As told to Frederick Rocque » ‘I tend to be an early evening go-to-bedder who wakes up to the CBC broadcast at around 6am. Sometimes I wake up around 1:00 am - that’s when I catch up on CBC Overnight, featuring public broadcasters from Germany, Holland, UK and Australia.
David Suzuki. Picture: Al Harvey
It’s a privilege living in Vancouver, right on the Pacific Ocean. It’s a wonderful spot, and I enjoy sitting and looking out on the ocean every day. The ocean is never the same. The light is different, the wind is different and the waves are always different, so as far as I’m concerned I am with nature.
My earliest memories of my connection with nature is when I was four years old. I was very excited when my father bought us a tent and took us camping. Dad was an avid outdoorsman and a naturalist who loved fishing and plants, especially trees. He would bring young trees back and plant them in his garden. We were living in British Columbia and were surrounded by tremendous areas of wilderness. It was just amazing. We encountered wolves and bears, and for me those exciting things were the wonderful part of my upbringing.
I was an active scientist for 25 years and had the largest lab of geneticists in Canada and spent seven days a week in the lab, totally immersed in the world of science. But, as a scientist I also became aware that there were enormous problems in the natural world. Biology and genetics led me into the environment, and that led me into the media, because the media was a way that I could begin to share my concerns and spread the message.
People go through life, and as adults they become set in their ways. Then people like me come along and say, okay you’re gonna have to change – they don’t like that… But they have a weak spot – they love their children. Half the books I’ve written are for children. If children begin to say, “Dad, Mom, I love nature but I’m worried because of this thing called climate change and pollution and I’m depending on you to look out for my future”, then parents have no choice. In a way, I’m using kids to get to their parents.
Another major way of spreading the message is through the David Suzuki Foundation, which my wife and I started in 1990 with a view to looking into what are the root causes of our destructiveness and what we could do to find solutions. Today, we have 65 paid staff and several action teams for fisheries, marine interests, forestry and cities. Each of these formulates strategies on finding solutions and getting the message out there.
They’re doing a lot more than I could ever do on my own. This means I can concentrate on fund-raising and encouraging the team. I spend a lot of my time trying to find funds and support for the Foundation.
For many years I sacrificed time with my family because I felt it was up to me to make a difference, until one night I asked myself: Who the hell do you think you are? You think you’re so important, you’re so critical and you’re going to make the difference. You’re just one person, you’re not going to save the world. Understanding that I’m just one person and that I don’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders was a huge, huge load off my mind. I know I’m not doing this for fame or for money. I’m doing this because it’s about my children and my grandchildren and I just have to do the best I can. If you love your children, that’s what has to drive you.
People look to me for all the answers and frequently come up to me and say, “Thanks a lot David, thanks for everything you’re doing.” It’s not going to come from one person or a small number of people, it’s got to come from everybody. We’ve all got to be involved in finding how to live in a sustainable way.
I involve people by challenging them to act. They ask: “What can I do to help?” My Foundation teamed up with the Union of Concerned Scientists in the United States and we found 10 most effective things that the individual can do. We called it the Nature Challenge. We have over 360,000 people signed up to do some of these very simple things which include: getting informed and getting involved, flying less, using public transport, taking care and sorting your trash, creating an energy efficient home, eating wisely, driving a fuel efficient car and going carbon neutral.
One of the challenges we face is getting the current government to take the climate change issue seriously. Even the opposition parties all have strong climate change programs but the sense of urgency is not there.
Consider the Pearl Harbour disaster where the Americans pooled together and said we’ve got to get our act together in winning this war. There are enormous economic benefits that came out of that collective approach. But we now have what Paul Alex of Stanford has said is “a thousand ecological Pearl Harbours going up at once” and we don’t have that sense of coming together and saying we’ve got to throw everything we have into it. I don’t see that sense of urgency in either the corporate sector or in politics.
I think Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has a very good attitude to the environment but he still harkens to the old way of thinking from Ontario Hydro days - that nuclear is the only solution because the demand for energy is going to continue to rise. I think that they are putting too much emphasis on delivering more and more energy as the demand rises. I know we can reduce this demand, and that’s how the ‘You Have The Power’ campaign came about. The public is hungry to start doing something and they just need to be informed about what they can do. So I went to Dalton McGuinty and said: “Please let me show you that the public is ready to reduce their demand. Allow me to be Mr Conservation and I will do it for nothing.”
The public may not know this but I’m doing all the ‘You Have The Power’ ads for free. The response to the first two ads was unbelievable and had a huge impact after being featured by the Canadian Football League (CFL) during the Grey Cup.
Now that McGuinty’s back they seem keen to continue the program and we are now doing a series of 30-second ads in Ontario. I’m convinced we can get the public to reduce demand for energy.
I have now sent these ads to every Minister of the Environment in the country to either use these ads or make their own similar ads and spread the message. A number of provinces want to start using these ads. I think it’s a great opportunity to get the public to show politicians they will reduce their energy demands. Unlike the previous two ads which were released during the Grey Cup, the next two ads are going to cost money as the government has got to buy air time. What gave the first two ads the power was that they were put right in the Grey Cup and Suzuki seemed funny. People were shocked so it really worked very well.
We’re also going to do more fixed ads. One of them is going to be on buses featuring shots of me on the floor with a caulking gun. That should be very funny. To me this is a very exciting venture.
Dealing with politicians, the media, speaking engagements and my Foundation takes me from one appointment to the next so I don’t have a fixed time for lunch. I normally take an half-hour lunch at a nice Chinese restaurant down the street, but if I go to lunch with visitors, I may take an hour or more. When I’m on the road like in Toronto, I eat wherever I can pick up my food. I go for Chinese and Japanese food, one Toronto favourite is Nami. I also often go down to Spadina and Dundas and eat in the small Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. In Vancouver, I frequent Tojos because the owner is very committed to local seafood. There’s another very good Japanese restaurant, Kibune, right in our neighbourhood. Both Tojos and Kibune support my Foundation. But there are also some other wonderful restaurants – C’s for example – which specializes in local seafood.
My wife and I also believe in preparing our own food. We like to get by with as much local food as we can, so we like to eat at home. And I’ve now learned that I get a great deal of joy in cooking.
When Tara and I were expecting our first child we decided that our children should know that because we live in Canada it’s important to understand the seasonality of food. You can’t eat the same thing for 12 months in a year. We also celebrate the season’s food. For instance, we like cherries, which happen to grow in the Okanagan Valley. So for the past 28 years, every June-end, we take the family and go cherry picking – and pick and eat cherries till we’re sick!
Many of our aboriginal friends live in isolated villages where they don’t get good, fresh food, so we started sending them boxes of cherries. Last year we picked 700 lbs of cherries and sent it to our neighbouring communities who love this tradition. The great thing is that we get it back through packages of fresh salmon, or halibut or herring eggs. This establishes a kind of community network and makes us realize that we are animals who depend on the food that is locally grown. Cherry picking is a kind of celebration and a ritual that’s been very important in the life of our family.
I’ve set aside July and August as sacred family time and I don’t take any outside commitments. I just spend all that time with my family. We do a lot of camping, hiking, canoeing and fishing. We have a cottage on an island in Vancouver and we try to spend a month every year at our cottage.
I’m trying to cut back on flying because it’s one of the biggest polluters which causes emission of a lot of greenhouse gases. Last year, I cut my flying time by half by taking the train between Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal and between Vancouver and Seattle. I used to fly to Australia once or twice a year but I had to give that up. It breaks my heart because I love Australia. Now, when people ask: “Will you speak?” I say yes, but only by video-conference! And it works. It’s great. I did my first one to Australia, then to Ottawa, and later from Montreal to Vancouver.
This also means I’m going to be staying home a lot. The joy of my life is my wife Tara and any time we can be in the same city at the same time is a joyful and very important moment. I plan to spend more time at home with my wife.
And if I really do take three-day weekends I’d like to study Spanish, become fluent in French and perhaps take a geology course and do some wood carving. So there are lot of things to do.
It’s not a full retirement because I will still be going to the Foundation and travelling, but not as much. To me, retirement doesn’t mean sitting back and waiting to die… I’ve got a million things I’ve wanted to do but left for later. The running theme through all of this, whether I’m travelling or at home, is exercise. And I’m kind of a fanatic about going to the gym at least three or four times a week. To me it’s not about looking good, it’s about my health. This crisis of obesity is because we drive five to 10 blocks instead of walking. We’ve got to start putting this body back to work. We need exercise… and we have no business driving our children to school. It really bothers me when cars and SUVs roll up to the schools and out jump these roly-poly little kids. It’s not right!
My daughter Severn was 12 years old when she gave a speech in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, showing that children can have a huge impact. Severn’s speech went straight to people’s hearts and they couldn’t dismiss her. Children have got everything at stake. They’re going to inherit what we leave for them or don’t leave for them, so they’ve got to act because it’s in their own interest.
Youth has power because they don’t have a vested interest. When someone from a tobacco, petrochemical or an oil company speaks, you know right away you’re not going to get the straight goods because they’ve got a vested interest. I hope young people realize the power they have because they speak with the truth that the adults don’t have.
I advise youngsters to convince the two most important people on the planet – their mom and dad - because if they can’t convince their parents to do something, how can we ever expect to convince the rest of the world. Their challenge is to make sure mom and dad understand what the issues are… and they become part of the solution.
Our youth needs to be educated about what the issues are so that when they go out into the real world they will not be like their parents. They will be much more respectful of nature, air, water and soil than we’ve been. They’ve got to be different from us.
The legacy I hope to leave to my grandchildren will be that they will know how to go out and gather food in the woods or catch fish and clean it and cook it. I hope that young people can go out into nature and survive. The world will be richer because such opportunities will exist.
It’s usually a long event-filled day for me and I like to hit the sack by 10pm. I’m not an avid TV watcher, but I generally tend to watch TV when I’m in a hotel and late at night just before I go to sleep. I enjoy watching American football.
«Quote, Unquote»
What I am reading:
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan; The End of Nature by Bill McKibben; The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawken; The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery (very readable); Heat by George Mondiot.
What I am watching:
Away from Her, starring Sarah Polley.
What I am listening to:
Joan Baez, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR), Leonard Cohen, ballads… Well, I’m stuck in a time warp. I’ve got an iPod Shuffle and I can shuffle all I want. I don’t have the desire to get any modern music.
What single fact about me readers might be surprised to know:
That I love Kraft Dinners… Even today, if my wife’s not home and dinner’s not made, I’ll make a Kraft Dinner and eat the whole thing all by myself.
The biggest leadership tip I can give young people:
Respect nature. Learn about environmental issues, and educate future generations.