Dr David Suzuki has a message for all of us (a must read)

[nosmokes]

original-westender

“The Challenge of the 21st Century: Setting the Real Bottom Line”, the 2008 Commonwealth Lecture in London, England

- Dr David Suzuki

“We have to set a new bottom line, dictated by the reality that we are biological creatures, completely dependent for our survival and well being on clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy and biodiversity.”

I am a born and bred Canadian (although I did spend eight years in the United States for my university education in the 1950s and early ‘60s) and that shapes my perspective on the world. Although Canada is a sovereign nation, the country’s border allows the influx of American movies, television and products that do influence us greatly. We Canadians have struggled to maintain our values and identity in the face of the most powerful nation on earth. So I was proud when Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol in 2002 and I’d like to believe that our ratification influenced Mr Putin to sign on as well and make it international law.



Last year I spent thirty days on a bus going from St Johns, Newfoundland, on the east coast, all the way across Canada to Victoria in British Columbia on the west coast. I spoke in 41 communities to more than 30,000 people and also taped more than 600 interviews with people across the country telling me what they would do for the environment if they were Prime Minister of Canada. What I learned is that Canadians value nature as a part of who we are; they want it protected and they are willing to pay more taxes to do that. They want Canada to meet its Kyoto obligations. They want efficient, affordable public transportation. They want a carbon tax but they also want government and the corporate community to do their share.



When you are cheek to cheek with the United States it is hard to maintain independent values. We now have a minority government that has repudiated our Kyoto commitment and gutted programmes to reduce emissions. I would plead for the Commonwealth to remind my nation that Canada has been a good global citizen and that you expect us to fulfil our promises and obligations in the future.



It may interest you to know that I spent three years in an internment camp in British Columbia for being Japanese-Canadian, despite the fact that I was born and raised in Canada, as were both of my parents. My grandparents immigrated to Canada where they met and married. Yet we were all deprived of our rights of citizenship, lost all of our property, were incarcerated for the duration of the war and then were expelled from British Columbia at its end. So I am sensitive to the rights of the underdog and the fragility of our democratic promises.
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complete article here

[marmar]

1. I've always admired David Suzuki....I grew up watching "The Nature of Things"....

.... (Picking up the CBC is one of the advantages of living in a border state). His word is golden.

K&R :kick:

[pbca]

2. It's a shame what's happening here

Suzuki is one of our true national heros. Sadly he has shown no interest in eletoral politics.

Stephen Harper's conservative govt. (roughly comperable to Clinton Democrats for those unfamiliar) will fall one day soon. Sadly they will probably get another minority. The Liberal party has chosen to make Stephen Dion it's leader and while Dion is smart and passionate he has no charisma what-so-ever. He is simply not a 'leader' (picture Walter Mondale if he was kinda short, skinny, and had a really thick accent) and until he is replaced by someone better the Liberals won't re-take power.