“Natural” Solutions with Dr. Suzuki
A geneticist, author and renowned environmentalist, Dr. David Suzuki is known to speak passionately about environmental issues (from protecting forests and oceans to indigenous rights), urging us all to get involved. Dr. Suzuki is Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, an environmental not-for-profit, and he is also known (especially in Canada) for his more than 30 years in broadcasting, which includes the award-winning television series The Nature of Things with David Suzuki.
For the summer issue of TerraChoice’s eQ, we spoke with Dr. Suzuki to find out what lessons he can share with us on our road to sustainability. When we asked Dr. Suzuki what his greatest achievement was, he talked about starting the David Suzuki Foundation and the various accomplishments all of the people involved helped to make. Exciting work and change is taking place at the Foundation, which will have an impact on all types of businesses and workplaces. Here is an excerpt from this interview:
Suzuki – The Foundation is undergoing a very big shift. We’re still going to do specific projects, but we’ve also started a major program of outreach where we’re trying to reach people working in corporations. We work with them to show how you can green the place where you work. We’re reaching out to communities and our focus now is that we want to motivate the motivated to motivate. We want to find people in communities all across Canada who really are keen to work in their own community on some environmental issue. We want to show them the tools that are available. The people and the resources they can use and train them in some way on how you become a local organizer to begin a discussion about an issue. I’m very, very excited about this. [The David Suzuki Foundation is] a small organization. We can’t do everything. But if we can recruit the motivated, train them so that they can go into communities and corporations and motivate their fellow workers or their fellow citizens – that can be a big movement.
What are your thoughts on greenwashing and its pervasiveness among environmental marketing claims on “green” products?
Suzuki – There is a huge amount of greenwashing going on. This is not just now. I remember back in the late 80s when the environment was just as big an issue.
There is a lot of positioning that’s gone on to try and cast a green light on a corporation. But something fundamental has changed. Recently I have been invited into boardrooms that 15 years ago would have locked the door and kept me out. I mean, 15 years ago, I was regarded as the devil incarnate. People did not want to talk to me. Now, corporations from Wal-Mart to Shell, the whole range of companies, are asking me to come and talk to them and they’re listening. To me, that is a fundamental shift. What it means is that, more and more, the corporate community is getting it. This is not going to go away. This is not something you can just pass over and say, “Oh yeah, I care,” and not really mean that.
Another thing a lot of corporations are discovering is, “Holy cow, if we reduce our energy use or our packaging, we’re going to save money.” So they’ve suddenly discovered that this is an economic opportunity. We’ve got a long way to go, but I think it is serious and it’s not going to go away.
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To read more of this interview with Dr. Suzuki, visit the eQ summer edition here: http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/0ef8f8e9#/0ef8f8e9/1.
Also, read about Dr. Suzuki’s latest book, More Good News, which contains stories about sustainable solutions from using coyotes to encourage grass to grow to reforming agriculture and greener jobs in an economy recovering from a recession: http://www.dmpibooks.com/book/more-good-news.