Speech to Teachers
What I learned on My Summer Vacation:
Two Months in the Amazon Rainforest
Ursula Franklin Highschool
November 29, 2001, 5pm.
I am really happy to be here speaking to
you today, to a group of teachers who help
young people learn. It is an honour.
I am here talking to you as a student, I
am a biology student in fourth year university,
and I am also speaking to you as a nature
lover.
I was lucky to have had many experiences
in nature growing up,
I grew up in BC-and constantly was exploring
the beaches and parks and forests in Vancouver.
I remember once my grade three class did
an excursion to the beach at low tide to
look at all the organisms and ecosystems,
and for the longest time I wanted to be a
marine biologist.
I also lived in Toronto for a lot of my elementary
school life, and my family would do weekend
excursions to Leslie Street Spit, to Petroglyph
park and the surrounding countryside.
I'll never forget when one of my teachers
had collected a monarch butterfly caterpillar
and brought it into the classroom for us
to feed milkweed to, and watch it metamorphose
into a chrysalis and then a butterfly. That
was incredible.
Those experiences nurtured a love and wonder
of nature in me, and a curiosity and interest
I will always have.
And I think that it was that exposure that
enabled me to really appreciating and being
open to my first experience with Amazon rainforest.
I had my first inkling of the existence of
the Amazon when I was 8 years old.
My dad was filming a show on the Amazon Basin
and had been out of touch with the family
back in Vancouver for quite a while.
I remember his phone call when he finally
had emerged from the forest and was telling
my mum about these amazing people that lived
in the rainforest: the Kayapo.
And I remember realizing that there were
people that still lived in the forest-that
blew me away! I thought that people had stopped
living in the forest hundreds of years ago!
I couldn't believe it! And I got so excited!
'Cause I realized that there still were things
in the world left to be discovered.
My parents ended up befriending a Kayapo
leader called Paiakan who was fighting to
stop the construction of a huge hydroelectric
dam. Because of Paiakan's work, the dam in
fact was never built. After the success,
Paiakan invited us to his tiny village deep
in the Xingu valley of the lower Amazon.
It was the trip of a lifetime. My sister
and I made friends with the Kayapo kids,
(it didn't matter that we didn't speak each
other's language). The Kayapo showed us so
much. How to catch electric eels. How to
spear Tukunare fish with arrows. They showed
us where the turtles hide their eggs. They
took us on walks through the forest, and
cut us fresh papaya for lunch. We swam in
the river where people on the banks were
catching little piranhas. We lived like Kayapo,
like people have lived for thousands of years.
That time in Aukre imprinted itself on my
mind forever. I know that the diversity and
beauty of the rainforest that I experienced
fueled my desire to learn more about the
natural world, which has led to years of
classroom study in biology.
But our family did not truly belong to that
world, and all too soon we had
to leave. A little plane landed on the tiny
earthen airstrip and took us away, back over
the forest and towards the city of Redencao.
But towards its edges, the forest was on
fire! I looked down at the forest, and saw
the smoke billowing from many large fires
below. Soon the air was so thick with smoke
that we could stare straight at the sun.
It crept into the plane.
That flight changed my life. I couldn't believe
that the incredible world that I had just
found out existed, was being burned. I didn't
know of the economics or reasons behind it
- I simply disagreed.
When I got back to grade five in Vancouver,
I told my friends about the amazing place
that I had seen. And then I told them that
these amazing worlds were disappearing. They
had heard that there were problems with our
'environment' and we decided that we should
learn about what was going on. So, we started
a little club, calling ourselves ECO (the
Environmental Children's Organization). We
talked to anyone who could tell us anything,
and then we formulated little projects. We
did local beach clean ups. We went to a benefit
for the Penan people of Sarawak and in the
end helped fundraise to buy a water filter
for their village, because logging was polluting
their streams. With the help of a local youth
organization, we published a series of newsletters
for younger people with the information that
we learned. And ECO was a lot of fun - we
were really just hanging out, and doing fun
stuff (mum would give us cookies at the meetings)
and constantly learning new, very interesting
things.
When I was 11 years old, I heard about a
great meeting that was to be the largest
gathering of political officials and heads
of state. It was going to be held in Rio
de Janeiro in 1992. The U.N. hoped that this
meeting would set the tone of the rest of
the 20th Century, and pave the way for more
sustainable living into the 21st. I realized
that while we (the children!) would be the
ones to benefit, or suffer from the decisions,
there would be no young people represented
at the meeting. I told my parents that ECO
should go to Brazil to represent the children!
- and they told me I was crazy, that there
would be 30 000 people, and that it was "going
to be a zoo". But I'm pretty stubborn,
so my friends and I kept talking to people
about this idea, and suddenly people were
making donations to our cause! My mum, realizing
I didn't really know what to do with the
money, and that this idea might possibly
have some potential, began to help us. We
continued our bake sales, book sales, making
our own jewelry to sell. She taught us how
to fundraise - how to rent out a space (before
we'd raised the money for it), how to poster
for an event. Our parents coached us on our
speeches, how to make our arguments concise.
We held a fundraiser and from the support
of our community, we raised enough money
to send five of us to Rio! Even Raffi (the
children's singer who lives in Vancouver
too) became a big supporter and accompanied
us to Rio.
My parents were right, Rio was a zoo. The
city was crazy - RioCentro was full of military,
and in the city there was so much going on.
We rented a booth at the NGO Global forum,
speaking to anyone who would listen. We gave
little speeches wherever we got the chance.
We gave interviews to whoever would ask us
questions. Finally, on the last day we were
supposed to be in Rio, at the last minute
we got our break - Mr. Grant, head of UNICEF
(the UN International Children's Emergency
Fund) convinced the head of the conference,
Maurice Strong, that we should be on the
plenary, and we were invited to speak. I
remember crazily scribbling notes as we careened
through the city in a taxi towards the Earth
Summit. The four other children and I tried
to compile everything we wanted to say to
the world leaders into one speech. We ran
through the security and into the session.
We didn't even have time to get intimidated
by the dignified delegates who sat in the
great hall. I gave my speechc
I told them I was only 12. I told them what
was important to me. I told them that I loved
plants and animals, but that I need clean
air and water to be healthy. I told them
I was scared of the future. I told them that
before their duties to their economic advisors
or to their bureaucratic policies, their
first duties were as parents, as grandparents.
I asked them to remember who their decisions
would affect: their children.
At the end people were standing and crying.
The response was enormous, politicians, delegates,
even the doorman thanked us for talking about
what was really important. The speech was
rebroadcast throughout the summit building
and throughout the United Nations.
When I got back to Canada, things had changed.
I got all kinds of invitations to speak all
over the world. It was amazing that after
fighting so hard to get a platform, my friends
and I were being invited to conferences as
youth representatives!
Who could believe that we accomplished just
what we had said we wanted to do.
All that from seeing the Amazon burning;
something I felt so strongly about. It gave
me strength; it gave me the nerve to go out
and start a little organization and try to
do something. And that drive to do something
has made my life rich - because of it I have
met many brave and inspiring people.
Since then I have given many speeches. I
have worked hard since Rio, traveling all
over speaking to adults about preserving
the environment and world resources for future
generations, and to young people to encourage
them to speak out too. I was invited to return
to Rio in 1997 for the UN's Rio +5: a conference
to look back on the effects of Rio '92- but
this time I didn't have to struggle to be
heard, I was on the Earth Charter Commision
along with Maurice Strong, Presidents Gorbachev,
Lubbers (Netherlands) Toure (Mali) and many
others. I am still on that commission and
think that the Earth Charter will be very
useful as a teaching tool regarding the environment.
I hosted a children's science and nature
TV series called NatureQuest with a strong
conservationist purpose.
This story has proved to me what ECO had
been saying over and over - that you really
can be effective; you really can make your
voice heard.
* * *
Much has happened since I was 12 years old.
I am now a senior in college, getting a degree
in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
In pursuing science I am finding that my
connection to nature is being strengthened
by knowledge of the systems on Earth that
have produced the great diversity of life
and that keep us alive.
I also reminded again and again, that indeed,
we are losing some of the great diversity.
And as my curiosity and awe grows for the
biology, so does my awareness of the imbalance
of life systems which human beings are creating.
This makes me very sad.
I have often thought of going back to Aukre.
I was nervous of going backc
Since my first visit I had learned about
existence of things like economics, capitalism,
globalization and the extinction of indigenous
culture and knowledge, and I worried that
perhaps the pressure on a tribe that survived
on stone-age knowledge might have become
too great.
In the last few years of university I had
also become tired in the classroom; while
some of my bio classes were amazing, with
so much organic chemistry and statistics,
sometimes I couldn't see how I was following
my curiosity about the natural world outside.
I was a bit disillusioned and didn't know
if I really wanted to pursue further academics
after college.
This summer I got the chance to go back to
the Amazon. At school I found a fellowship
that would finance a senior project and applied
for an internship at an Amazonian research
station.
Nine years ago a research station was founded
by Paiakan and a professor from U of T, just
a few hours upriver from the village of Aukre,
the same village that I visited, 12 years
ago.
I got the fellowship and this summer I traveled
back to the Kayapo village.
I was nervous.
But when my plane touched down on the little
red-earth airstrip and a crowd of painted
people ran to meet us, I knew that there
were the same people who thrived in the rainforest.
I want to show you some slides to help my
words.
* * *
SLIDES
Incredible biodiversity: the sheer HUM of
life!
The brutality of nature too: the bugs were
merciless. So was the cayman (the otter baby
got eaten)
-Meeting the Kayapo guidesc and Bastion:
realizing how little scientists know: humility
a reflections: traditional knowledge vs.
scientific knowledge.
-maps vs. direction
-information vs. knowledge.
-On my last day out in the field the bulldozers
came. Biri Biri and I hiked out along the
path that we'd hiked everyday and suddenly
there was a highway through the forest!!
the loggers upriver needed to get down to
the village, so they made a road right through
the Project's reserve.
The sight of the nearness of destruction
reminded me of the heavy pressure on areas
of such biodiversity all over the world.
It re-instilled in me the urgency to learn
all we can from nature while it exists as
in the Amazon, as well as an urgency to preserve
it.
-working with the other researchers and the
prof who works down there, I also became
re-inspired to pursue biology in academics.
There were so many questions I had, so many
things that I still have to learn. My teachers
in the Amazon: Bastion and Biri Biri and
Dr. Zimmerman helped me come to these conclusions.
* * *
I am using this story because it is a good
example of how experience can shape your
life. And how I have learned so much from
my experiences with the natural world.
I also want to emphasize how many people
have influenced me. Especially my teachers.
In highschool I had a crazy ecology teacher
called M. Raoul who was constantly dumpster
diving, fixing up old bikes in the classroom,
trying to set up a compost for the school,
always making a fuss over the un-environmental
aspects of Kitsilano High. He was funny because
he was different, but he always had our attention.
And I realize that I took his example to
heart, he always was standing up for what
he believed. And he absolutely loved us,
and wanted the best future for us.
When my sister was in his class he organized
an exchange to Cuba, and when she came back
I saw how much she had learned from that
experience-about music and heart, about Communism,
Capitalism and the reality of imbalance of
economics in the world.
When I was in gr. 10, I did a school program
called TREK. It was a one-year program-for
the first half of the year my class of 60
kids were in school, doing the whole year's
academic curriculum. Meanwhile, another class
of 60 were on an outdoor curriculum, learning
how to kayak, swim, do CPR and survive in
the wilderness. They also were learning geography,
history and poetry.
Mid-year the two classes switched.
In the academic half, school was socially
pretty standard, there were cliques of course,
kids who weren't very motivated, some people
skipped classes and didn't take things seriously.
I didn't get to know many people that first
term. Then we switched terms and suddenly
we were in small groups, tackling challenges
where we had to depend on each other to succeed.
The transformations were amazing. I saw some
of my classmates who'd never told a joke
before suddenly find themselves telling stories
around the campfire. People who'd never been
involved in sports climb a mountain on skies.
Kids who'd never be friends otherwise have
to build an igloo together. Hidden leaders
were everywhere, often in the shyest kids
who didn't even know their own abilities.
I am certain that that one year of school
changed many lives. I made some of my greatest
friends in grade 10. And I know that they
also will continue to work to ensure that
nature is part of the future.
I will never forget the teachers that had
so much enthusiasm for the outdoors, and
their love of nature and of showing others
what they loved.
Of course, M. Raoul and the TREK teachers
were constantly struggling with the school
board in one way or another. The TREK program
was always under siege, though it was a very
popular program. I hope they know that their
efforts were not wasted. They are the things
that I learned in school.
I am also telling you the Amazon story because
it made me think a lot about the ways in
which we learn about the environment. The
Kayapo learn about their environment because
their everyday survival depends on it. We
go to the supermarket to get our food. For
the Kayapo, the forest IS their supermarket.
One day Biri Biri and I were in the forest
and I was asking him if every one of the
Mebengnokre knew the forest. He said "of
course. Every Mebengnokre knows about the
forest." They know the forest because
their survival depends on it.
Here in Canada, over 80% of us live in cities.
We don't know nature anymore.
Somehow this lets us ignore it, and abuse
it. We forget that we too, just like the
Kayapo, depend on the existence and health
of forests and rivers.
But perhaps Kayapo and Canadian education
don't have to be so different. One of the
first things that you learn in science class
is the water cycle. And that water is recycled
around the planet and this is the same water
that we all drink over and over again. We
also learn that we are about 65 % water ourselves.
Therefore we depend on the systems in nature
that provide water. A little later you teach
us about the elements, and a special one
called oxygen that we need to breath. Soon
after we learn about something called photosynthesis,
a process which allows plants to make oxygen
for us from the garbage carbon dioxide that
we breathe out. Therefore we depend on these
natural systems in order to breathe.
These are basics we learn in our schools.
Things that you here teach.
Nature is an incredible learning tool.
The balance of organisms is so interconnected
and interdependent that to try to understand
one aspect, you have to learn about many.
I think that it is essential that kids understand
how interdependent we are with elements of
our environment.
If we grow up separate from the life systems
that keep us alive, how will we know to protect
them? How will we strive for what we don't
know? How can we fight for what we don't
love?
* * *
The Teacher's role:
I was honoured when Ms. Dudar asked me to
speak to you today. You are very important
people!
You here have several roles--
I am speaking to you first of all as adults:
people who affect the Earth and the future
of children in every day actions; secondly
as parents: people who are invested in the
future, as guardians of their children; and
finally, as teachers: people who teach the
standards of our society and who educate
young minds. Your role is essential. You
influence many people. You help people learn
about the world.
I think it is a scary thing to think that
perhaps we might be the last generation to
have the relationship to nature as it always
has been. We can learn anything from the
internet, computersc children are increasingly
staying in from the outdoors, and more and
more of us are living in cities. It seems
that society thinks that we can live without
nature. This kind of separation is part of
why we are living unsustainably.
I ask you to bring nature into the consciousness
of your students. Use Nature as a means of
teaching what you have to teach:
science, art, history, economics, politics
And ask: what would a world look like without
natural systems of Earth?
What would a future unsustainable world look
like?
In order to live in outer space, what life-support
systems would we need to create?
Kids easily understand these concepts. But
they have to be exposed to them.
Perhaps you already do this in your classrooms.
I just learned about the first department
of Environmental Education started on this
school board, founded because of some of
you in this room! And I thank you-I remember
those lessons the best. They are effective.
They are so important.
We don't have the immediate forest to learn
from, like the Kayapo, so we have to learn
about the natural world from school.
As people who embody these three roles, you
have responsibility:
As adults you set an example for young people.
As parents you can't give up.
And as teachers: to inspire and bring Nature
into the classroom. You have to continue
your good work, and tie the big picture into
our consciousness.
We must continue to be a society that knows
Nature. And as teachers, you are very influential
in this.
Teaching kids to understand and appreciate
nature may well be a matter of survival.
Thank you for everything you do to get across
to your kids.