Quotes by David Suzuki - Page 4

Every breath is a sacrament, an affirmation of our connection with all other living things, a renewal of our link with our ancestors and a contribution to generations yet to come. Our breath is a part of life's breath, the ocean of air that envelopes the earth.
David Suzuki / Professor
Ocean
Air
Earth
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With the world's human population now at seven billion and growing, and the demand for technology and modern conveniences increasing, we can't control all our negative impacts. But we have to find better ways to live within the limits nature and its cycles impose.
David Suzuki / Professor
Technology
Better Ways
Cycles
Demand
Human Population
Impact
Limits
Negative
Population
Seven
Within
Billion
Impacts
Impose
Increasing
Ways
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Humans are an infant species, a mere 150,000 years old. But, armed with a massive brain, we've not only survived, we've used our wits to adapt to and flourish in habitats as varied as deserts, Arctic tundra, tropical rainforests, wetlands and high mountain ranges.
David Suzuki / Professor
Arctic
Brain
Humans
Infant
Massive
Mere
Mountain
Mountain Ranges
Species
Survived
Tropical
Years
Adapt
Armed
Deserts
Flourish
Habitats
Varied
Wits
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The terrible part of this looming catastrophe is that people have been working on solutions for years and have developed concrete steps to massively reduce our energy use, while stimulating whole new industries and technologies that are more efficient and affordable.
David Suzuki / Professor
Technology
People
Years
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We have become a force of nature Not long ago, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, forest fires, even earthquakes and volcanic explosions were accepted as “natural disasters or “acts of God.” But now, we have joined God, powerful enough to influence these events.
David Suzuki / Professor
Earthquakes
Fire
Powerful
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Our beliefs, our values shape the way we look out at the world and the way we treat it. If we believe that we were here, placed here by God, that this - all of this creation is for us, it's for us to go and occupy, dominate and exploit, then we will proceed to do that.
David Suzuki / Professor
Believe
Creation
Looks
Values
World
God Believe World
Beliefs
Here
Dominate
Exploit
Occupy
Placed
Proceed
Shape
Treat
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The increasing frequency of extreme weather events, droughts and floods is in line with what climate scientists have been predicting for decades - and evidence is mounting that what's happening is more severe than predicted, and will get far worse still if we fail to act.
David Suzuki / Professor
Climate
Decades
Events
Evidence
Frequency
Severe
Weather
Act
Extreme
Droughts
Fail
Far
Floods
Happening
Increasing
Line
Mounting
Predicted
Scientists
Worse
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If you're not being pessimistic, you're not being very realistic. But I think one must always have hope, and when you have children, of course, you have no choice but to work your tail off to try and protect the future for your children. And that is infused by hope in the end.
David Suzuki / Professor
Pessimistic
Protect
Realistic
Future Work Hope
Choice
Work Future Hope
In The End
No Choice
Tail
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So we draw lines around our property, our counties, our cities, our states, our countries. And, boy, do we act as if those lines are important. I mean, we go to war. We will kill and die to protect those boundaries. Nature couldn't give two hoots about our national boundaries.
David Suzuki / Professor
War
Country
Mean
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Just as fossil fuels from conventional sources are finite and are becoming depleted, those from difficult sources will also run out. If we put all our energy and resources into continued fossil fuel extraction, we will have lost an opportunity to have invested in renewable energy.
David Suzuki / Professor
Opportunity
Running
Becoming
Conventional
Difficult
Energy
Extraction
Finite
Fossil Fuel
Fuel
Lost
Renewable Energy
Resources
Also
Run
Depleted
Fossil
Invested
Put
Renewable
Sources
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We must pay greater attention to keeping our bodies and minds healthy and able to heal. Yet we are making it difficult for our defences to work. We allow things to be sold that should not be called food. Many have no nutritive value and lead to obesity, salt imbalance, and allergies.
David Suzuki / Professor
Greater
Heal
Healthy
Imbalance
Mind
Obesity
Salt
Allow
Bodies
Lead
Minds
Sold
Value
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Many organic practices simply make sense, regardless of what overall agricultural system is used. Far from being a quaint throwback to an earlier time, organic agriculture is proving to be a serious contender in modern farming and a more environmentally sustainable system over the long term.
David Suzuki / Professor
Agriculture
Long
Practice
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Exxon, one of the companies that has spent tens of millions of dollars denying climate change, denying any responsibility to deal with, taking government subsidies on a massive scale, now their ads are all about, 'Oh, we want a clean future. We're looking at clean energy and all that stuff.'
David Suzuki / Professor
Ads
Clean
Clean Energy
Climate Change
Dollars
Massive
Millions
Responsibility
Subsidies
Scale
Companies
Denying
Millions Of Dollars
Spent
Tens
Tens Of Millions
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Some argue we should get coal, oil and gas out of the ground as quickly as possible, build more pipelines and make as much money as we can selling it here and abroad. Their priorities are the economy and meeting short-term energy needs so we can live the lives to which we've become accustomed.
David Suzuki / Professor
Accustomed
Coal
Economy
Energy
Gas
Needs
Oil
Priorities
Selling
Short Term
Build
Abroad
As Much Money
Possible
Ground
Meeting
Quickly
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Too often, governments are quick to use excessive force and even pervert the course of justice to keep oil and gas flowing, forests logged, wild rivers dammed and minerals extracted. As the Global Witness study reveals, citizens are often killed, too - especially if they're poor and indigenous.
David Suzuki / Professor
Citizens
Forests
Gas
Indigenous
Minerals
Oil
Rivers
Witness
Wild
Excessive
Extracted
Flowing
Governments
Quick
Reveals
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We are upsetting the atmosphere upon which all life depends. In the late 80s when I began to take climate change seriously, we referred to global warming as a "slowmotion catastrophe" one we expected to kick in perhaps generations later. Instead, the signs of change have accelerated alarmingly.
David Suzuki / Professor
Life
Atmosphere
Upset
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My parents survived the Great Depression and brought me up to live within my means, save some for tomorrow, share and don't be greedy, work hard for the necessities in life knowing that money does not make you better or more important than anyone else. So, extravagance has been bred out of my DNA.
David Suzuki / Professor
Depression
Dna
Extravagance
Great Depression
Greedy
Hard Work
Mean
Share
Survived
Tomorrow
Life Work Money
Within
Anyone
Anyone Else
Bred
Brought
Parents
Necessities
Save
Work Hard
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The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.
David Suzuki / Professor
Diet
Health
Alzheimer
Cancer
Diabetes
Disease
Energy
Exercise
Healthy
Healthy Diet
Heart
Heart Disease
Literature
Moving
Muscles
Oil
Risk
Bodies
Effective
Evolved
Instead
Move
Problems
Reduce
Stroke
Tells
Ways
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On December 7, 1941, an event took place that had nothing to do with me or my family and yet which had devastating consequences for all of us - Japan bombed Pearl Harbour in a surprise attack. With that event began one of the shoddiest chapters in the tortuous history of democracy in North America.
David Suzuki / Professor
America
Democracy
Japan
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There are more humans than all of the rabbits on earth. There are more of us than all the wildebeests, than all the rats, than all the mice. We are the most numerous mammal on the planet. But because we're not like rabbits or rats or mice, we have technology, we have a consumptive appetite, we have a global economy.
David Suzuki / Professor
Technology
Appetite
Earth
Global Economy
Humans
Mice
Rabbits
Rats
Global
Mammal
Numerous
Planet
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Humans are distinguished from other species by a massive brain that enables us to imagine a future and influence it by what we do in the present. By using experience, knowledge and insight, our ancestors recognized they could anticipate dangers and opportunities and take steps to exploit advantages and avoid hazards.
David Suzuki / Professor
Anticipate
Distinguished
Hazards
Humans
Insight
Massive
Species
Steps
Advantages
Ancestors
Avoid
Dangers
Enables
Exploit
Recognized
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What permaculturists are doing is the most important activity that any group is doing on the planet. We don't know what details of a truly sustainable future are going to be like, but we need options, we need people experimenting in all kinds of ways and permaculturists are one of the critical gangs that are doing that.
David Suzuki / Professor
Groups
Important
People
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The government's desire to expand global trade may be understandable, but we mustn't give away too much. We must tell our elected representatives to at least delay the Canada-China FIPA until it has been examined more thoroughly, and to reconsider the inclusion of investor-state arbitration mechanisms in all trade deals.
David Suzuki / Professor
Government
Arbitration
Deals
Delay
Desire
Giving
Inclusion
Representatives
Too Much
Away
Government May Must
Elected
Examined
Expand
Global
Least
Mechanisms
Reconsider
Tell
Thoroughly
Understandable
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If we want to address global warming, along with the other environmental problems associated with our continued rush to burn our precious fossil fuels as quickly as possible, we must learn to use our resources more wisely, kick our addiction, and quickly start turning to sources of energy that have fewer negative impacts.
David Suzuki / Professor
Environmental
Addiction
Energy
Environmental Problems
Fewer
Global Warming
Impact
Negative
Resources
Associated
Burn
Turning
Possible
Continue
Fossil
Fossil Fuels
Fuels
Global
Impacts
Learn
Precious
Problems
Quickly
Rush
Sources
Start
Warming
Wisely
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It doesn't give me any satisfaction to think that my concerns will be validated by my grandchildren's generation. I would love to be wrong in everything. My grandchildren are my stake in the near future, and it's my great hope that they might one day say, 'Grandpa was part of a great movement that helped to turn things around.'
David Suzuki / Professor
Give Me
Grandchildren
Movement
One Day
Satisfaction
Love Future Hope
Concerns
Generation
Helped
Near
Stake
Validated
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The fact of the matter is that today, stuff-selling mega-corporations have a huge influence on our daily lives. And because of the competitive nature of our global economy, these corporations are generally only concerned with one thing - the bottom line. That is, maximising profit, regardless of the social or environmental costs.
David Suzuki / Professor
Environmental
Cost
Lines
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Economics and a reliance on science and technology to solve our problems has led to an unsustainable situation where continued growth in consumption is required for governments and business to be considered successful. This is a form of insanity. Economics is at the heart of our destructive ways and our faith in it has blinded us
David Suzuki / Professor
Technology
Heart
Successful
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It is clear that while science provides insights into the complexity of the world around us, those insights...present a fractured mosaic rather than a seamless whole. There are profound limits to science that must be recognized if we are to minimize the destructive consequences of using the powers provided by scientific discovery.
David Suzuki / Professor
Truth
Discovery
Profound
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Our most fundamental social need, it turns out, to my amazement, is love. Now, I'm not a hippie-dippie whatever. If you look at the literature, our most fundamental need for children is an environment of maximum love, and that they can be hugged, kissed, and loved. That's what humanises us and allows us to realise our whole dimension.
David Suzuki / Professor
Amazement
Environment
Literature
Maximum
Social
Turns
Whole
Loved
Dimension
Whatever
Fundamental
Realise
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I always felt that if someone shot me, it would be great for the environmental movement, because they would make me a martyr. Our biggest fear was our children, because there was a tremendous amount of threat and intimidation, and my wife was terrified that the children might be grabbed or assaulted in some way. That was the real fear.
David Suzuki / Professor
Environmental
Amount
Intimidation
Martyr
Might
Movement
Terrified
Assaulted
Shot
Biggest
Tremendous
Environmental Movement
Grabbed
Tremendous Amount
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Over and over, the economy has determined the extent of our response, but how much value does it place on breathable air, drinkable water, edible food and stable weather and climate? Surely the economy is the means to a better future, not an end in itself. Surely it must be subordinate to a rich, diverse ecosphere that sustains all life.
David Suzuki / Professor
Better Future
Climate
Determined
Diverse
Response
Stable
Weather
Edible
Extent
Subordinate
Surely
Sustains
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Despite the international scientific community's consensus on climate change, a small number of critics continue to deny that climate change exists or that humans are causing it. Widely known as climate change "skeptics" or "deniers," these individuals are generally not climate scientists and do not debate the science with the climate scientists.
David Suzuki / Professor
Science
Community
Small Numbers
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Salmon farming-the placement of large metal or mesh net cages in the ocean to grow fish-was pioneered in Norway in the 1960s. Since then, the industry has expanded to Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the US, and Chile, but is dominated by the same multinational corporations. Wherever it is practiced, net-cage salmon farming is controversial and raises serious environmental concerns.
David Suzuki / Professor
Ocean
Environmental
Scotland
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We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
David Suzuki / Professor
Life
Strong
Thinking
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Because we aren't certain about the effects of GMOs, we must consider one of the guiding principles in science, the precautionary principle. Under this principle, if a policy or action could harm human health or the environment, we must not proceed until we know for sure what the impact will be. And it is up to those proposing the action or policy to prove that it is not harmful.
David Suzuki / Professor
Gmos
Guiding Principles
Impact
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Wind power, if not properly planned and sited, can harm birds and bats (although Danish studies of 10,000 bird kills revealed that almost all died in collisions with buildings, cars and wires; only 10 were killed by windmills). Alternative energy sources are absolutely necessary. Global warming will kill birds and bats, as well as other species, in much greater numbers than wind power.
David Suzuki / Professor
Car
Numbers
Wind
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I see a world in the future in which we understand that all life is related to us and we treat that life with great humility and respect. I see us as well as social creatures, and when I began to look back and say, ‘what is the fundamental bottom line for us as social creatures?’I couldn’t believe it because it seemed so hippy dippy, but it was Love. Love is the force that makes us fully human.
David Suzuki / Professor
Believe
Humility
Love Is
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How do commercial interests usually protect themselves from liability claims? Through insurance. In fact, in our society, the litmus test for safety is insurance. You can be insured for almost anything if you pay enough for the premium, but if the insurance industry isn't willing to bet its money on the safety of [biotechnology], it means the risks are simply too high or too uncertain for them to take the gamble.
David Suzuki / Professor
Mean
Risk
Safety
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The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If a mountain is a deity, not a pile of ore; if a river is one of the veins of the land, not potential irrigation water; if a forest is a sacred grove, not timber; if other species are biological kin, not resources; or if the planet is our mother, not an opportunity -- then we will treat each other with greater respect. Thus is the challenge, to look at the world from a different perspective.
David Suzuki / Professor
Nature
Opportunity
Mother
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My Prime Minister regards the economy as our highest priority and forgets that economics and ecology are derived from the same Greek word, oikos, meaning household or domain. Ecology is the study of home, while economics is its management. Ecologists try to define the conditions and principles that enable a species to survive and flourish. Yet in elevating the economy above those principles, we seem to think we are immune to the laws of nature. We have to put the ‘eco’ back into economics.
David Suzuki / Professor
Home
Law
Thinking
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Human use of fossil fuels is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere; oceans are polluted and depleted of fish; 80 per cent of Earth's forests are heavily impacted or gone yet their destruction continues. An estimated 50,000 species are driven to extinction each year. We dump millions of tonnes of chemicals, most untested for their biological effects, and many highly toxic, into air, water and soil. We have created an ecological holocaust. Our very health and survival are at stake, yet we act as if we have plenty of time to respond.
David Suzuki / Professor
Ocean
Air
Years
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There are some things in the world we can't change- gravity, entropy, the speed of light, and our biological nature that requires clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy and biodiversity for our health and well-being. Protecting the biosphere should be our highest priority or else we sicken and die. Other things, like capitalism, free enterprise, the economy, currency, the market, are not forces of nature, we invented them. They are not immutable and we can change them. It makes no sense to elevate economics above the biosphere.
David Suzuki / Professor
Air
Light
Water
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