David Suzuki

Early Life

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Kaoru Carr Suzuki (1909-1994)

Carr Kaoru Suzuki died peacefully on May 8th. He was eighty-five. His ashes will be spread on the winds of Quadra Island. He found great strength in the Japanese tradition of nature-worship. Shortly before he died he said: ‘I will return to nature where I came from. I will be part of the fish the trees, the birds – that’s my reincarnation. I have had a rich and full life and have no regrets. I will live on in your memories of me and through my grandchildren.’

On April 25, 1984, a month after they had celebrated their fiftieth anniversary, Kaoru Carr Suzuki and Setsu Nakamura walked a few blocks to a local restaurant, had a meal together and then went to a movie. As they were walking home, Setsu had a massive heart attack and dropped to the sidewalk. Someone called a paramedic crew, who arrived within ten minutes and resuscitated her. Although they were doing their job, the ten minutes of anoxia would have caused further damage to the brain already ravaged by dementia. David Suzuki was in Toronto at the time but was able to rush home and be with his mother for the week before she finally “died” on May 2.

David has three sisters Marcia, Geraldine, and Dawn. Marcia and David are twins and they are the oldest children in the family. David's youngest sister, Dawn, was born in internment camp.

First Spouse: Setsuko Joane Sunahara

By age 26, David Suzuki was back in Canada at the University of Alberta he had a PhD in zoology, a beautiful Japanese-Canadian wife named Setsuko Joane Sunahara (whom was his high school sweetheart - they later broke up when Setsuko went of to Ryerson University, but as promised, they stayed in touch while they were in college and married a few months after graduation) and a baby daughter Tamiko in 1960, followed soon by Troy and then Laura. “I loved being a father — it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to me,” he says. Trouble was, he was never around long enough to show it. He was at the lab till midnight seven days a week, obsessively studying fruit flies, while his wife raised the kids. “Her whole life was subsumed by what I did,” he says today. “She finally said, ‘Look, you’ve got to start spending time at home.’ When I couldn’t, she basically said, ‘Get outta here.’"

Second Spouse: Tara Elizabeth Cullis

In 1971, Suzuki went to Ottawa, Ontario, to give a lecture at Carlton University. The room was packed with students. As he began to speak, he noticed a beautiful blond woman sitting near the front. At the end of the talk, she came down to the front with some others to continue the discussion. He really wanted to meet her, so he announced to the group that he hoped they would all come to a party that night. She did, and that’s how he met his future wife, Tara Cullis. They went out for dinner that same night, but both were so smitten that they were practically speechless! At that time, Tara was a student at the university, working on a Master’s degree in literature. She had seen David on television some time before and even then had been attracted to him. She came to the lecture that day because she, too, was from British Columbia and she was homesick. They began dating, and exactly a year later, he proposed. They were married in 1973. David's three children born during his first marriage were an important part of his and Tara's lives, but they wanted to have children together too. In 1980, daughter Severn was born, followed in 1983 by her sister Sarika.

Dr. Tara Cullis is currently the President and Co-Founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. She is an award-winning writer and former faculty member of Harvard University. Dr. Cullis has been a key player in environmental movements in the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and British Colombia. She was a founder of the Turning Point Initiative of Coastal First Nations in BC (now known as the Coastal First Nations Great Bear Initiative) which links the First Nations of the Central and North Coast of British Columbia into an historic alliance, protecting the ecology of the region known as the Great Bear Rainforest. Dr. Cullis has been adopted and named by the Haida, the Gitga'at, the Heiltsuk and the Nam'gis First Nations. An active campaigner and remarkable organizer, she founded or co-founded nine organizations before starting the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990.

"At the end of my life, I want simply to be able to look into the eyes of my grandchildren and tell them reassuringly that grandpa did everything he could. This motivation is enough." - David Suzuki

Education

Elementary and Secondary Schools that Suzuki had attended early in his lifetime

Suzuki attended Mill Street Elementary School and in Grade 9, went to Leamington Secondary School before moving to London, where he attended London Central Secondary School, eventually winning the election to become Students’ Council President in his last year there by more votes than all of the other candidates combined. Suzuki soon became a top student, excelling at math and science.

Career

Geneticist

Early in his research career, Suzuki studied genetics using the popular model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). To be able to use his initials in naming any new genes he found, he studied dominant temperature-sensitive (DTS) phenotypes.

Suzuki was a professor in the genetics department (stated in his book Genethics: The Ethics of Engineering Life, 1988) at the University of British Columbia for almost forty years, from 1963 until his retirement in 2001, and has since been professor emeritus at a university research institute.

In 1969, just as Suzuki was beginning out in his career, he won the Steacie Memorial Fellowship, awarded to Canada's most outstanding and highly promising young scientists.

As a scientist, Suzuki specialized in meiosis, the early division of living cells where differentiation begins (eg, between reproductive and other cells), and the study of mutations caused by changes in temperature.

Radio

Television

In 2008, Suzuki and his youngest daughter, Sarika, launched a CBC-TV show, The Suzuki Diaries, about sustainability issues around the world. Father and daughter first visited Europe to discuss the equilibrium between human needs and planetary limits. The second installment in 2010 focused on coastal Canada. David and Sarika met with scientists, fishers and leaders on all 3 of Canada's coasts to discuss the health and sustainability of Canadian coastlines.

Writing

David Suzuki has published many books — including the most widely used genetics textbook in the US. In addition to scholarly and popular works on genetics, he has written extensively about ecology, technology, the future, and his own life. To all of his writing, David brings his gift for exploring and sharing complex ideas with clarity and passion. Children have also been amazed and delighted by David's many books and tapes about science and nature written especially for young people.

Suzuki is the author of 52 books (nineteen for children), including David Suzuki: The Autobiography, Tree: A Life Story, The Sacred Balance, Genethics, Wisdom of the Elders, Inventing the Future, and the best-selling Looking At Senses a series of children’s science books. This is a partial list of publications by Suzuki:

Sciencescape - The Nature of Canada (1986) - with Hans Blohm and Marjorie Harris

Pebbles to Computers: The Thread (1986) - with Hans Blohm and Stafford Beer

Metamorphosis: Stages in a life (1987)

Genethics: The Clash between the New Genetics and Human Values (1990)

It's a Matter of Survival (1991)

Time to Change (1994)

The Japan We Never Knew: A Journey of Discovery (1997) - with Keibo Oiwa

More Good News (2003)

David Suzuki: The Autobiography (2006)

The Sacred Balance (2007)

David Suzuki's Green Guide (2008) - with David Boyd

The Big Picture: Reflections on Science, Humanity, and a Quickly Changing Planet (2009) - with David Taylor

The Legacy: An Elder's vision for a sustainable future (2010) - with foreword by Margaret Atwood

Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie (2010), 93 minute documentary DVD

Environmental Activism

Social Commentary

The David Suzuki Foundation

"Protecting the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future."

The David Suzuki Foundation (DSF) reviewed its progress over the first two decades (in 2008) of its existence, and decided to focus its future efforts on six key areas.

1) Protecting our climate — research and provide clean energy solutions and information on energy conservation to ensure Canada does its part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avoid dangerous climate change.

2) Create livable communities — assist urban centres in Canada to protect green and blue spaces and promote transit-oriented development and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly transportation options.

3) Establish environmental rights and justice — work with citizens, constitutional experts and lawmakers to ensure that Canadians enjoy the right to live in a healthy environment.

4) Transform the economy — help secure Canadians' high quality of life within the finite limits of nature through efficient resource use.

5) Connect with nature — assist Canadians, especially youth, to learn about their dependence on a healthy environment and the benefits of time in nature through outdoor education and opportunities.

6) Build community — engage Canadians to live healthy, fulfilled and just lives with tips on building Earth-friendly infrastructure, making smart energy choices, using efficient transportation and being mindful of the products, food and water we use.

How the Foundation Has Grown Since First Created

David Suzuki

By: Menola, Lauren and Frances

Scientist. Environmentalist. Canadian.

Climate Change Activism

Over the past few years David has become a very powerful spokesperson on global warming. Suzuki is clear that climate change is a very real problem facing today's society. A huge amount of scientists, including Suzuki agree that human activity is held responsible for the most part. The debate over whether or not climate change is real is a highly discussed topic Suzuki talks about. He says that despite all of the media coverage of climate change for many years, Canadians still seem to be confused about it. David sees the reason for this confusion is due to a campaign providing incorrect information regarding climate change. Suzuki says a small number of critics denied that climate change actually exists and that humans are not to blame for so. These climate change "skeptics" or "deniers" tend to not to be climate scientists and there only goal is to delay action on climate change as, according to Suzuki, these kinds of people have received a large amount of funding from coal and oil companies.

“The debate is over about whether or not climate change is real. Irrefutable evidence from around the world - including extreme weather events, record temperatures, retreating glaciers, and rising sea levels - all point to the fact climate change is happening now and at rates much faster than previously thought."

Carbon Footprint

-David Suzuki

David often criticizes himself because when he is constantly traveling to spread his message of climate responsibility, it has caused him to go over his "carbon limit by hundreds of tonnes." This has caused him to stop vacationing overseas and has made him begin to start "clustering" his speaking engagements together to reduce his carbon footprint and says that he would prefer to appear solely by video conference.

Awards and Achievements

ENVIRONMENTALIST DAVID SUZUKI (L) AND FORMER GOVERNOR GENERAL MICHAELLE JEAN SHARE A LAUGH AFTER THE FORMER WAS AWARDED THE RANK OF COMPANION IN THE ORDER OF CANADA AT RIDEAU HALL IN OTTAWA DECEMBER 15, 2006.

DAVID SUZUKI - 1995 RECEPIENT OF THE ORDER OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

- Suzuki is an appointee to the Order of Canada, first as an Officer (1976), then upgraded to Companion status (2006)

_ In 1986, Suzuki was awarded UNESCO's Kalinga prize for "Popularization of Science"

- In 1995, Suzuki was awarded the Order of British Columbia

- In 2004, Suzuki was nominated as one of the top ten "Greatest Canadians" by CBC viewers

_ In 2006, Suzuki received the Bradford Washburn Award for public understanding of geology

_ In 2007, Suzuki was honored by the Global Exchange with the International Human Rights Award

_ In 2009, Suzuki was awarded the Right Livelihood Award which is an award that recognizes people with outstanding vision and work for the planet and its people.

- In 2012, Suzuki had received 16 significant academic awards and over 100 other awards

It's a Matter of Survival is a 1991 book by Anita Gordon and David Suzuki. Written for the general reader, the book looks ahead 50 years and explores the condition of human society and the environment. Suggestions are given about how to improve the future. The book originated as a radio series aired in 1989 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Suzuki's most recent radio endeavour was the eight-part series, From Naked Ape to Superspecies, broadcast on CBC Radio, and released in book form by Stoddart.

Since hosting for Quirks and Quarks, Suzuki has presented two influential documentary CBC radio series on the environment, It's a Matter of Survival (which aired in 1989) and From Naked Ape to Superspecies (which aired in 1999).

When this ad first appeared in the media, Quirks and Quarks was nearing the end of its first season. Suzuki remained host through 1979, when he moved over to TV and The Nature of Things. His successors on Q&Q were Jay Ingram (1979-92) and Bob McDonald (1992-present).

In 1974, Suzuki developed and hosted the long running popular science program Quirks and Quarks on CBC Radio for four years.

Quirks and Quarks goal was aimed at ending the assumption that science was just a subject of the academics. When the series debuted in 1975, it showed Canadians that science can be interesting, exciting and relevant to their daily lives. Suzuki was the host of the show from 1975-1979, but the series still airs today (as an award-winning radio science program) although it has a new host named Bob McDonald. The program is heard by nearly 500,000 Canadians and many more worldwide in its popular weekly podcast. The series gives its listeners the cutting edge information on what is going on in today's world. Every week the program gives its listeners the latest information behind the newest discoveries in science. The program also examines the political, social, environmental, and ethical implications of new developments in science and technology.

Suzuki receives the Right Livelihood Award from Jakob von Uexkull

About the David Suzuki Foundation

Publications:

David Suzuki's career in television began in 1962, when he appeared in eight programs in the University of Alberta series. His first nationally broadcast series was Suzuki on Science in 1968. David Suzuki's rare combination of personal charm and scientific ability, as displayed in the longest running documentary series on CBC-TV, The Nature of Things, has made him a unique figure in English-speaking Canada. Suzuki's 1985 CBC special A Planet for the Taking was one of the most watched shows in CBC history, science or otherwise. He is renowned for his television programs that explain the complexities of the natural sciences.

Suzuki's broadcasting efforts on television, film, and radio have made David into a well known person across Canada. David had made many environmental issues popular, as well he has helped raise awareness about genetically modified foods, fisheries, pollution, and alternative energy to name a couple.

The David Suzuki Foundation is a science-based environmental organization headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Montreal and Toronto. It is a non-profit organization that is incorporated in both Canada and the United States, and is funded by close to 30,000 donors. The Foundation describes its goal as to: "Work towards balancing human needs with the Earth's ability to sustain all life. Our goal is to find and communicate practical ways to achieve that balance." The mission of the foundation is to "protect the diversity of nature and our quality of life, now and for the future" and their vision is "that within a generation, Canadians act on the understanding that we are all interconnected and interdependent with nature".

David Suzuki developed a number of television science series to international acclaim. The United Nations awarded Suzuki's television series A Planet for the Taking its Environment Programme medal. He worked with both the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) on the series The Secret of Life (1993), and for the Discovery Channel on The Brain (1994).

Origins and Funding

The Foundation's Six Greatest Goals

In 1989, David Suzuki's award-winning radio series It's a Matter of Survival sounded an alarm of where the planet was heading. Over 17,000 of his shocked fans sent him letters asking for ways to avert the catastrophe. That November, they hosted a gathering with a dozen thinkers and activists on Pender Island, B.C. By the end of the meeting, something significant was afoot. Finally, after many planning meetings, on Sept. 14, 1990, the David Suzuki Foundation was incorporated. It officially opened its doors on January 1, 1991. The foundation itself is a federally registered Canadian charity supported entirely by Foundation grants and donations, and does not accept any government funding, except from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. It is also not a funding body for other organizations. Currently the Foundation employs roughly fifty staff members. The Foundation's CEO is Peter Robinson, formerly the head of Mountain Equipment Co-op and BC Housing.

Political Involvement

Columnist Licia Corbella (formerly of the Calgary Sun) is a long-standing critic of the David Suzuki Foundation and is known for denying the existence of human-caused climate change. Writing about Suzuki meeting with Calgary elementary school students, Corbella states that the speech "was essentially urging those listening not to vote Conservative. That makes his message partisan and should exempt the David Suzuki Foundation from receiving tax deductible status." However, Suzuki makes a distinction between what he says as an individual and what the Foundation says. For example, he has called Ottawa's plan to fight global warming a "national embarrassment" and has said of the government's energy policy: "It's not a strategy, it's a sham." He makes it clear that this is his personal opinion and has "nothing to do with (his) foundation."

Suzuki stepped down from the Board of Directors of the Foundation in April 2012 so that he could be more vocal in the media without causing too much difficulty for the David Suzuki Foundation.

Criticism

List of Donors

During an interview on the John Oakley Show in Toronto, Suzuki stated that ordinary people fund his foundation and corporations are not as interested in funding it. President of the Conservative Canadian Centre for Policy Studies Joseph C. Ben-Ami, citing this statement in his article "Global Warming Charlatan", notes that the foundation's 2005-2006 annual report lists 52 corporations amongst its 40,000 donors. Many years ago, before the Foundation implemented its Ethical Gift Acceptance Policy (which states that gifts shall support DSF's mission, vision and long‐term direction and shall not encroach upon the organization's integrity, restrict its liberty of action, cause damage to its reputation, place additional costs or burdens on the organization, or expose it to uncertain risk or possible liability; also, it states that the foundation shall not accept direct donations from Canadian governments and that it reserves the right to decline any gift), corporate donors included EnCana Corporation, a world leader in natural gas production and oil sands development, and ATCO Gas, Alberta’s principle distributor of natural gas, and OPG which is one of the largest suppliers of electricity in the world operating five fossil fuel-burning generation plants and three nuclear plants. For 2011-2012, most funding came from individual donors (59%). Foundations and businesses provided another 25% and 13% respectively. More than 95% was from Canadian donors.

Where They Are Today

The David Suzuki Foundation is now a national, bilingual organization. In addition to their Vancouver head office, they have a busy office in Montreal, as well as staff in Ottawa and Toronto. Twenty years after that first Pender Island meeting and 17 years after writing the Declaration of Interdependence, the David Suzuki Foundation has become a strong and capable force. Committed donors, determined staff, and talented volunteers have made the Pender Island dream of 1989 a reality.

Evolving Work

The foundation's Climate Change team has since expanded into the health arena, working with doctors to fight for clean air, while publishing energy solutions and lobbying successfully for Canada to sign the Kyoto Accord. They began work to protect species at risk, help governments ban pesticides, research contaminants in farmed salmon, challenge gravel extraction in the Fraser River, and work with chefs to switch to sustainable seafood. The public began asking the foundation for green living tips, so they decided to develop the Nature Challenge to offer ways to help the environment in our everyday lives. They soon moved into gardening with David Suzuki Digs My Garden and into households through their Queen of Green and her tips on everything from laundry soap to green weddings. They also addressed economics, assessing the true value of greenbelts, farmland, pollination, and other ecosystem services, and published a widely used guide on how businesses can shrink their environmental impact.

New Focus on Canada

About The Nature Challenge

In order to promote public awareness with regard to the Foundation's focuses, the David Suzuki Foundation created the Nature Challenge program. The Foundation researched the most effective ways to improve a person's quality of life, and encouraged the public to take part in their daily lives. The list included:

-Reduce home energy by 10%

-Choose energy-efficient homes and appliances

-Don't use pesticides

-Eat meat-free meals one day a week

-Buy locally grown and produced food

-Choose a fuel efficient vehicle

-Walk, bike, carpool or take transit

-Choose a home close to school or work

-Learn more and spread the word with others.

As of November 2007, over 500,000 individuals had taken David Suzuki's Nature Challenge, including many famous Canadians such as Robert Munsch and Margaret Atwood.

The foundation learned how to best fundraise, and gradually built their own core group of committed donors, which in turn, allowed the foundation to take part in locally-based work in fisheries, forestry, and sustainability. Fisheries was the subject of the DSF's first book, Dead Reckoning, by Terry Glavin and their second book, The Sacred Balance, by David Suzuki. Currently the foundation has published nearly forty books, many winning national and international awards. By 1996, the foundation had ramped up their work on climate change, quickly publishing five reports after the Kyoto Conference in 1997. They partnered with the local Musqueam First Nation to launch the Musqueam Watershed Restoration Project, working to bring the last salmon stream in Vancouver back to health. Meanwhile, the foundation's work in forestry and fisheries combined in the launch of the Pacific Salmon Forests Project, which worked with the communities of the central and northern coast and Haida Gwaii. The foundation went on to publish landmark guidelines for logging, exposés of overharvesting cedar, and annual report cards on Canadian rain forests.

First International Projects

The David Suzuki Foundation's early projects were international because project dollars could go much further overseas. They worked with the Ainu of Japan to protect salmon, indigenous peoples of Colombia, and the Kayapo people of Brazil. The foundation also researched a dam project in Australia and worked with the Hesquiat people of Vancouver Island to restore a clam fishery. With each of these projects, they partnered with local peoples to develop alternative models of economic and community development. However, they needed guiding principles in order to steer the direction of the Foundation and so they created The Declaration of Interdependence. At the Rio Earth Summit, portions of the declaration that they had created were woven into the work of others around the world to form the Earth Charter, whose followers are still growing.

Donors

The David Suzuki Foundation, works with the government, business, and individuals to conserve the environment by providing, science based research and today' society education.

Canadian Justice System

While interviewing with Tony Jones on Australia's ABC TV network in the September of 2013, Suzuki stated that the Harper government is building prisons even though crime rates are declining in Canada. He concluded that the prisons were being built so that Stephen Harper can imprison environmental activists. A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney named Jean-Christophe De Le Rue declined the claims, explaining that the Canadian government is not building any prisons, nor do they have plans to build any in the near future. There was, however, an increase in federal spending on prisons, which included expanding existing prisons in order to accommodate the growing inmate population. This is thought to be due to legislation such as the Tackling Violent Crimes Act which increases the length of sentences.

Did you know that in 2010-2011, $517-million was spent on prison construction?

Staff

Employees

Montreal Staff from left to right

As of 2009, The David Suzuki Foundation had around 58 staff members, and an annual budget of nearly CND 7 million from numerous foundations and also, tens of thousands of individual supporters.

Danielle Cazabon, Nadine Légaré, Karel Mayrand, Raïssa Épale, Jean-Patrick Toussaint, Diego Mena, Julie Conan, Manon Dubois-Crôteau

Vancouver Staff from left to right

Toronto Staff from left to right

Staff members as of December 2011

Faisal Moola, Jode Roberts, Chris de Paul, Rachel Plotkin, Kathrin Majic, Aryne Sheppard, Amy Hu, Sahil Dhingra

Front: Jasmine Yen, Sunitha Palaveettil, Lara Hughes, Heidi Hudson, Kim Lai, Meghan O'Connell, Lindsay Coulter, Shannon Moore, Katie Loftus, Sophika Kostyniuk, Heather Bell, Gail Mainster, Rachelle Delaney, Nina Winham, Winnie Hwo

Middle: Andrea Seale, Nina Legac, Janice Williams, Harpreet Johal, Monique Paemӧller, Dylan McCall, Eli van der Giessen, Deanna Bayne, Andre Seow, Sherry Yano, Erika Rathje, Jodi Garwood, Kim Vickers, Jeffery Young, Paul Lingl, Jenny Silver

Back: Vic Johnson, Jeremy Douglas, Ian Knauer, Cecilia Reyes, Michiah Prull, John Werring, Peter Robinson, Ian Arbuckle, Ryan Kadowaki, Ian Hanington, Derek Schlereth, Panos Grames, Jim Boothroyd, Jay Ritchlin, Ian Bruce

Ottawa Staff from left to right

Board of Directors

Lisa Gue, Dale Marshall, Leanne Clare

Immigration

The David Suzuki Foundation is governed by an exceptional volunteer board of directors. Their considerable knowledge and expertise from a wide range of backgrounds, including education, public engagement, law, finance, business, economics, environment and social justice, guides the strategic direction of the Foundation. In addition to considerable time commitments, board members also contribute financially to the Foundation. Currently, there are thirteen board members of the David Suzuki Foundation - Dr. Tara Cullis (President and Co-Founder), James Hoggan (Chair), Pauline D'Amboise (Secretary), Elaine A. Wong (Treasurer), Miles G. Richardson, Stephen R. Bronfman, Stephanie Green, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Dr. Peter Victor, Dr. Samantha Nutt, Sarika Cullis-Suzuki, John Ruffolo, and Peter Ladner.

Co-Founders

In remarks published this month in the French news weekly L’Express, David Suzuki is quoted as saying Canada’s immigration policy is “disgusting,” because “we plunder southern countries by depriving them of future leaders, and we want to increase our population to support economic growth.” He appears to link population growth with environmental degradation, saying, “I think Canada is full, too! Although it’s the second largest country in the world, our useful area has been reduced.” This has prompted Canada's Immigration Minster, Jason Kenney, to denounce Suzuki as "xenophobic ( being fearful or having a sense of hatred towards foreigners or strangers)", labelling his comments as "toxic".

Dr. David Suzuki (Co-Founder)

Award-winning geneticist and broadcaster David Suzuki is the co-founder of the David Suzuki foundation, alongside Tara Cullis. He is familiar to many around the world as the host of CBC TV's long-running series, The Nature of Things. From 1969 to 2001 he was a faculty member at the University of British Columbia, and is currently professor emeritus there. He has authored over 40 books, and is widely recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. Dr. Suzuki has received numerous awards for his work, including UNESCO’s Kalinga prize for “Popularization of Science”, a U.N Environment Program medal, and is a Companion of the Order of Canada. He has 22 honorary doctorates from universities in the USA, Canada, and Australia. For his support of Canada's First Nations people, Dr. Suzuki has been honored with six names and formal adoption by two tribes.

Dr. Tara Cullis (Co-Founder)

An award-winning writer and former faculty member of Harvard University, Dr. Cullis is president and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation. She has been a key player in environmental movements in the Amazon, Southeast Asia, and British Columbia. Dr. Cullis has been adopted and named by the Haida, the Gitga'at, the Heiltsuk and the Nam'gis First Nations. An active campaigner and remarkable organizer, Dr. Cullis founded/co-founded nine organizations before 1990, the year in which she created the David Suzuki Foundation.

Margaret Atwood

Novelist, short-story writer, poet, and critic. Born on in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Margaret Atwood is one of today's leading fiction writers. She studied at the University of Toronto and Radcliffe College, becoming a lecturer in English literature. Her first published work was a collection of poems entitled The Circle Game (1966), which won the Governor-General's Award. Since then Margaret Atwood has published many volumes of poetry and short stories, but is best known as a novelist. Her controversial The Edible Woman (1969) is one of several novels focusing on women's issues. Her futuristic novel, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) — which was later turned into a film by Harold Pinter—was short-listed for the Booker Prize, as was Cat's Eye in 1989. She finally won the award for The Blind Assassin (2000). Other critically acclaimed works by Margaret Atwood include The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and Oryx and Crake (2003). Her Survival (1972) is widely considered to be the best book on Canadian literature. In 2006, Margaret Atwood had several new publications: The Tent, a volume of tales and poems; Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda, a children's book; and Moral Disorder, a collection of short stories. She continues to be a popular author worldwide; her works have been translated into more than 30 different languages

Craig Kielburger

Naomi Klein

Others Like Dr.David Suzuki

Craig Kielburger is a social entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, and syndicated columnist. He co-founded Free The Children in 1995 when he was 12-years old. Today, more than 1.7 million young people are involved in its programs. In North America and the United Kingdom, the organization provides comprehensive service-learning programs, including its We Day celebrations attended annually by more than 180,000 students

from 4,400 participating schools. We Day also reaches more than 5.4

million viewers through televised broadcasts and has more than 3.8

million followers on Facebook, making it one of the largest charitable

causes in the world. Internationally, the organization works in eight

developing countries providing a holistic and sustainable development

model, including education, health care, food security, clean water, and

alternative income programs. Its programs have empowered more than

one million beneficiaries. Alongside his brother Marc, Craig is also the co-founder of Me to We, an innovative social enterprise that seeks to support the work of Free The Children by providing socially conscious products and experiences. Craig is the author of 12 books. He holds 15 honorary doctorates and degrees, and has received the Order of Canada, the Roosevelt Freedom From Fear Medal, the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child and the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Dedication. Craig’s work has been featured with multiple appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and 60 Minutes, as well in as National Geographic, TIME, and The Economist. In Fall 2013, Craig and his brother Marc were inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame for their humanitarian efforts and their work to empower youth to change the world.

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author of the international bestsellers, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and No Logo. Her regular columns for The Nation magazine and the Guardian newspaper are syndicated internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. Her articles have also appeared in Harper's, Rolling Stone, andThe New York Times. In 2004, she wrote and co-produced, with director Avi Lewis, the award-winning feature documentary, The Take, about Argentina's cooperatively-run, occupied factories. She holds an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of King’s College, Nova Scotia.

Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson, writer, scientist, and ecologist, grew up simply in the rural river town of Springdale, Pennsylvania. Her mother bequeathed to her a life-long love of nature and the living world that Rachel expressed first as a writer and later as a student of marine biology. Carson graduated from Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) in 1929, studied at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, and received her MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins University in 1932. She was hired by the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the Depression and supplemented her income writing feature articles on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. She began a fifteen-year career in the federal service as a scientist and editor in 1936 and rose to become Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She wrote pamphlets on conservation and natural resources and edited scientific articles, but in her free time turned her government research into lyric prose, first as an article "Undersea" (1937, for the Atlantic Monthly), and then in a book, Under the Sea-wind (1941). In 1952 she published her prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us, which was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. These books constituted a biography of the ocean and made Carson famous as a naturalist and science writer for the public. Carson resigned from government service in 1952 to devote herself to her writing. She wrote several other articles designed to teach people about the wonder and beauty of the living world, including "Help Your Child to Wonder," (1956) and "Our Ever-Changing Shore" (1957), and planned another book on the ecology of life. Embedded within all of Carson's writing was the view that human beings were but one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly. Disturbed by the profligate use of synthetic chemical pesticides after World War II, Carson reluctantly changed her focus in order to warn the public about the long term effects of misusing pesticides. In Silent Spring (1962) she challenged the practices of agricultural scientists and the government, and called for a change in the way humankind viewed the natural world. Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and some in government as an alarmist, but courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment. Rachel Carson died in 1964 after a long battle against breast cancer. Her witness for the beauty and integrity of life continues to inspire new generations to protect the living world and all its creatures.

Spouses

Setsuko with their first daughter, Tamiko

Bibliography

After finishing his high school education, Suzuki decided to continue on with his education and receive a profession. He was able to attain this dream when he won a full scholarship in 1954 to attend an American college. In 1958, Suzuki graduated from this Amherst College with an Honours BA in Biology.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2009/04/25/general/environmentalist-david-suzuki-has-words-of-warning-for-ancestral-homeland/#.U5IZWaUYW0s

http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/the-nature-of-david-suzuki/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/david-suzuki-a-man-of-science-revealed/article587647/

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/m/host/

http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/u_arch/suzuki.pdf

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/panther-lounge/2012/04/an-open-letter-from-david-suzuki/

http://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2013/11/11/david_suzukis_family_struggle_with_alzheimers.html

http://www.rightlivelihood.org/suzuki.html

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/

http://prezi.com/sagk3sbtfqcn/david-suzuki/

http://www.rachelcarson.org/Biography.aspx#.U5w6BKUYW0s

http://www.biography.com/people/margaret-atwood-9191928#awesm=~oH7DlZsSRgCbwl

http://cdn.metowe.com/files/2014/04/Speakers-OnePager-Craig-RGB.pdf

http://www.nationinstitute.org/writers/tomdispatch-blog/2856/naomi_klein/

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=b69c68be-dbd3-4b83-81da-a2c2dc09ce5f?__federated=1

http://o.canada.com/news/david-suzuki-immigration-french-newspaper-interview

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/11/jason-kenney-slams-xenophobic-david-suzuki-after-environmentalist-claims-canada-is-full/?__federated=1

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/downloads/drsuzukiCV.pdf

http://www.csrwire.com/blog/posts/1103-future-maker-david-suzuki-visions-for-grandchildren

https://forestrivers.wordpress.com/2012/06/12/severn-cullis-suzuki-on-rio20/

http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sustainability/2012/04/17/david-suzuki-forced-resign-board-foundation-vicious-media-attacks

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/annual-reports/2011/our-staff/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/our-story/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/people/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/people/staff/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/people/co-founders/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/people/board/

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/about/faq/#what-is-the-foundations-gift-acceptance-policy

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/publications/annual-reports/2006/2006-annual-report/

http://www.canadianvalues.ca/commentary.aspx?aid=267

http://prezi.com/7-4vgr6ewqkt/civics-culminating-david-suzuki/

http://www.namronsoar.com/honor/suzuki.html

http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/590

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/revenooers_chas.php

David Suzuki: The Autobiography

The David Suzuki Reader: A Lifetime of Ideas from a Leading Activist and Thinker

Grandparents

My grandparents were driven out of Japan by poverty at the beginning of this century and came to Canada to seek their fortune. They had no intention of staying in what they considered a primitive and backward country. All they wanted was some of its wealth to take back home. My grandparents were aliens in an unfamiliar landscape with which they had no historical or cultural link, let alone a sense of reverence for its sanctity. To them, Canada represented an opportunity; the land was a commodity full of resources to exploit. My grandparents became a part of a massive assault of the ‘New World’

initiated by Columbus’s arrival and causing vast ecological and human catastrophe.

-David Suzuki (in The David Suzuki Reader: A Lifetime of Ideas from a Leading Activist and Thinker)

Hiroshima

Both sets of Suzuki's grandparents were born in the 1860's in Japan; however, both had immigrated to Canada at the beginning of the 20th century from Hiroshima and Aichi Prefecture, respectively, in order to escape poverty and deprivation. Their struggles in turn paid off for Suzuki’s parents, until World War II broke out, and Japanese families throughout the province were sent to internment camps deep in the mountains of British Columbia. After the war, Suzuki's maternal grandparents - like many Japanese-Canadians - accepted the government's offer of a one-way ticket to Japan. They arrived in Hiroshima, a city flattened by the atomic bomb, and were dead within a year.

Aichi Prefecture

Grandchildren

David Suzuki

Tara Elizabeth Cullis

Setsuko Joane Sunahara

Sarika Cullis-Suzuki

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Laura Suzuki

Troy Suzuki

Tamiko Suzuki

Peter Cook

Tiisaan

Ganhlaans

Eduardo Campos

Jonathan Cook

Midori Campos

Tamo Campos

Severn Cullis-Suzuki now lives on Haida Gwaii, with her husband and two children, aged two-and-a-half years and four months.

The now 32-year-old said now that she has children of her own, she better understands why the adults in the audience 20 years ago were so shocked by the speech she delivered at the Earth Summit in Rio.

“Jonathan, their son, is a beautiful child who was found to have suffered oxygen deprivation at birth and has cerebral palsy, a debilitating problem of varying severity, depending on the area of the brain that is damaged. Jonathan has severe problems, will probably never walk, and though blind, he apparently has developed an alternate neural pathway that enables him to recognize symbols and patterns and actually to read.” - David Suzuki

“When Tamiko approached thirty, she began to reassess the decision (of marrying Eduardo Campos and living a more gypsy-like life), and in 1990, she gave birth to Tamo, my first grandson, and three years later to Midori, my first and (so far) only granddaughter.

“Tamo and Midori were born when Sarika was still a child, so suddenly I had a young daughter and grandchildren when I was spending a lot of time away. It has been unfair to my grandchildren that I have not had the time with them I wished for. I loved attending basketball games to cheer Sev and Sarika when they played in high school but have seldom been in town when Tamo and Midori have had hockey, soccer, snowboarding, and football competitions.“

Children

Second Marriage - Tara Elizabeth Cullis (m. 1972)

First Marriage - Setsuko Joane Sunahara (m. 1958–1965)

Children from Second Marriage

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Born: November 30, 1979 (age 34)

Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social justice since she was a child. At 12 years old, Severn closed a Plenary Session at 1992's Rio Earth Summit with a powerful speech to the political representatives. Since then she has continued to speak, write and fight for intergenerational justice around the world. Severn returned to Rio 20 years later, this time as a Champion for the We Canada movement at the Earth Summit 2012. Severn is the author of Tell the World, and editor of Notes from Canada's Young Activists: a Generation Stands up for Change. Severn co-hosted Suzuki's Nature Quest, a television series for children on the Discovery Channel in 2002 and is the host of the APTN series Samaqan — Water Stories about First Nations and water issues, now in its third season. Severn has a Bachelor of Science in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University, and a Master of Science in Ethnoecology from the University of Victoria, where she studied with Kwakwaka'wakw elders. She is proud to be an adopted member of the Haida Nation and Heiltsuk Nations, and to carry names from the Nuchaanulth and Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. Since moving to Haida Gwaii in 2008, Severn has been studying the Haida language, which she hopes to teach her two sons. Severn is a Board member of the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society, and a Spark for the Girls Action Foundation. Severn joined the David Suzuki Foundation Board in 2004 and is Chair of the Program Committee.

Children From First Marriage

Sarika Cullis-Suzuki

Born: 1982

Tamiko Suzuki

Born: January 1960

Sarika Cullis-Suzuki is passionate about oceans, fish and the conservation of biodiversity. Her MSc on global fisheries with Daniel Pauly at UBC's Fisheries Centre culminated in a speech at the United Nations where she revealed her shocking findings on the state of the high seas. Her work in oceans has taken her from French Polynesia to the Gulf of Mexico, and she is now working on her graduate research at the University of York, UK, focusing on the effects of anthropogenic noise on fish along the BC Coast. Away from school, Sarika works in environmental media, hoping to inspire viewers and listeners to effect change. She currently stars in "The Suzuki Diaries," part of the CBC series The Nature of Things. Sarika joined the David Suzuki Foundation Board in 2011.

Laura Suzuki (born July 4, 1964)

Tamiko went to McGill University in Montreal and studied biology. While at McGill, she fell in love with Eduardo Campos, a Chilean Canadian who was enrolled in engineering and was great with computers. After graduation, they got married and decided to have a “footloose” life, working for periods and saving enough to travel to different parts of the world (a more gypsy-like life). When Tamiko approached thirty, she began to reassess the decision, and in 1990 she gave birth to Tamo and three years later to Midori. Tamiko is a chromosome analyst at a hospital and her spouse has used his fluency in Spanish and English to take jobs working in South America and spends a lot of time away from home (so Tamiko is somewhat like her mother in that she has to care for her children while her husband is away all the time, making life harder).

Laura chose to attend Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, where she majored in psychology. There, she then fell in love with and later married Peter Cook, a fellow cartoonist on the school paper and also a psychology major. Together, they had one child named Jonathan who was found to have suffered oxygen deprivation at birth and has cerebral palsy, a debilitating problem of varying severity, depending on the area of the brain that is damaged.

Troy Suzuki

Born: January 1962

Troy didn’t complete university and graduated instead from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design in Vancouver. He has become an excellent carpenter and is an accomplished boat builder.

“Troy spent many years trying to figure out his relationship with me, but he stayed very close to my father, moving in with him for several years. As we have become close again (thank goodness for e-mail), I wonder where he’s going in a life still evolving. Like many younger men today, he has chosen not to follow the high-pressure, competitive path that was the model of a ‘successful’ male when I was younger. And as a result, in so many ways, he has led a more varied, interesting life than I have.”

- David Suzuki (from David Suzuki: The Autobiography)

The Suzuki Family

Siblings

Photograph of David Suzuki (right), his twin sister named Marcia (left) and his youngest sibling (for now, prior to the birth of Dawn) named Geraldine or Aiko (middle). This was taken right before they were sent to an internment camp in Slocan City

Parents

Kaoru Carr Suzuki had already survived an episode of cancer of the tongue and secondary tumors in his lymph glands and due to excellent medical treatment, he was considered cured and had enjoyed eight high-quality years but this time it was his liver that had failed him. David Suzuki, his son, still considered him to be his severest critic and also his biggest fan and defender; he was thought to be a patient teacher for his grandchildren and a source of valuable skills and knowledge. However, although he lived for two and a half high-quality years after his brush with liver cancer, he finally died on May 8, 1994.

Setsu Nakamura (1910-1984)

David's mother was the foundation of the Suzuki family. She would always be the first one up in the morning and the last one to bed at night. David understood her importance to the family once his mother developed Alzheimer's disease as he watched his father struggle to fill his mother's shoes.

"

-David Suzuki (an obituary for his father)

My father was a typical Japanese male. He was the head of the house. He was the guy everybody loved. My mother was always the backup, making sure food was there, sewing, cooking and shopping. When she lost interest in all those things, I told my father I could hire someone. He said no, she gave her life for me, and it’s my turn. I’ve always said my mother in her sickness gave me a father I didn’t know I had. Some nights I’d drop in and find him sitting on the couch weeping in frustration. But he was right with her up to the time she died of a heart attack.

"

"

"

-David Suzuki

After graduating in 1958 from Amherst College, Suzuki married his high school sweetheart, Setsuko Joane Sunahara, and went on to the University of Chicago, where he sped through a Ph.D. in just three years and graduated in 1961 after majoring in zoology.

Honourary Degrees

London Central Secondary School

Mill Street Elementary School

Leamington Secondary School

Suzuki has received numerous honorary degrees from over two dozen universities around the world.

- University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 1974

- University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1979

- Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1979

- Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 1981

- University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 1986

- Governors State University in University Park, Illinois (Hon. Doctor of Humane Letters,) in 1986

- Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1986

- McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1987

- Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 1987

- Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1987

- Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts, (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1988

- Griffith University in Queensland, Australia (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1997

- Open University, Milton Keynes, UK (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 1998

- Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 1999

- Unity College in Unity, Maine, (Doctor of Environmental Science) in 2000

- Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 2001

- York University in Toronto, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2005

- Universite Quebec a Montreal in Montreal, Quebec (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2005

- Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2006

- Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Communications) in 2007

- University of Montreal in Montreal, Quebec (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2007

- University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2007

- Laurentian University in Sarnia, Ontario (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2008

- Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, Newfoundland (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2009

- Université Sainte-Anne in Church Point, Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia (Hon. Doctor of Environmental Science) in 2010

- Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada (Hon. Doctor of Communication) in 2011

- University of British Columbia (Hon. Doctor of Science) in 2011

- University of Guelph (Hon. Doctor of Laws) in 2012

Suzuki's Role in Canadian Society

An important aspect of Suzuki's and the David Suzuki Foundation's work is his relationship with Canada's First Nations. He used many of his broadcasts to campaign for their rights of decision over their ancestral resources, and has been formally adopted by three tribes, and made an honorary chieftain of one. In a 2009 poll on 'Who does Canada Trust Most?' in the Canadian Readers' Digest, Suzuki was ranked number 1. Suzuki holds a large number of honorary doctorates and has received Canada's highest honour, Companion to the Order of Canada.

David Takayoshi Suzuki was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on March 24, 1936 to Setsu Nakamura and Kaoru Carr Suzuki. Suzuki had a twin sister named Marcia, as well as two other siblings, Geraldine (now known as Aiko) and Dawn. Suzuki’s maternal and paternal grandparents had immigrated to Canada at the beginning of the 20th century.

Suzuki spent his early childhood years in the back of his parents’ dry cleaning business in Marpole, but life would change drastically for him and his family when he was six years old. In 1942, after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, Prime Minister Mackenzie King ordered all Japanese males between the ages 14 and 45 to move more than 160 km inland in order to "safeguard" the Pacific Coast from Japanese spies and the possibility of attack. Suzuki’s father was sent to a labour camp in Solsqua, in BC’s interior where he was put to work building the Trans Canada Highway, a hundred miles to the north, for a wage of 25 cents an hour, less than the cost of “room and board,” for himself and his family. Two months later, the dry-cleaning business the Suzuki family had owned was sold by the BC government and Suzuki, his mother and two sisters were sent to a camp in an abandoned mining town in B.C.’s Slocan Valley, which was a few hundred kilometers from the camp where his father was held and where David's youngest sister, Dawn, was to be born. Conditions were deplorable as the accommodations were simply just very cramped and filthy—Suzuki recalls waking in the morning covered in bedbug bites. To add onto so, fresh food was in scarce supply for the Suzuki family (as it was for the others interned), and also, the government hadn’t thought to provide a school for the more than 2,300 children. Although Suzuki’s childhood seemed to be quite depressing, memories of those years, as detailed in his two autobiographies, aren’t all unhappy ones. Left largely on his own in an isolated mountain community, he spent lots of time fishing and running around in the woods, developing his deep love of nature at such a young age. David Suzuki was one of over 22,000 individuals of Japanese origin, three-quarters of who were naturalized or Canadian-born, interned in camps in BC’s interior during WW II.

When the Second World War ended, Suzuki and his family, like so many other Japanese Canadians at that time period, were forced to move to the east of the Rockies and decided to resettle in southwestern Ontario. His family first settled in Islington, and then later decided move to Leamington where all the Suzukis worked as farm labourers. The Suzuki family then moved to London, Ontario where his father and mother began work for the Suzuki Brothers Construction Company, a business that was run by his father's brothers.

Suzuki attended Mill Street Elementary School and Grade 9 at Leamington Secondary School before moving to London, where he attended London Central Secondary School, eventually winning the election to become Students’ Council President in his last year there by more votes than all of the other candidates combined.