Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 30 November 1979) is a Canadian

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement) is a social movement that aims to protect the natural world from harmful environmental practices in order to create sustainable living. In its recognition of humanity a ...

and writer. She has spoken around the world about environmental issues, urging listeners to define their values, act with the future in mind and take individual responsibility. She is the daughter of Canadian environmentalist

David Suzuki David Takayoshi Suzuki (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster, and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a PhD in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the ...

Biography

Severn Cullis-Suzuki was born and raised in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. Her mother is writer Tara Cullis. Her father,

geneticist A geneticist is a biologist or physician who studies genetics, the science of genes, heredity, and variation of organisms. A geneticist can be employed as a scientist or a lecturer. Geneticists may perform general research on genetic process ...

and environmental activist

, is a third-generation

Japanese Canadian are Canadians, Canadian citizens of Japanese people, Japanese ancestry. Japanese Canadians are mostly concentrated in Western Canada, especially in the province of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia, British Columbia, which hosts the largest ...

. While attending Lord Tennyson Elementary School in

French Immersion French immersion is a form of bilingual education in which students who do not speak French as a first language will receive instruction in French. In most French- immersion schools, students will learn to speak French and learn most subjects ...

, 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 The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio de Janeiro Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92, Cúpula da Terra), was a major United Nations conference held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. Along with group members Michelle Quigg, Vanessa Suttie, and Morgan Geisler, Cullis-Suzuki presented environmental issues from a youth perspective at the summit, where she was applauded for a speech to the delegates. The video has since become a viral hit, popularly known as "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes". In 1993, she was honored in the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

Global 500 Roll of Honour The Global 500 Roll of Honour was an award given from 1987 to 2003 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The award recognized the environmental achievements of individuals and organizations around the world. A successor system of UNE ...

. In 1993, Doubleday published her book ''Tell the World'', a 32-page book of environmental steps for families. Cullis-Suzuki graduated from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 2002 with a B.S. in

ecology Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their Natural environment, environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosystem, and biosphere lev ...

and

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

. After Yale, Cullis-Suzuki spent two years traveling. Cullis-Suzuki co-hosted ''Suzuki's Nature Quest'', a children's television series that aired on

Discovery Kids Discovery Kids, stylized as discovery k!ds, is a brand name owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Starting as a television block within Discovery Channel, the brand expanded as a separate television channel in October 1996. Discovery Kids on NBC was ...

in 2002. In early 2002, she helped launch an Internet-based

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

called The Skyfish Project. As a member of

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

's Special Advisory Panel, she and members of the Skyfish Project brought their first project, a pledge called the "Recognition of Responsibility", to the

World Summit on Sustainable Development The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss sustainable development organizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was t ...

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in August 2002. The Skyfish Project disbanded in 2004 as Cullis-Suzuki turned her focus back to school. She enrolled in a graduate program at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

to study

ethnobotany Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human socie ...

under Nancy Turner, finishing in 2007. Cullis-Suzuki is the main character in the documentary film ''Severn, the Voice of Our Children'', directed by Jean-Paul Jaud and released theatrically in France on November 10, 2010. Cullis-Suzuki is an

Earth Charter The Earth Charter is an international declaration of fundamental values and principles considered useful by its supporters for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century. Created by a global consultation process, ...

International Council Member.

Personal life

Married in 2008, Cullis-Suzuki lived with her husband and two sons in

Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii (; / , literally "Islands of the Haida people"), previously known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between off the British Columbia Coast, northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia ...

, British Columbia, until August 2021. She moved to Vancouver, BC in order to start her new role as the Executive Director of the David Suzuki Foundation, which she began in September 2021. She is related to two

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

players,

Nick Suzuki Nicholas Suzuki (born August 10, 1999) is a Canadian professional ice hockey Centre (ice hockey), centre and Captain (ice hockey), captain for the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected in the first round, 13th ov ...

and Ryan Suzuki.

Cultural tributes

In 2009, French guitarist MattRach and his band used extracts from her 1992 speech in their track ''Human Bullshit''.
In 2010, French DJ Laurent Wolf used her 1992 speech to turn it into a track : ''2012 - Not The End Of The World''.
In 2016, NINSKEEN used part of her speech in the title ''Make Your Actions Reflect Your Words''.
In 2017, the French group

Grands Boulevards The ''grands boulevards'' The ''Grands Boulevards'' are the quintessence of the Parisian boulevards. Their origin is a plan initiated by Louis XIV's minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in the late 1660s, of comprehensive reforms and remodeling ...

used an excerpt from her speech in the track ''Children of Light 8''.
In 2017, the French group Way For Nothing used her speech in the title ''Consciousness''.
In 2016 and 2018, the French musician Owen Le Guen used excerpts from her speech in the tracks ''Before Our Eyes'' and ''They Exist''.
In 2018, a few lines of her speech can be heard from the vertical version of

Alan Walker Alan Olav Walker (born 24 August 1997) is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. His songs "Faded (Alan Walker song), Faded", "Sing Me to Sleep", "Alone (Alan Walker song), Alone", "All Falls Down (Alan Walker song), All Falls Down" (with Noah Cy ...

's Different World music video.
In 2018, Louise Tilleke painted a portrait of Severn Cullis-Suzuki which she presented in her Parisian exhibition entitled Ask not the Earth….
In 2020, more than 20 animation directors, under the artistic supervision of Simone Giampaolo, transposed her speech into a short film named ''Only a Child'', which they describe as "a visual poem". It won the Ray Harryhausen Award for best animated short film.
In 2022, for the thirtieth anniversary, the artist Selfish Patterns uses parts of the speech in the track
1992
'.

References

External links

''Severn Cullis-Suzuki official website''
*

''Time'' magazine, August 2002

at Library and Archives Canada
"We Need to Win"
Michael Archer interviews Severn Suzuki, "Guernica" magazine, April 2009
''Democracy Now!'' interview from 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cullis-Suzuki, Severn Canadian climate activists Canadian women environmentalists Canadian women television personalities Canadian television personalities Canadian child activists Child writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Writers from Vancouver Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian people of Japanese descent University of Victoria alumni Yale College alumni 1979 births Living people

Biography

Personal life

Cultural tributes

See also

References

Further reading

External links