After 44 years as the face of Canada’s premier science television show, you might expect David Suzuki to feel a bit of sadness and nostalgia as he steps down as host of “The Nature of Things.” It’s not like this.
“So happy,” he laughs over Zoom from his Vancouver office.
“I’m an old dude. This is the next phase of my life. Hell—this is reality.”
Friday night was Suzuki’s last as host of the show, which began in 1960 and has become synonymous with science promotion since he took over in 1979. For nearly four and a half years, he has led Canadians on a journey through topics as bizarre as bugs and animal music to as serious as the Underground Railroad and the fight to preserve old-growth forests.
But Suzuki, 87, said the most important thing he’s learned over the years has nothing to do with the subject matter of his hundreds of episodes.
“Persistence is the most important thing,” he said.
“Television is a medium where the latest thing is wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow .
“The most important thing is to keep getting our message across.”
The message has remained consistent. The show aired its first episode on climate change in 1989. It’s done writing about species disappearance, forest conservation — all of which are in the news today.
“What the hell is going on here?” He was furious. “Why do these problems still exist?”
Suzuki advocated what he called “two-eyed seeing.” Western science and economics are powerful ways of looking at the world, but they are not the only way, he said.
“Science, of course, gives us the best way to measure what’s going on in the world, but you need a bigger context to understand what we’re looking at. That’s the Aboriginal structures that have served Aboriginal people for thousands of years ,”He said.
“Let’s not assume we know enough to manage these things unless we do it on a larger scale.”
Scientists bear some responsibility, he said. Suzuki, once a prominent geneticist, believes that researchers have a responsibility to go beyond the altruistic pursuit of knowledge and to alert their societies to the consequences of what that knowledge means.
He cites the late David Schindler, a prominent water scientist at the University of Alberta who was an early and unwavering voice on the environmental impact of Alberta’s oil sands.
“He was absolutely committed to his science, but then he looked at the implications and used what he knew about the science to advocate for a position,” Suzuki said.
“I think every scientist should be an advocate for taking science seriously and pointing out what science reveals.”
Suzuki himself hasn’t shied away from advocacy, especially when it comes to climate change. In some circles, his name is synonymous with nosy, benevolent environmentalism, and he is a polarizing figure.
Regret his uncompromising approach? Well, one.
“I’m very unhappy,” he said. “I should have been stronger.”
Love it or loathe it, don’t expect that voice to go away. Suzuki may be leaving “The Nature of Things,” but he’s looking forward to a new platform as a vlogger — though details are still sketchy.
In the meantime, the “essence of things,” in his words, will live on. The show will continue under the co-hosts of Anthony Morgan and Sarika Cullis-Suzuki – the latter being his daughter.
“I’m glad there are alternatives,” Suzuki said. “They were great. I had a good run and the most important thing was the series.”
Suzuki has documented more environmental crises than he wants to remember. But he said that experience gave him a unique perspective on the word “hope.”
“Hope is action,” he said.
“If people say, ‘Oh yeah, things are really bad and I hope things go well,’ that’s not hope. That’s hops. That’s giving you an excuse not to do anything.
“If you don’t act, there is no hope.”
Bob Weber, Canadian Press
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