In 1992, 12-year-old Severn Suzuki from Canada addressed the plenary session of the Earth Summit.
"At school, even in kindergarten," she said, "you teach us how to behave in the world. You teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect other, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share -- not to be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?"
Beginning with Aldo Leopold and Rachel Carson, hers was yet another reminder that the work humanity needs to do is less about practical solutions, more about what kind of people we really are.
