David Suzuki
David Suzuki is a Canadian biologist, zoologist, environmentalist, and science writer whose career has spanned decades of work in genetics, broadcasting, and climate activism.
Born in Vancouver on 24 March 1936, Suzuki attended London Central Secondary School and Leamington District Secondary School before going on to study at Amherst College and then the University of Chicago, where he earned a PhD in zoology in 1961. Two years later, he joined the genetics department at the University of British Columbia as a professor, a position he held until his retirement in 2001.
Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been active in television and radio, producing series, documentaries, and books focused on nature and the environment. He has served as the host and narrator of the CBC Television science program The Nature of Things, a role that brought his work in science communication to a broad Canadian audience. Writing in English, he has worked across multiple formats — journalism, science writing, and books — consistently returning to environmental and natural-world subjects.
Over the course of his career, Suzuki has received a number of honours recognising both his scientific and public work. These include the Kalinga Prize, the Right Livelihood Award, the Companion of the Order of Canada, an honorary doctorate from Laval University, and a place on Canada's Walk of Fame. His ongoing work as a climate activist reflects the same focus on nature and the environment that has run through his broadcasting and writing since the mid-1970s.
Quotes by David Suzuki
David Suzuki's insights on:
If one day I look out from my cabin's porch and see a row of windmills spinning in the distance, I won't curse them. I will praise them. It will mean we are finally getting somewhere.
We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options.
The human brain had a vast memory storage. It made us curious and very creative.Those were the characteristics that gave us an advantage, curiosity, creativity and memory. And that brain did something very special. It invented an idea called the future.
A baby nursing at a mother's breast is an undeniable affirmation of our rootedness in nature
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.
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.
It’s time we stopped ignoring the environment. Let’s not let another election go by without making this a high priority.
Just as human activity is upsetting Earth’s carbon cycle, our actions are altering the water cycle.
That little walk powerfully reminded me that nature is our touchstone. However sophisticated and technologically advanced we may be, we are biological creatures, utterly dependent on her beneficence for clean air, water and food.