Your Successful Mind: 2007

Severn's Message for businessmen
THE ART OF MAKING THINGS HAPPEN
APG International: Amana-key Business Conference
Gran Melia Hotel, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Monday March 5th 2001

RIO VIDEO

Hello, my name is Severn Cullis-Suzuki. I was that 12 year old in Rio in '92.
Since I was invited to speak on this subject because of my involvement with Rio '92, I will tell you the story of how I came to be speaking at the Earth Summit at 12 years old. The story shows how your country has deeply affected my life. I was born into a family that tries to make things happen. My dad was born into it, because as a Japanese Canadian he was interned as a child in Canada during World War II.

My mother has been an activist as long as I can recall, fighting for better school systems and for things that she believed in. Being female, she knows the importance of striving for equality, and being a mother she knows the importance of fighting for a better future.

In 1988, I was eight years old, and my little sister Sarika was five. My parents, at the invitation of Brazilian environmentalists and indigenous peoples, became deeply involved in the fight to stop the building of a series of hydroelectric dams in the Amazon. These dams would flood out hundreds of native villages and thousands of animals and birds.

You might remember the meeting of indigenous peoples in Altamira. The coalition of indigenous people won -- the World Bank withdrew its funding, and the dams have never been built.

I was just a child at home, and remember hearing about it all, while my mum and dad were in Brazil, and thinking how exciting it all was. The victory led to death threats of one of the leaders, a Kayapo man. Because he knew my family in Canada he decided to bring his all his family home with us in Canada until thing calmed down!

Imagine, a stone-age family from the Lower Amazon rainforest coming to the city of Vancouver! They stayed with us for six weeks. In that time, my mom, dad, sister and I traveled all over British Columbia with them, while setting up meetings of strategy and cultural exchange between the Chief and his aboriginal counterparts in the longhouses and smokehouses of British Columbia. We became great friends with them, as we introduced them to snow, the ocean and their favorites: the whales at the aquarium.

The next summer, the family invited us to their tiny village deep in the Xingu valley of the lower Amazon. It was the trip of a lifetime. My sister and I found our friends again, and quickly made friends with the rest of 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 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 and more about the natural world, a desire that has led to years of classroom study in biology. It was in Aukre that I fell in love with the Brazilian forest.

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 - my young heart simply disagreed.

I came back to Canada and 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 we learned a lot. 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 rumours at my house 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, Brazil. 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. Perhaps some of you remember. 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, 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 speech.

You just heard what I said.

I told them I was 12. I told them what was important to me. I told them that 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. I showed them what my values were.

At the end people were standing and crying. The response was enormous, politicians, delegates, even the doorman tearfully thanked us for reminding what was really important. The speech was rebroadcast throughout the summit building.

Who could believe that we complished 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 - full of people who are brave and inspiring.

So. What has happened in the last nine years?

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!

Since then I have given many speeches. I have worked very hard since Rio, traveling all over the world speaking to adults about preserving the environment and world resources for future generations, and to children to encourage them to speak out too. Because of that work I was awarded the United Nations Environment Program's Global 500 award for environmentalism. I also 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 Princess Basma of Jordan and many others. I am still on that commission and I will explain the aims of the Earth Charter later on. I hosted a children's science and Nature series in Canada 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.

Today I am a biology student at Yale University, doing more reading than activism. But I'm studying towards doing research out in nature. I want to back my efforts to conserve biodiversity with scientific expertise and suggestions for more sustainable living. And finally, this summer I will be doing fieldwork at a research station on that same tributary I once visited, the beautiful Xingu in the Amazon. Back to your rainforest that inspired me when I was nine years old. It seems that my life is somehow tied up with your incredible Brazilian rainforest.

I know now that the challenges of the Amazon are not all so straightforward as simply making a speech at the Earth Summit. Now that I'm a ripe old 21, I'm beginning to realize the complexities of issues that we must deal with. I was so angry that the Amazon was being destroyed, but in those days was not aware of the vast poverty and economic realities that drove the burning.

Now, it is the year 2001. I turned 21 last year I am a student in University and starting to think about a professional career and what that means how I want to live my life. I'm trying to decide what my goals are, and in the process, I am learning that the world is not as simple when you're 21 as when you're 12.

Oscar asked me to talk about "the art of making things happen."

What does that mean? How do we make things happen?

1. FIRST THING TO DO: FIND OUR VALUES

Today you have been discussing the purpose of your organizations. Let's look at our purpose as individuals. span>

We are complex beings. We have multi-level identity:
1. Human Beings. We are biological creatures. Animals.
2. Parents, children, people in relationships, members of a community
3. As professionals and businesspeople in the Capitalist economy Let's start at the first level. We are human animals.

- BIODIVERSITY:

When I was 12 I had an idea that humans need other animals to survive. Today I understand that this is need for biodiversity. What does it mean?

First of all, I have been learning at University that the world is a very complex place. There is so much to learn, so many facets of the world. So many sides to each issue. My studies are in the area of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. And while they are teaching me a complexity in nature that I never ever knew existed, I am also learning there are some basics that we can't deny.

I want to talk a little about these things that I am learning, because they are becoming ways for me to find my values, allowing me to make things happen.

Our first identity: we are human BEINGS - most amazing thing is that we're still animals! Our society focuses on the human part. We all know that there is loaded meaning behind thinking of humans as animals; to call someone an animal (pig, chicken, snake) is an insult. We are taught from the time we are very small that we are different from all other creatures, and that we are superior. This is dangerous, because it separates us from the reality of our dependence on the natural world, just like any other animal.

People are distanced from their biological identity, and this superiority gives us a false sense of invincibility in the face of biological crises.

Through my studies I am learning slowly about where we come from, and this strips us from being fundamentally "different" than other animals.

My dad tells me a little story that I want to tell you. Imagine that science has created a time machine.

The Earth was formed 4.6 Billion years ago. Let's go back 4 billion years. Before Life. If we stepped outside the time machine onto Earth, we would not survive two minutes- we couldn't breathe. Earth's atmosphere for the first few billion years was made of gases that are poisonous to us. Somehow, in this airless, waterless environment, life evolved, 3.8 Billion years ago. Life first arose as microscopic bacteria. And eventually, after a billion or so years, one organism evolved that had an amazing capacity-to make oxygen. This organism, cyanobacteria, changed the world's atmosphere! It poisoned the world with Oxygen so that eventually, all the organisms that breathed only CO2 went extinct. They provided the atmosphere that we now depend on.

Life created atmosphere we breathe.

So let's say that we have oxygen tanks. We'd be alright until we got thirsty. But 4 billion years ago we could not have drunk any water. Any water would have been unfit to drink- it is Life that filters the water to make it drinkable. Without life, we couldn't drink.

Say we had brought water with us on the time machine. We'd soon be hungry, but there would be no food-there was no food before life. Everything we eat was once alive. My dad says we are living compost heaps!

So what if we brought seeds to plant for food? We couldn't plant them, because there was no soil on the planet! Soil is created by life. Life creates the stuff we need to grow food in.

What if it got cold, outside of our little time machine? If we'd wanted to make a fire, we couldn't. There was nothing to burn before Life. All of the things that we use for energy, wood, gas, fuel, air, result from eons of Life.

So the point is that the diversity of Life on Earth created the stuff we need to survive, Air, Water, Soil, Energy. Without all the other organisms that replenish our resources, we cannot survive. For all our technology and evolution, we cannot survive without the diversity of the natural world.

WE MUST REALIZE OUR DEPENDENCE ON NATURE and this will help us realize some fundamental values. Some truths that we can't ignore. We are living organisms on planet Earth. We need Earth for our survival.

2. WHERE ARE OUR LIVES IN CONFLICT WITH OUR VALUES

The second part of making things happen after determining what our values are, is finding out: Where in our lives are there conflicts with our values? What are they? This is difficult to do.

At Rio '92 I challenged adults to do this.

Now that I'm in University, I realize that everyone in the world is biased by their upbringing, and even by what they are studying, we are trained to see the world through different perspectives. You can't help it. I'm being shaped by my biology department. But I still have not been molded by taking on a profession, and I still haven't had to worry about making a living. And that was one of the freedoms I had at Rio in 92. I didn't have to worry, my world wasn't clouded by having to make a living. I didn't have to compromise in how I saw the world. My view of the world was pretty straight forward. Now it's not so easy to detach and see what is going on without the background of education, of experience.

There is no such thing as objective observations. WE SEE THE WORLD THROUGH TAINTED LENSES.

So how can we decide where our lives conflict with our values?

In order to challenge the values we have come to have as students, as adults, as scientists, as businessmen, we must remember what it was like to be simple. What it was like to be a child.

We have to stop, and think about WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT to us.

My mother once told me that children are closer to creation. They haven't let go of the connection and love of Nature with all of its puddles, tadpoles, flowers and furry creatures. They understand when people say, these are our brothers and sisters. They are PART of Nature still. I think that sometimes, when we become decision-makers, in complicated work and lives, we forget what's really important. The secret to finding our real values is to remember WHAT and WHO we were as children. Remember all the insects and birds, catching butterflies and looking for frogs in ponds? Remember playing in the grass and climbing trees. Remember how important they were, how you couldn't imagine a world without them. I think in our hearts we KNOW what values, what principles are right. But it is so easy to forget. What I worry is that the adults here may be the LAST generation to have childhood memories of Nature as it always has been. Already, many of my friends who live in the city have no experiences or memories of forests or wild animals at all, and are now really disconnected from Nature.

If you can't remember what your values were as a child, think of your own children's values. Think of your values as parents. What do you want for your children? For their future? Here is where we might recognize what actions, trajectories in our lives conflict with out values. As parents, you must look ahead, and look at the consequences of action.

Which brings me to our role as members of a community. Here in Brazil, as in most countries, we know that there are many problems in communities, problems of poverty and unemployment. The next level of human identity after the fact that we are animals that depend on nature, is that we are members of communities, and that we must take care of our cultures and of our children. We are not only biological, but SOCIAL. We need our communities and societies and culture. And we need to contribute to our communities; we need to be useful. Today you have been talking about the PURPOSE of organizations. Your vision. Amana-key's philosophy agrees that in order to be fulfilled we need to have some higher goals than what is known as economic success. We must make a contribution to our fellow human beings, our communities, to our future generations, to the world.

I mentioned the United Nation's EARTH CHARTER that I have been working on with a team of wonderful people for the last few years. The Earth Charter grew out of Rio 92. I mention this charter because it helps clarify our discussion, It will help us define an international purpose. The 30+ Commissioners who collaborated on this project were from different spheres of the world, from religious leaders to indigenous persons to former presidents. The Commission was brought together to draft up a document that hopes to embody a guideline for acting in accordance to our ethics, our values, when we are dealing with the Earth and other people. The UN will vote to accept it next year. Hopefully it will become a guideline to help us identify the contradictions in our lives with our values, the conflicts that our current actions have on our future.

And finally, WE MUST TAKE ACTION. Once we have defined our values, identified where the conflict in our life and values occur, we must take action. My dad still says, "you are what you do, not what you say." Now we must make things happen.

A good example of Action is the Eco Pledge: In the United States some University students started the ECO pledge. This is a list of companies that have extremely bad environmental track records and policies and the students started a petition that pledged that they would not not to work for those organizations. Today more than 160 000 students have signed the ECO pledge. I heard about it at Yale University, because my roommate Margie has been working very hard with other students on this campaign.

This is a powerful message: it says to the corporations and to the workers within the corporations that their colleagues, many of whom are desirable employees, cannot accept the moral values of the company. By declaring their dedication to work for more sustainable corporations with higher values, the students are challenging the companies to look at their values and make changes. Today in this morning's session, we discussed how having a higher purpose attracts the talented people with choice of who they work for. These students have declared their choice, and their values.

There have also been efforts within many companies from the inside out. Ford Motor company's new Chairman is talking about changes within the company in order to become a leader in sustainability! He says he has recognized that his values as an environmentalist conflict with many of the traditional practices of his automobile company, and has decided to make efforts to change them. His attitude is positive and excited; in a speech to the Ceres Annual conference last year, he said "We have an opportunity to have a major positive impact on society. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity." He will do well if he follows the example of the chairman of Toyota who has taken the lead in producing Gas-Electric hybrid vehicles and supporting environmental work. (TOYOTA EVEN SPONSORED US)

Like Ford, British Petroleum has done what you have been doing today; it has been reassessing its values and its slogan today is "BP- Beyond Petroleum" signifying its dedication to switch from fossil fuels to finding renewable energy. There are many examples of Companies who are trying to make their policies to align with higher purpose, to make a positive difference in the world. This is a big step in the right direction. I hope they keep true to their purpose.

Why am I here today?

I was invited to speak here because of that speech so long ago!

I for one, think that it is pretty amazing that I am standing here, talking about something that I did 9 years ago.

Last night I met Mr. Fritjof Capra who told me he has shown this video at seminars all over; and I know that Mr. Motomura has shown it to Amana-key groups too.

WHY WAS IT SO STRONG?

Though it was simple, there is something that resonates. And after thinking about it as I flew down to Sao Paulo to speak to you today, I think that it is because when a human being acts in accordance with their basic innermost principles, that person is very powerful. Almost invincible.

There is a power in doing something that you believe in, when you have no doubt or conflict with what you are doing. We must find our real, basic values, because once we are working within those values, nothing can stop us. What you are doing here today will help make the world a better place.

(ENDING)

This conference is about new beginnings. In the year 2001, it is time to find leaders. We know that something is wrong with the way humans have been conducting our way of life.

Canada, where I come from, is like Brazil in many ways. It is a huge country, with its population concentrated in the cities. We have a huge forests that we are destroying very quickly. But more relevant to most people, health and the environment is becoming the issue. In the great North of Canada where we have always boasted of having fresh, clean air, we are beginning to see the problems of air pollution- the deaths from air-pollution related diseases is increasing. I know in Sao Paulo there are the same problems, problems of air and water pollution, and that this is represented in the health situation of the cities.

We must look both to the challenges and opportunities ahead.

We must remember and redefine our values, recognize where they conflict in our lives, and take a stand. It is an exciting opportunity.

YOU HAVE THE CHANCE to make new standards for the world. To set an example. To recognize the potential and possibility for leading the world.

I would like to leave you with two challenges for the coming week, and to take away with you when you leave.

The first is to challenge the values that you are given by society, and to try to see the world with the clarity of a child's eyes, but with the expertise and power that you have accumulated in your lives.

My second challenge is to rise to the call for leaders in this new millennium. If everyone in this room went home and started to implement your highest beliefs, Brazil and the world will become a different, better place. Many people think that they are helpless. You are not helpless. You have the world's resources, and best people at your fingertips.<

We need PURPOSE to our organizations, but most importantly, we need purpose to our individual lives. I can't think of a worthier purpose than to try to make change happen. It's an honour to have started with you here today.

If you’re looking to feel great about yourself and your life check out our fabulous audios at www.yoursuccessfulmind.com/products MindRight Programming Tools to put you back in the driver’s seat of your life!

Your Successful Mind

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