Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s speech before the UN Earth Summit in Rio, Brazil in 1992

Severn Speech: Content

100

Conventions of public awareness speeches: What consequences of environmental destruction did Severn bring her audience’s attention to? Name THREE consequences.

ANY THREE: 

1. Starving children 

2. Animals dying across this planet 

3. Holes in the ozone 

4. Air pollution / Chemicals in the air 

5. Water pollution 

6. Animals and plants going extinct 

200

Factual: What is Severn Suzuki’s main argument for world leaders?  

For world leaders to make the world a better place for her generation / to stop destruction of the earth’s resources

300

Inference: What is Severn Cullis-Suzuki’s tone regarding adults’ hypocrisy?

condemning

Severn Speech: Content

100

Factual: According to Severn, why should adults “stop breaking” the environment?

They don’t know how to “fix” or repair the destruction of the environment 

200

Factual: What are the premises for adults “stop breaking” the environment, regarding Western countries?

Western countries consume too much and waste resources

People in the Western world are not willing to share; poor children in Rio would be generous

300

Reorganisation: Explain the hypocrisy of adults in Severn’s speech.  

The adults tell children to clean up their mess and not hurt other creatures but do the exact opposite of that to the environment. 

Severn Speech: Content

100

Factual: What does Severn suggest that money from Western countries can be used to do?

finding environmental answers, ending poverty and finding treaties 

200

Conventions of public awareness speeches: Severn urges adults to “make (their) actions reflect (their) words”. What “actions” is she referring to?

1. Allocating money to finding environmental answers, ending poverty and finding treaties 

2. Stopping the destruction of the environment 

300

Reorganisation: What ideas from the beginning of her speech are included or expanded in her conclusion?

To change the ways they (adults) behave / act differently

Enter Category Name

100

What consequences of environmental destruction does she expand or extend over the course of the speech? How does she develop these ideas?

1. deforestation, pollution, greenhouse gases, the destruction/extinction of animal and plant species, the waste and greed in our society, children living in poverty

2. using her own experience / anecdotes: life in Canada, time spent with Brazilian children living on the streets

200

Vocabulary: Find a word that means “very great in amount, scale, or intensity”.

Tremendous

300

Is Severn Suzuki engaging in a “soft” sell or “hard” sell of her ideas? What specific language signals this? Does she succeed?

• hard sell

• the use of modal verbs of high modality / certainty