and plants – they will never come back.

　　In my life, I dreamed of seeing a large group of wild animals and seeing the tropical jungle of birds and butterflies everywhere, but I don’t know if I can gamble on children to see them.

　　Do you need to worry about these things when you are as big as me?

　　These are happening in front of our eyes, but we pretend that we have endless time and solutions to solve the problem. I am just a child, I have no answer to these questions, but I want you to know that you are not!

　　You can’t fix the hole in the ozone layer. You can’t let the salmon return to the already dry river. You can’t make the extinct animals reappear. You can’t make the forest that has become a desert a forest again.

　　If you can’t fix it, please don’t destroy it!

　　Here, you may be a government representative, a business person, an organization manager, a journalist or a politician, but you are also a father and mother, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts – and all of you are children of your parents. .

　　I am just a child, but I know that we are all members of a big family of 5 billion people and 30 million species. We share the same air, water and soil. National borders and the government will never change this fact.

　　I am just a child, but I know that we are a whole and should work together for the same goal.

　　I am very angry, but I am not blind. I am scared, but I am not afraid to tell the world about my feelings.

　　In my country, we waste too much. When we have a lot, we are afraid that we will lose our wealth and we will not share it with others.

　　I am just a child, but I know that if all the money spent on war is used to end poverty and find answers to environmental problems, this earth will become a wonderful place!

　　In school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to be a child. You teach us not to fight, to be modest, to respect others, to clean up dirty areas, not to harm animals, to share, not to be selfish.

　　Then why are you doing something that we are not allowed to do?

　　Don’t forget why you came to these meetings and who to attend – we are your children. You are deciding what kind of world we are growing up in. When parents comfort their children, they should be able to say “everything will be good” “we are doing our best” and “this is not the end of the world” – but I think you can’t say these words anymore. Do you really put us in the first place? My dad always said: “What you do represents you, not what you said.”

　　What you have done, let me cry at night. You adults say that you love us. I beg you, words and deeds.

　　Thank you.