Who’s Who in Green: David Suzuki

David Suzuki is one of the world’s most prominent green leaders and has been named a ‘Hero of the Environment’ by TIME Magazine. The Canadian science broadcaster and environmental activist is well known for his TV and radio series and books about nature and the environment, and has long been host of CBC Television series The Nature of Things.

Suzuki began his career as Canada’s premier young geneticist and award-winning bench scientist, becoming a professor at the young age of 33, but ultimately found himself drawn to environmentalism. He made a second career for himself of creating nature documentaries for television and radio, and The Nature of Things – which began its run in 1979 – has aired in 50 countries around the world.

But Suzuki is more than a beloved television host – he’s also a long time climate change activist, working to reverse global warming and protect the Earth. He co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, which works to “find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us”, and has also been a prominent proponent of renewable energy and sustainable living.

His passion for global warming activism has done as much for his image as a green guru as his hosting duties. In recent years, Suzuki has spoken out again and again for the need to act on climate change, controversially urging college students to find a way to jail political leaders for ignoring science in February of 2008.

Suzuki has been honored with Canada’s most prestigious award, the Order of Canada Officer as well as Order of British Columbia and UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for science. He has been nominated as one of the top ten greatest Canadians by viewers of CBC, finishing fifth – and the four Canadians ahead of him on that list are all dead. Suzuki is also the recipient of the Bradford Washburn Award, presented by the Museum of Science in Boston.

David told Natural Life Magazine why he feels it’s important to target children with environmental education:

The lesson to me is that adults don’t want to change. People – especially people in positions of power – have invested a tremendous amount of effort and time to get to where they are. They really don’t want to hear that we’re on the wrong path, that we’ve got to shift gears and start thinking differently. And I understand that. After you’ve worked for a little nest egg, you don’t want to change.

Children haven’t invested time or effort into the status quo. They’re completely open. Now the problem is that children are going to take another 20 or 30 years to replace us and we don’t have 20 or 30 years. But I feel the one vulnerability adults have is their children. Even the most rabid right-wing conservative bastard loves his children and if you love your children you are vulnerable. If a child says, “Dad (or Mum), I’m really worried. What kind of a future am I going to have? What are you doing to help my future?”, parents have to respond. You have no choice. So the hope in this kind of endeavour is that children singing it around the house are going to effect mum and dad.

David Suzuki’s Green Score: 67,849

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