we are a group of 12 and 13 year olds trying to make a difference

Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me.

We've raised all the money to come here ourselves to come 5000 miles to tell you adults that you must change your ways

coming up here today I have no hidden agenda

I am fighting for my future

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market

I am here to speak for all generations to come

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet

because they have nowhere left to go

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in our ozone

I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it

I used to go fishing in Vancouver my home with my dad

until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers

and now we hear of animals and plants going extinct

every day vanishing forever

in my life I have dreamt of seeing the great heards 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

did you have to worry of these things when you were my age?

all this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions

I am only a child and I don't have all the solutions but I want you to realise, neither do you

you don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer

you don't know how to bring the salmon back up in our dead stream

you don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct

and you can't bring back the forest that once grew where there is now a desert

if you don't know how to fix it please stop breaking it

here you may be delegates of your government

business people, organisers, reporters, or politicians

but really you're mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers

aunts and uncles and all of you are someone's child

I am only a child yet I know that we are all part of a family 5 billion strong

in fact 30 million species strong

and borders and governments will never change that

I am only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world

towards a single goal

in my anger I am not blind and in my fear I am not afraid of telling the world how I feel

in my country we make so much waste

we buy and throw away, buy and throw away

buy and throw away and yet northern countries will not share with the needy

even when we have more than enough we are afraid to share

we are afraid to let go of some of our wealth

In Canada we live the privileged life with plenty of food, water and shelter

we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets

the list could go on for two days

Two days ago here in Brazil we were shocked when we spent time with some children living on the streets

this is what one child told us

'I wish I was rich and if I were I would give all the street children food

clothes, medicines, shelter, and love and affection'

if a child on the streets who has nothing is willing to share why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can't stop thinking that these are children my own age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you a born

that I could be one of those children living in the favelas of Rio

I could be a child starving in Somalia or a victim of war in the Middle East

a begger in India

I am only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on finding environental answers

ending poverty and finding treaties what a wonderful place this earth would be

At school even in kindergarten you teach us how to behave in the world

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?

Do not forget why you are attending these conferences

who you're doing this for

We are your own children

You are deciding what kind of a world we are growing up in

Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying

'Everythings going to be alright, it's not the end of the world and we're doing the best we can'

but I don't think you can say that to us anymore

Are we even on your list of priorities?

My dad always says 'You are what you do, not what you say'

Well what you do makes me cry at night

You grown ups say you love us but I challenge you please make your actions reflect your words

Thank you