NSB Logo David Suzuki David Suzuki

David Suzuki

Speaker

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Award-Winning Scientist, Environmentalist & Broadcaster

Dr. David Suzuki, Co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. He is renowned for his radio and television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences in a compelling, easily understood way.

Keynote Speeches

The Sacred Balance-Rediscovering Our Place in Nature

David Suzuki argues that the real bottom line, and society’s challenge today, is not debts and deficits, but the need to live full and meaningful lives without destroying the Earth’s biosphere, which supports all life. Suzuki explores the physical, social, and spiritual needs that form the basis of any society that aspires to a sustainable future and a high quality life for its citizens. Those fundamental requirements are rooted in the Earth and its life support systems. They are worthy of reverence and respect; they are sacred.

The Challenge of the 21st Century: Setting the Real Bottom Line
Developments in science and technology have resulted in a seismic shift in the way the majority of people live, and we have now undeniably altered the biological, physical and chemical properties of the planet. Traditional people refer to the Earth as their ‘Mother’ and tell us we are made of the four sacred elements: earth, air, fire and water. Today science is now verifying this ancient wisdom – that we are all biological beings with an absolute dependence on clean air, water, soil and sunlight for our well being. Diversity at the genetic, species, ecosystem and cultural level is critical for long-term resilience and adaptability. How do we ensure this? We need a different set of priorities to become our bottom line for evaluating life in the twenty-first century.

The Challenge of the 21st Century: Setting the Real Bottom Line

Developments in science and technology have resulted in a seismic shift in the way the majority of people live, and we have now undeniably altered the biological, physical and chemical properties of the planet. Traditional people refer to the Earth as their ‘Mother’ and tell us we are made of the four sacred elements: earth, air, fire and water. Today science is now verifying this ancient wisdom – that we are all biological beings with an absolute dependence on clean air, water, soil and sunlight for our well being. Diversity at the genetic, species, ecosystem and cultural level is critical for long-term resilience and adaptability. How do we ensure this? We need a different set of priorities to become our bottom line for evaluating life in the twenty-first century.

Audience reviews:

  • The relevance of your views regarding why we have removed ourselves from the natural world and now live in a mosaic of disconnected fragments so that we no longer see what our responsibilities are has given our participants many new ideas to take back to their districts on how to meet these challenges.

    - British Columbia School Superintendents Association
  • He is an inspiring speaker who shows where society can make changes that will matter to everyone.

    - Penn State University

Speaker Biography

David Suzuki PhD, Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. David has received consistently high acclaim for his thirty years of award-winning work in broadcasting, explaining the complexities of science in a compelling, easily understood way.

He is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s popular science television series, The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. His eight part series, A Planet for the Taking, won an award from the United Nations.

His eight-part PBS series, The Secret of Life was praised internationally, as was his five-part series, The Brain, for the Discovery Channel. For CBC Radio he founded the long running radio series Quirks and Quarks, and has presented two influential documentary series on the environment, From Naked Ape to Superspecies and It’s a Matter of Survival.

An internationally respected geneticist, David was a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus with UBC’s Sustainable Development Research Institute. From 1969 to 1972 he was the recipient of the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship Award for the “Outstanding Canadian Research Scientist Under the Age of 35”.

David has received numerous awards for his work, including a UNESCO prize for science, a United Nations Environment Program medal and is a Companion to the Order of Canada. He has 26 honorary doctorates from universities in Canada, the US and Australia. For his work in support of Canada’s First Nations people, David has received many tributes and has been honoured with seven names and formal adoption by two tribes.

David was born in Vancouver, BC in 1936. During World War II, at the age of six, he was interned with his family in a camp in BC. After the war, he went to high school in London, Ontario. He graduated with Honours from Amherst College in 1958 and went on to earn his PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. The author of 52 books, David Suzuki is recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology.