I worry that more and more kids my age are growing up without experiencing the outdoors, which means that fewer will care about the natural world.
Interpretation
The quote expresses concern that children are becoming disconnected from nature, leading to a lack of appreciation for the environment.
Severn Cullis-Suzuki highlights the importance of outdoor experiences for children in developing a connection with the natural world. As fewer kids spend time in nature, there is a risk that future generations will be less inclined to value and protect the environment, which is crucial for sustainability and ecological preservation.
In practice
In a speech about environmental conservation, this quote can emphasize the need for outdoor education.
In school you teach us not to fight with others, to work things out, to respect others, to clean up our mess, not to hurt other creatures, to share, not be greedy. Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do? You grownups say you love us, but I challenge you, please, to make your actions reflect your words.
I am only a child. Yet I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this would be.
I was at Earth Summit in Rio 20 years ago... I was only 12 years old. And when I was speaking to the U.N. I was fighting for my future.
In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.
Fragmentation is a big part of the problem. You have a city where trash is taken away from the curb every week, and you don't see it any more, and you don't have any sense of where water comes from. So there's no sense of responsibility and accountability and there's also no sense of empowerment for our actions.
Nature is, above all, profligate. Don't believe them when they tell you how economical and thrifty nature is, whose leaves return to the soil. Wouldn't it be cheaper to leave them on the tree in the first place? This deciduous business alone is a radical scheme, the brainchild of a deranged manic-depressive with limitless capital. Extravagance! Nature will try anything once.
Every spring I hear the thrush singing in the glowing woods he is only passing through. His voice is deep, then he lifts it until it seems to fall from the sky. I am thrilled. I am grateful. Then, by the end of morning, he's gone, nothing but silence out of the tree where he rested for a night. And this I find acceptable. Not enough is a poor life. But too much is, well, too much. Imagine Verdi or Mahler every day, all day. It would exhaust anyone.
Were I a cloud I'd gather My skirts up in the air, And fly well know whither, And rest I well know where.
Every cent we earn from Crocodile Hunter goes straight back into conservation. Every single cent.
Health is the capacity of the land for self-renewal.
... the open sky sits upon our senses like a sapphire crown - the Air is our robe of state - the Earth is our throne, and the Sea a mighty minstrel playing before it.
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