It's been a wild ride this week at the David Suzuki Foundation. The National Post blasted Dr. Suzuki with a series of accusations that he's out to lock up his critics (totally wrong) and even that the Foundation's Carbon Neutral program is part of "grand plans for global control." (We actually like this idea.)
Is the Post working its own agenda? You be the judge. Here are Dr. Suzuki's original speaking notes and a response from the editors of the McGill Daily, whose coverage of Suzuki's speech launched the whole brouhaha.
The situation reminds me of Gandhi's famous aphorism: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you.. and then you win."
Has The National Post correctly reported Dr. Suzuki's speech, or do you think they're barking up the wrong tree? Share your comments with us.
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Elijah van der Giessen
Outreach Coordinator
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The Swiss Initiative: How to Clean Up the Planet
I have a great idea to save the environment and clean up Vancouver for 2010!
I don't know whether or not you have ever been to Switzerland, but the streets are so clean and beautiful that you don't even see a cigarette butt on the sidewalk. One could probably even eat off the pavement! I have an easy, free, fun idea for making Vancouver as clean as Switzerland by 2010! I call it the Swiss Initiative and I practice it myself everyday.
Everyday when I am out on my daily walk I pick up one piece of rubbish and put it in a garbage bin. If everyone in Vancouver picked up just one piece of rubbish everyday, it's my theory that within 3 years Vancouver would be as clean as Switzerland!
With a bit of luck we might even make it by 2010!
The Swiss Initiative takes no time out of one's day, costs no money and could easily result in all of us appreciating the true natural beauty of our home town for the Olympics and beyond! In addition it leaves you with a good feeling, knowing you have done something every day to help the environment and beautify the city.
Do it yourself! Tell all your friends! Practice the S.I., Swiss Initiative, everyday and celebrate a spotless Vancouver for 2010!
One piece a day sends the rubbish away!
Cheers!
Felicity :)
Felicity Fane, Ph.D.
James Gates
David: Part of what I don't understand from the global warming experts is that many of them are saying it is caused by ever-increasing CO2 emissions. If CO2 emissions are causing the climate change then it makes sense to me that the CO2 is also displacing O2. If so; wouldn't it make sense to plant trees or save mature forest in the developed countries, such as the US? Only trees convert, in large quantities, CO2 to O2. Nothing else does; as much as trees. Why not plant more trees or save mature forest from harvest and timber mills? If you dont plant a tree today you will not have a mature tree in the future. All the talk about green energy projects or alternative energy does nothing to replace the O2 that has already been burnt or converted to CO2. Alt. energy is great but it does not produce the O2 that we breath or that keeps us alive. If we don't save mature forests and plant more trees are we not suffocating ourselves and our children?
David, shouldn't the Gold Standard include saving forests and planting trees in developed countries like the US? If so then why are people saying to exclude it?
Adrian
Plans for "Global Control"?
No wonder Suzuki is having a hard time getting some people to make sense. If members of a respected profession such as newspaper reporters can fall so deeply into paranoid, delusional fugues whenever he speaks, it's going to be damn near impossible to get people to hear and understand.
Wow. You'd think he was a communist dictator instead of a wandering activist, trying to save us from ourselves.
Mike D.
The National Post has always tried to discredit David Suzuki. It's nothing new. But the headline does grab attention, which is more likely to sell newspapers.
lora bruncke
I know Gandhi was right about most things!
I think we are close to the win!
Go Suzuki and team!
I'm with you!
The Nature of Man
Inspired by Dr. David Suzuki
The nature of man has to mature for how long?
Any abuse tears my heart from my song!
Women and men don't play for the same side
To best raise our children and all those world wide.
One man and one woman and maybe kids alone,
Or one parent with kids, or one alone by the phone,
Is a way of life that takes wealth from others,
And pollutes the planet, bringing misery to mothers.
The charming fairy tale must been broken asunder.
It is time for restitution, or we will go under.
Our lifeline is dying, our kids will submit,
The cost of survival - Spend it or shred it!
We can't take it with us. Let the payback begin.
The nature of man is to fight and to win!
Love Lora Bruncke
Eli van der Giessen
DeSmogBlog has a great response to the article. You can find it at: http://www.desmogblog.com/national-post-rabid-response-team-assails-suzuki-over-jail-quote
Jason in Toronto
Jason in Toronto wrote me with the following comments:
I just read the article by peter foster of the financial post in which he calls Dr. Suzukis carbon neutral program "the greatest threat to freedom since the rise of Communism" and, hyperbole fans aside, I don't see how anyone could stomach this insane ranting. The most telling section outlines the dark and devious trail that leads to the Suzuki foundation's support of (brace yourself) "a wind farm in Madagascar, a hydro project in Indonesia, and a biomass plant in India". Who knew that dr. Suzuki would allow his organization to get mixed up in such disreputable dealings! Its shocking to think that an environmental organization would support environmentally minded projects Then again, I guess its naive to think that a fiscally minded rag would do anything but support its own immediate and short sighted interests.
Cyrus in Montreal
From an email to the Foundation:
It actually comes dangerously close to being a straight-up smear article. It's repugnant. If i had extra time at all i would write a letter of indignation and disgust (not that it would matter; it is, after all, THE NATIONAL POST). Eli, is there going to be any comment from your quarters regarding the Financial Post's hack editorializing?
Lana in Edmonton
Lana in Edmonton writes:
Wow!! These attacks on the doc by the National Post are dizzying. I especially admire this sarcastic quote by Post Editor, Dan Goldbloom "..were all going to run out of food and water and arable land real soon now, although of course the professor is usually pretty careful not to attach any actual dates to his unchanging, monotonous predictions of disaster. The "logic" behind this is laughable....must be why I'm laughing. THis is like one of my Palliative clients denying they have cancer just becasue I can't actually pinpoint an exact date for their death. How can these people continue to deny the peril of our actions. I hope someone does find a way to jail these maniacs, and they can quote ME on that!
lora bruncke
I just thought of something else about Gandhi.
I was going to put him in my neverending poem (along with Einstein), calling a list of powerful men to combine forces and save us from ourselves, but didn't, because I assumed only live men could help.
What do I know!