Famed-environmentalist David Suzuki believes the way humans see the world is driving the planet toward an unsustainable future.
Suzuki delivered his Legacy Lecture - based on the premise: "If I had one last lecture to give, what would I say?" - to an audience of over 700 people at the University of Alberta on 20 Sep 2010. The lecture was put on in part to help promote his movie, Force of Nature.
Suzuki's lecture covered his views on how humans are changing the world without realising the consequences.
"Human beings actually think they can have an economy that will grow forever and nobody asks what are the limits or how much is enough," he said. "We have created the illusion that everything is all right by using the rightful legacy of our children and grandchildren. We call it 'progress'."
Suzuki was critical of the idea that the economy and the environment are mutually exclusive and stated that markets don't include the necessities of life. He went on to say that humans are ultimately constrained by science and not by markets.
"In our economic system, those trees, as long as they're standing, are taking carbon dioxide out of the air and putting oxygen back in - not a bad service for an animal like us. But economists call that an 'externality'," he said. "If we want to stay healthy and live well, we need to have clean air, clean water, clean soil that gives us our food. Those are absolutely crucial to our well-being.
"Other things: Capitalism, free enterprise, economy, currency, corporations, markets: these aren't forces of nature. We invented them, for God's sake. The last thing you want to do is bow down before them before [you bow down to] the laws of physics," he continued.
Suzuki said that this attitude comes from putting economy before ecology - a development occurring in part from mass immigration from farms to cities during the twentieth century, which made people less connected to the environment. He maintained that the way in which people see the world ultimately affects the way they act upon it.
"In a hundred years, we've gone from being a farmer to a big city dweller. And in a big city, it's very difficult to think that you're part of the natural world. Nature is something that seems far away when you live in a big city. In a big city then, your priority is your job. I have to work to make money so that I can buy the things that I need."
He added that the way governments put the economy before the environment, and measure everything based on markets and borders, will hamper international climate change agreements.
"We draw lines around our cities, we draw lines around our provinces and our country, and we try to manage nature through all of these various lines and boundaries. Nature couldn't care less about human borders."
Calling upon the audience to change their attitudes toward nature, Suzuki emphasized the potential of change in the future.
"We have to imagine a future where we live, work and play is all there, where you want to go out in the street because that's where the action is in your neighborhood. These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas. In fact, these are all being done or tried in different parts of the world. These are real things that let us dream of what is possible. Let us come together behind that goal and really show that our species is capable of great things."
Reference: http://media.www.brockpress.com/media/storage/paper384/news/2010/10/13/Business/Economy.Cannot.Be.Prioritized.Over.Ecology.Suzuki-3944227.shtml
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