By Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

There’s smart people…and then there’s the knock-down, drag-out brilliant sort that come along once in a lifetime - and fortunately for the rest of us, David Suzuki’s timing is perfect. A full professor for 32 years and author of 43 books, he is still an internationally respected geneticist and professor emeritus with UBC’s Sustainable Development Research Institute. Among other numerous awards, he has received 20 honorary doctorates from Canada, The United States and Australia. First Nations people have honoured him with six names, formal adoption by two tribes, and made him an honorary member of the Dehcho First Nations.

Dr. Suzuki co-founded the The David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, a science-based Canadian environmental organization, focused on four program areas – oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, and the Nature Challenge. Visit the website and sign up for the weekly newsletters. My favorite is Science Matters, where Dr. Suzuki examines how changes in science and technology can affect our lives and the world. Suzuki writes on the topics of the moment, including carbon offsets and biofuels. He also offers an educated, honest but hopeful perspective. Here’s an excerpt from a recent post:

“It means it’s time to dig deeper…We already have the public’s attention, but now we need to get serious about solutions. Large-scale changes [also] require corporate and government leadership. But here, too, individual action can have great power. Politicians and business leaders know the public is concerned, but they are slow to respond unless really pushed. If you really want to make a big difference in 2008 - push them. Push them hard. Change is underway. Real change is happening. Let our leaders know there’s nothing that can stop it.”

Tags: activism, nature, people

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 1:34 pm and is filed under Eco-News, Green Misc., Living Local, Voluntary Simplicity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.