David Suzuki on what gives him hope
The actions of countless ‘ordinary’ people is our way forward, says David Suzuki
After 44 years, David Suzuki is retiring as host of The Nature of Things. In Suzuki Signs Off, his final episode, he explores new ways of expressing his ideas, meets up with some neighbours, shows us how global problems are being expressed in his own backyard, and attempts to reconcile the two great influences in his life: science and Indigenous culture.
I'm often asked where we can possibly find hope when politics and corporate priorities are steering the world along a destructive path.
As an elder, I've lived through generations of promises from politicians and corporate executives. It's become clear to me that words are easy to use to deceive, cover up and rationalize. The only measure of sincerity and commitment to anything is the track record: what has been done, not what has been said.
Judged that way, the overwhelming priority given to corporate agendas and politicians' eagerness to serve them are evident, and this can lead to profound cynicism. Having hope might simply seem like a way of avoiding a brutal reality.
But hopelessness engenders inaction: "What's the point?" "It's too late," or "I give up."
And without action, we end up disempowered by a sense of insignificance.
Action is hope
Those who try to bring about change through their own actions clearly believe in what is possible.
Where can we find hope? My children and now my grandchildren inspire my actions. They compel me to act so that when I am dying — I hope I will still have my senses — I can tell them: "I love you. I'm only one person, but I did the best I could for you."
I am also driven by the knowledge that we simply don't know enough to say, "It's too late." When the Fraser River sockeye salmon run collapsed in 2009, no one knew why. A commission was set up to determine the cause, and to this day we don't know the answer. But in 2010, just one year later, the largest run in nearly a century occurred.
Nature shocked us. If we can curb our demands on nature, I feel confident there will be more surprises in store for us.
Every one of us has an impact to make
The greatest example of love, generosity, hard work and kindness that I know of is my late mother. My most important role model and mentor was my father. Both of them will disappear from human memory when my grandchildren die, so why would I aspire to be remembered any more than they will be?
Three famous men who have inspired me, and millions of others, are Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. While they made great impacts through their own action, their prominence was made possible through the support, sacrifice and suffering of countless others who were just like my parents.
I am inspired by those so-called ordinary people — unknown individuals too numerous to count — whose actions, small and big, attest to the fundamental goodness and worthiness of human beings.
