Rio+20: The Young Can’t Wait
13 June 2012
by William S. Becker
It was 20 years ago this month that Severn Suzuki, then 12, gave the speech of her life. As she stood on the podium at the first Earth Summit, Severn's admonition to dignitaries from 178 nations also became the speech of her generation.
The topic was sustainable development. The place was Rio de Janeiro, where heads of state, delegates and negotiators assembled to consider how humankind and the rest of the natural world could co-exist, to the everlasting benefit of both.