SEVERN CULLIS-SUZUKI
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Raised in Vancouver and Toronto, Severn Cullis-Suzuki
has been camping and hiking all her life.
When she was 9 she started the Environmental
Children's Organization (ECO), a small group
of children committed to learning and teaching
other kids about environmental issues. They
were successful in many projects before 1992,
when they raised enough money to go to the
UN's Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Their
aim was to reminding the decision-makers
of who their actions or inactions would ultimately
affect. The goal was reached when 12 yr old
Severn closed a Plenary Session with a powerful
speech that received a standing ovation.
Since Rio, Severn has given many speeches
to schools and corporations, conferences
and international meetings worldwide. In
1993 she received UNEP's Global 500 Award
in Beijing, China.
An accomplished television host and presenter,
Severn has appeared and participated in many
programs in Canada, the U.S., and Britain.
Most recently she was the host of Suzuki's
NatureQuest, a children's television series
currently airing around the world. She has
written numerous articles on environmental
issues for magazines and newspapers, and
has also published a book with Doubleday
called Tell the World.
From 1997 to 2001 Severn served as a Commissioner
for the UN's Earth Charter, a document that
strives to serve as a code of ethics for
human conduct towards our resources, our
planet, and each other. She is also an active
participate in the preparations for the Johannesburg
World Summit to be held in 2002, the ten
year anniversary of Rio '92.
Severn has worked closely with native peoples
of British Columbia and the Amazon towards
protecting forests threatened by unsustainable
logging. She has been honoured by three aboriginal
nations in B.C.: she was adopted into the
Haida Nation, and the Heiltsuk Nation, and
has a name from the Nuchalnulth people.
Sev's love of the outdoors feeds her passion
to speak about the future of our environment.
Last summer, she and five girlfriends celebrated
the millennium by cycling across Canada in
a campaign for clean air called "Powershift
2000." This summer she worked for two
months at the remote Pinkeiti Research Station
in the Xingu valley of the Brazilian Amazon,
furthering her academic pursuits in biology.
Severn is currently a senior at Yale University
in New Haven, CT, studying Ecology and Evolutionary
Biology.