Suzuki Urges An End To Our 'Suicidal' Path

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Dr. David Suzuki delivers the keynote address at the NMPT fundraiser

World-renowned scientist and environmentalist, Dr. David Suzuki, did not mince words in his lecture to the approximately 650 people attending the Northern Medical Programs Trust fundraiser at the Civic Centre last night, saying we’re on a collision course with disaster when it comes a sustainable future.

The crux of the crisis, according to Dr. Suzuki, is that we’ve elevated economics above all else, at the expense of the earth’s ecosystems.

"All of our so-called leaders are telling us "we’ve got to keep the economy growing, we’ve got to have more." I’m telling you we’ve got to hasten what is a suicidal path because nobody asks the question that’s important: How much is enough?  Why do we need all that growth?"

Dr. Suzuki says the rampant consumerism that began after the Second World War is continuing unabated.  "To me, one of the most embarassing statistics in Canada is, in the last 40-years, the average size of a Canadian family has decreased by 50-percent, but in that same period, the average size of a Canadian house has doubled." 

"Why do we need all that space? because we have all that stuff to put in it, that’s why. The average house being built in Canada today has one bathroom per person living in the house."

"Our consumption adds to (our ecological) footprint," says Suzuki,  "In the 1950’s, ’consumption’ meant wasting away from tuberculosis.  Today, earth is suffering from consumption:  human consumption."

Dr. Suzuki says when you add up the sheer numbers of people on the planet -- 6.5-billion -- with the technology being used, our consumption demands and our global economy, you have"a new kind of force that has never existed on earth: a single species able to alter the physical, chemical and biological features of the planet on a geological scale.  I call it the ’super species’, there’s never been a single species able to alter the earth as we are doing today."

Suzuki says that Canadians have very quickly become concerned about the impact of climate change, "but I would suggest we’ve been kind of dreaming and ignoring the warning signs, the drumbeat of scientists that have come on, because over and over again our so-called leaders in politics, business and the media have been telling us the economy is the bottom line.  We’ve got to sacrifice for the sake of the economy."

With the term "eco" now being used to mean "green" as in eco-forestry and eco-tourism, Suzuki says it’s time to put the "eco" back in economics.  

He says he remembers when Pearl Harbour was bombed, the Americans didn’t roll over and say they couldn’t afford to fight the Japanese.  "There was only one choice -- they had to pour everything into it and win it, and they did."

"We’ve got 100 ecological Pearl Harbours going off at once and I’m sick and tired of hearing politicians act as if it’s just ’til the next election then we can do something.  This is urgent and we have to act accordingly."

Email | Print | Facebook | Twitter | Digg | Del.icio.us