World's Most Powerful Speech

There is no better example of a young person standing up and speaking on behalf of something in which they truly believe, for the betterment of themselves and the world around them. Severn Cullis-Suzuki, a 12-year-old Canadian girl, spoke in United Nations Earth Summit about the importance of saving and protecting our only Earth.

In her speech to this delegation, she addressed a variety of different issues. She talked about pollution, the extinction of animals, ozone layer depletion, forest devastation, starving children, and more. These were big issues, but she wasn't afraid to tackle them. She admitted, she didn't know the answers or how to fix these problems herself, but she wanted to challenge world leaders to start finding the answers and to stop causing the problems.

Another topic that Severn addressed was the topic of sharing. She spoke of how many children go without on a daily basis, yet so many have more than enough even throwing items away. Instead of sharing with others, people hold into the wealth that they have when they could help others around the world. As a child she said she was taught to clean up after herself, to be kind to others, to share, and to take care of what she had, yet she felt that adults didn't do these very things that they were teaching children. Severn wondered why adults didn't clean up after themselves, why they didn't take care of what they had, and why they didn't share and help others.

When Severn Suzuki made this magical, inspirational speech it was 1992 and there were 5 billion people on the planet. It is now 2012 and there are 7.2 Billion people on the planet. By 2050 there will be 10 billion people on the planet. The human race is driving in a fast car with no brakes and its feet on the accelerator. The street has a dead-end and we will hit the wall hard around 2050. The people in power never listened to Severn’s speech then and they are not listening now.