David Suzuki prepares to bid farewell to The Nature of Things: a letter to viewers
‘I leave with confidence that another generation will continue to explore important and exciting stories'
When I graduated from university in the U.S., science was having a heyday and I had a choice: stay in America, where science-related jobs were for the taking, or return to Canada, a country that better suited my values.
I undertook my post-secondary education at Amherst College and then the University of Chicago during the Cold War. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite and sparked the space race — one of the most exciting periods in history. The U.S. created NASA and poured money into science in universities. Even for a foreign student like me, indicating I had an interest in science immediately brought offers of jobs and money.
Nevertheless, I chose to return to Canada in 1962 because I valued our differences from the Americans. Canada, to me, meant Tommy Douglas and the CCF (a legitimate and respected party that would have been tagged as "communist" in the U.S.), and I valued the country for medicare, Quebec, equalization payments, the NFB and the CBC.
When I returned, I was stunned to see how poorly Canada funded scientists. I quickly came to understand why. Newspapers, radio and television reflected the priorities of their audience: politics, business, sports and celebrity. Yet the most powerful factor shaping our lives and society — by far — is science. It influences medicine, the military, industry and more, and its story was not being told.
The show has covered an incredible period of human history
Canadians are very fortunate that the CBC's public broadcasting is entrenched. You pay for it, so its primary responsibility is to inform and entertain you, not espouse a bottom line set by corporations or super-rich media moguls. And ever since 1960, Canadians have had The Nature of Things, a series that has provided entertainment and information on science and all its related areas. None of the major networks has had a comparable series in primetime.
Although I know many in the audience think that I am Mr. Know-It-All, I am not. I have been learning right along with you. I was trained as a geneticist, but ever since childhood, nature and the wilderness have been my love and passion. It has been my incredible privilege to be the host of this priceless series that had already established a large and loyal audience when I arrived, 43 years ago. It provided an opportunity for me to learn so much in so many areas and to share much of what I found out with the public.
When The Nature of Things began broadcasting in 1960, there were three billion people on the planet. Now, we are pushing toward eight billion, and every new addition must be fed, clothed and sheltered, creating a huge ecological footprint. Over the same period, technology — spanning artificial intelligence, gene manipulation, space exploration, nanotechnology and geoengineering — has enabled us to explore, and exploit, the entire planet.
This is the Anthropocene, a period in which we have become the major factor altering the physical, chemical and biological properties of the planet on a geological scale. Our challenge is that as human demand escalates, we are using up more and more non-renewable "resources," like fossil fuels, and exceeding the regenerative capacity of those that are renewable, all while spreading toxic materials throughout the air, water and soil.
The Nature of Things has endured — and will continue to
Powerful as our technologies have become, our demand is too great — and our knowledge too limited — to avoid undermining the elements on Earth that sustain us: the air, water, soil, sunlight captured by photosynthesis, and the diversity of plant and animal species. This is the challenge that The Nature of Things has documented over the years.
We have brought you the wonders of the natural world, the explosion of technological innovation and the consequences of our hyperconsumption. It has all coalesced into crises created by our own species — climate change, massive species extinction and global toxic pollution — that threaten our well-being and existence. Time to act is running out.
With the cauldron of offerings on social media, the internet, and multiple cable and satellite television and radio channels, there has never been a time of greater need for credible, in-depth reporting on science and our world. The Nature of Things represents the "survival of the fittest" in the Darwinian thicket of information.
As I prepare to leave the series, I am excited by many of the themes in this year's offerings, particularly survival: must we take over the atmosphere to engineer climate? How can we protect our last stands of ancient trees? What are the real means of survival in a changing world?
I leave with gratitude for having had the opportunity to be a guide in this world and with confidence that another generation with a younger perspective will continue to explore the important and exciting stories that The Nature of Things has always brought to Canadians.
Thank you for watching.
