The Girl Who Silenced the World

A Canadian girl who spoke to the United Nations and left them completely silent and speechless for six minutes. Her name is Severn Cullis-Suzuki, and her speech was given at a U.N. assembly in in Rio de Janeiro Brazil 1992 when she was twelve years old. She had raised all the money to travel to the delegation.

At age 9, she founded the Environmental Children’s Organization (ECO), a group of children dedicated to learning and teaching other youngsters about environmental issues. In 1992, at age 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. She presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the summit, where she was applauded for a speech to the delegates. In 1993, she was honored in the United Nations Environment Programme’s Global 500 Roll of Honor.