I'm not saying so just to be contrary, but aside from it being rather political, I found it disturbing that a 13 year old person who is more presumptuous than precocious would take such a disrespectful tone when speaking to adults. YMMV

Al

I thought it was an excellent speech and didn't think it was disrespectful. It's the "adults" IMO who have largely disrespected the Earth.

Two different topics ...... if I said, "That teenager was driving too fast for the winding road, and that's why she crashed", would you blame the adults for putting curves in the road?

It's also a very political piece.

Al

She's the daughter of David Suzuki, my favorite Canadian scientific populizer and a brilliant activist. I think it's fair to say Severen Suzuki was not your average 13 year old back then.

Convention on Biological Diversity, anyone? Agenda 21? I wouldn't miss the FAO though and the GEF should never have been under the World Bank.

I didn't need to listen beyond her opening, in which she stated that she and the other children had "raised all money for a 5,000 mile trip, by themselves." I recognize BS when I hear it. There is no way that these children raised the money for the trip to the UN without adult help. She is a glib dupe. Why would I spend any time being "instructed" by this child spewing canned tripe? And just what does this have to do with ORGANIC GARDENING? And I will instantly disregard any message posted by anney from GA.

I suppose she could just be a tool but she told it well.

Many apologies. I never imagined this child's speech would produce a negative reaction in anyone, particularly those who aim for organic gardening.

Of course there is sometimes a "political" reason for things we do or our attitudes, and of course Earth Day just past is one of those days that can be political. I KNOW my preference for smaller seed companies can be considered to be political. I don't want the source of my food-growing to be agribusiness with its lack of care for a sustainable environment.

Anyway, apologies for offending anyone. I truly had no idea there would be a negative response.

anney, you forgot that children should be seen and not heard.

I think that children are amazing instruments of change, possibly the greatest instruments of change. I think you can hugely credit children for getting adult momentum behind recycling, and I've always thought that it was the children (specifically my generation) who ended the war in Vietnam, who got our parents to listen, who got politicians to listen. I'm fascinated by the power of children to create positive change.

I imagine that girl has become an amazing woman who is leading a meaningful life. I was pleased you shared that with us, and of course it was pertinent in a forum of organic gardeners.

"...And just what does this have to do with ORGANIC GARDENING"

Seriously? "The 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) is one of the major achievements growing out of the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. Signatories agreed to phase out and limit production of 12 POPs, long-lived toxic chemicals that cause biological havoc as they bioaccumulateÂcollect and concentrateÂin the food chain. The treaty outlines key principles for a less toxic world, including the prevention of new toxic, persistent, and bioaccumulative chemicals; reduction of existing ones; and substitution with less dangerous materials. The challenge at Johannesburg and beyond is to further apply the principles of prevention, reduction, and substitution to all toxic chemicals."

Without Rio '92, organic gardeners would be lightyears behind where we are now.

Here is a link that might be useful: From Rio to Johannesburg: Reducing the Use of Toxic Chemicals Advances Health and Sustainable Development

dicot

Thanks for the link! That's an impressive set of goals, though the chemical guards against toxic pollution are only for a few chemicals since the thousands of others have not been tested.

As to untested chemicals, Rio '92 tried to address this via Principle 15 - the Precautionary Approach.

"In order to protect the environment, the precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities. Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation."

In my mind, the Rio Treaty and the ancillary NGO statements/proposals stand as one of the greatest treaties even accomplished in modern times and some of its crafters are visionaries worthy of being held up a century or two from now as the Jeffersons or Franklins of our time. This was the environment's Bill of Rights, finally articulated after millenia of human's trying to define their role in the natural world.