12.08.2009

Climate Summit in Copenhagen




"The People's Orb", a 20cm (7.9 inches) silver sphere containing 350 gigabyte multimedia collected around the world to inspire action on climate change in Copenhagen.

Apart from suggestions from individuals, The People’s Orb also contains key climate change reports from the world’s most eminent scientists; representation from the world’s great thinkers on the need for action on climate change and representation from the leaders of the world’s cities calling for action on climate change.
Listen to this short news report about the summit.
A Canadian girl, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, spoke to the United Nations and left them completely silent and speechless for five minutes. Her speech was given at a U.N. assembly at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, in 1992, when she was twelve years old. She had raised all the money to travel to the delegation, five thousand miles from her home, herself.
How much is still relevant today? All of it. And the more important question is: How much has been changed, accomplished, since Severn spoke that day?
Years later, Severn wrote a piece for
Time magazine in which she said: “I spoke for six minutes and received a standing ovation. Some of the delegates even cried. I thought that maybe I had reached some of them, that my speech might actually spur action. Now, a decade from Rio, after I’ve sat through many more conferences, I’m not sure what has been accomplished. My confidence in the people in power and in the power of an individual’s voice to reach them has been deeply shaken…In the 10 years since Rio, I have learned that addressing our leaders is not enough. As Gandhi said many years ago, ‘We must become the change we want to see.’ I know change is possible.”
Watch the video and answer the questions or finish the sentences. (Answers in "comments")



1. Why has she gone there?
2. What is she fighting for?
3. She is speaking on behalf of ___________________________ and animals that don’t have where to go.
4. She’s afraid to go out in the sun because of the ___________________________ and she ‘s afraid to ___________________________ because she doesn’t know what chemicals are in it.
5. She used to go fishing in Vancouver until they found __________________________________________.
6. Now we hear of ___________________________ going extinct, vanishing forever.
7. What does she ask them?
8. If you don’t know how to fix things…
9. She says we are all in this together and that we only buy and throw away and we are afraid ___________________________.
10. She says that she lives a privileged life in Canada and that a child living in the streets in Brazil told her: I wish I was rich. And if I were, I would give all the street children______________, ______________, ______________, shelter, ______________and affection.’ She doesn’t understand why we are so greedy.
11. What makes a tremendous difference?
12. Although she’s just a child, she knows that if all the money spent ___________________________ was spent on finding environmental answers, ___________________________, and finding treaties – what a ___________________________ this earth would be.”
13. At school you teach us ____________________________________________, so why …?
14. She challenges them:

1 comment:

eoilumi1 said...

1. To tell adults that they must change their ways.
2. For her future.
3. starving children
4. holes in our ozone / breathe the air
5. the fish full of cancers
6. animals and plants
7. "Did you have to worry of these things when you were my age?"
8. please stop breaking them
9. to share
10. food, clothes, medicine, love
11. the place where you are born
12. on war/ ending poverty/ wonderful place
13. how to behave in the world / do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
14. please make your actions reflect your words.