Severn Cullis-Suzuki
Severn Suzuki | |
---|---|
Born | |
Citizenship | Canadian |
Alma mater | Yale University, University of Victoria |
Occupation(s) | Environmental activist, speaker, television host, author |
Parent |
|
Severn Cullis-Suzuki (born 30 November 1979) is a Canadian environmental activist 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.
Biography
Severn Cullis-Suzuki was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1] Her mother is writer Tara Cullis. Her father, geneticist and environmental activist David Suzuki,[2] is a third-generation Japanese Canadian.[3] While attending Lord Tennyson Elementary School in French Immersion, 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.[4] In 1992, at age 12, Cullis-Suzuki raised money with members of ECO to attend the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. 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.[5][6] The video has since become a viral hit, popularly known as "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes".[7][8]
In 1993, she was honored in the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour.[9] In 1993, Doubleday published her book Tell the World, a 32-page book of environmental steps for families.
Cullis-Suzuki graduated from Yale University in 2002 with a B.S. in ecology and evolutionary biology.[4] 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 in 2002.
In early 2002, she helped launch an Internet-based think tank called The Skyfish Project.[10][3] As a member of Kofi Annan'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 in Johannesburg in August 2002.[4] 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 to study ethnobotany under Nancy Turner, finishing in 2007.[10]
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 International Council Member.
Personal life
Married in 2008, Cullis-Suzuki lived with her husband and two sons in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, until August 2021.[11][12] 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. [13][14][15] [16]
She is related to two NHL players, Nick Suzuki and Ryan Suzuki.
See also
- Greta Thunberg – as a minor is also notable as an environmental activist since 2018
- Licypriya Kangujam – Indian child environmental activist
- Rachel Parent – activist who challenges Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in food
References
- ^ "BC Author Bank: Cullis-Suzuki, Severn". ABCBookWorld. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ Fernandes, Cesil (2012-05-29). "'Rio girl' Severn Cullis-Suzuki 20 years on". dw.com. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Scott, Julia (2004) [December 2003]. "Earth pioneer – Severn Cullis-Suzuki spreads the word on sustainability". Collage. The Collage Foundation Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ a b c "Severn Cullis-Suzuki". Speakers' Spotlight. Archived from the original on 2008-05-21. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ Cullis-Suzuki, Severn (June 1992). "Address to the Plenary Session, Earth Summit". The Sloth Club. Archived from the original on 2008-05-17. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ Cullis-Suzuki, Severn (2002-08-18). "The Young Can't Wait". Time. Archived from the original on 2011-02-04. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ "The Girl Who Silenced the World for 5 Minutes". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
- ^ "Nearly 30 years before Greta Thunberg, a 12-year-old girl shamed world leaders at the United Nations". news.com.au.
- ^ Maybaum, Mary Ann (2004-05-01). "UNEP Global 500 Laureates – Award Winners". United Nations Environment Program. Archived from the original on 2009-01-26. Retrieved 2008-06-06.
- ^ a b Suzuki, David (2006). David Suzuki: The Autobiography. Canada: Greystone Books. ISBN 1-55365-156-1.
- ^ Hampson, Sarah (2007-07-09). "Born green". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- ^ "A Fine Balance". Earth Island Journal. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- ^ "bio". Severn Cullis-Suzuki. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- ^ "Severn Cullis-Suzuki to become executive director of David Suzuki Foundation". The Georgia Straight. 2020-11-09. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- ^ "Quarantine as Ceremony: COVID-19 as an Opportunity to Quietly Rebel against the Dominant Langscape". Terralingua. Retrieved 2021-10-29.
- ^ Tretkoff, Ernie (2010). "Christine McEntee Takes Office as AGU Executive Director". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 91 (36): 313. Bibcode:2010EOSTr..91..313T. doi:10.1029/2010eo360005. ISSN 0096-3941.
Further reading
- Carstens, Peter (2019). "Severn Cullis-Suzuki - Das Mädchen, das 27 Jahre vor Greta den Mächtigen die Leviten las" [Severn Cullis-Suzuki - The girl who, 27 years before Greta, read the Levites to those in power]. GEO (in German). Archived from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-03-17.
External links
- Severn Cullis-Suzuki official website
- Severn Cullis-Suzuki at IMDb
- "The Young Can't Wait" by Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Time magazine, August 2002
- "Freedom and Rights" by Servern Cullis-Suzuki at Library and Archives Canada
- "We Need to Win", Michael Archer interviews Severn Suzuki, "Guernica" magazine, April 2009
- Democracy Now! interview from 2012
- 1979 births
- Living people
- Canadian television personalities
- Canadian people of Japanese descent
- Canadian women environmentalists
- Writers from Vancouver
- University of Victoria alumni
- Yale College alumni
- Child writers
- 20th-century Canadian women writers
- 21st-century Canadian women writers
- Climate activists
- Canadian women television personalities