Unless we adopt the environmental wisdom of Indigenous peoples from around the world, mankind will continue to be just another invasive species, said Dr. David Suzuki.
This was the message he delivered to a packed Maht Mahs gym on June 2 during the Celebrating Coastal Connections tour stop in Port Alberni.
Suzuki said Canada’s First Nations have a critical role to play in changing the way we manage our resources and our economy.
“What we do or do not do in the next few years will determine whether we survive as a species,” Suzuki warned.
The scientist gave thanks to the Nuu-chah-nulth people for bringing him into their confidence early in his career.
“Thank you for taking care of the land, for so long and so well. As you heard, my name is Nuchi (Big Mountain). It is the first name I ever received from a First Nations group. Thank you, Simon Lucas. I can’t tell you how much pride I have in wearing that name.”
Suzuki said scientists are now able to trace the spread of early man from Africa by the record of extinguishment of animals and plants in his path.
“Everywhere we lived when we left Africa, we were an invasive species,” he explained. “Back then, we took what we need and moved on, or we stayed in one place and learned how to live in a balanced way with what we had. And I believe those are the roots of Indigenous peoples around the world.”
Like all Indigenous cultures, Canada’s First Nations learned these lessons the hard way, he said.
“That is why First Nations’ knowledge is different, and important, and priceless. It’s ten thousand years of hard-won knowledge that was profound, because it was absolutely critical to their survival.”
Suzuki said this Indigenous wisdom is in direct contrast to the rapacious viewpoint of modern industrial man, who continues to act as an invasive species.
“We are now changing the biological and geological properties of the planet on a scale that is unprecedented. And that is why scientists refer to this as the Anthropocene Era – the period where human beings have become a geological force.”
Suzuki said modern man must remember a few simple but critical points of animal life.
1. If you don’t breathe air for three minutes, you’re dead. If you breathe dirty air, you get sick.
2. If you don’t drink water for four to six days, you’re dead. If you drink dirty water, you get sick.
3. If you don’t eat food for three to six weeks, you’re dead. If you eat contaminated food from contaminated soil, you get sick.
For that reason, he said, people should make clean air, clean water and clean soil absolute priorities. Before sitting down to discuss building pipelines, drilling in sensitive ecosystems or expanding the tar sands, there should be complete agreement that these bedrock priorities will be protected.
“That’s the challenge: to come together to make those decisions. We can’t change the laws of nature. We live in that world.”
By contrast, economics is a human-created construct. Suzuki noted that, ironically, the word itself derives from “ecos,” meaning “household” or “domains.”
“Economists are supposed to manage the earth. But when we get a Prime Minster who says we can’t do anything about climate change because it will destroy the economy, he has elevated the economy above the very air that keeps us alive.”
We cannot change nature, Suzuki said, but we can change human-created systems, such as capitalism, the economy, corporations and markets.
“These are not forces of nature. We invented them. If we can’t change nature – and we’ve got problems with nature – we can change the things that we create. But we cannot continue to shoehorn nature to fit our agenda. That is why we want to put these things back into the discussion as our highest priorities.”
The scientist said that was the goal of the recent seven-week, cross-Canada Blue Dot Tour.
“It was all about reminding people that we all share this tiny blue dot in the cosmos,” he said. The hope is to raise enough public support to pass a constitutional amendment “to enshrine every Canadian’s right to a healthy environment.”
To date, 53 communities from all across Canada have signed declarations supporting such an amendment.
Speaking with Ha-Shilth-Sa prior to his address, Suzuki said the integration of Canada’s First Nations into the mainstream environmental movement has been a game-changer.
“It’s no longer a token, ‘Let’s get the natives in to help us out.’ They are now being looked to lead the battle. And that makes a lot of sense, because First Nations are fighting for control over their traditional territories. And if they’ve lived here for thousands of years, they’re probably going to do a better job taking care of it than non-natives.”
Suzuki said organizers made the decision not to include politicians on the Blue Dot Tour. The intent was to remain a grassroots movement.
But with a federal election set for October, the scientist said he is not shying away from partisan politics. He makes no bones about his opposition to the current Conservative government.
“I think we cannot afford another term of a government that’s not just been anti-science. It’s really been anti-scientific information by shutting down a great deal of the research programs, like the Experimental Lakes area. [A government] that has laid off over a thousand scientists working for government – then insists that whatever is found has to be vetted through a government political lens. This is absolutely unacceptable, because it means the science has no credibility at all. That’s not how science is done.
“We have to make these issues matter to the Canadian public. We have to make them a part of the political agenda.”
As for whether environmental issues will be enough to sway the voting public, Suzuki said one only has to look next door to Alberta.
“All I can say is, ‘who woulda’ thunk that in a province that for 44 years has been Conservative, that they would elect an NDP government?’”
