David Suzuki Biography – The Canadian Activist and Environmentalist

Known for his advocacies to reverse climate change, Japanese-Canadian David Suzuki has been using broadcasting and print media to further his environmental causes. The author of many books including The Sacred Balance, co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation, and has received the Alternative Nobel Prize for his environmental activism.

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David Suzuki Biography - Roots and Background

Suzuki is a third-generation Japanese-Canadian whose maternal grandparents arrived from Hiroshima and Aichi Prefecture, respectively, at the turn of the twentieth century. He has three sisters - Jenny, Geraldine and his twin Marcia. Any David Suzuki biography needs to mention that he has often attributed his love for nature to his father. Suzuki’s education has taken him from Canada to London and the US, where he earned his undergraduate degree at Amherst College of Massachusetts and subsequently finished his Doctor of Philosophy degree in zoology at the University of Chicago. A significant part of a David Suzuki biography is his broadcasting career, which started in 1970 on Suzuki on Science, a weekly children’s show. He has since hosted many environment-related programs including The Nature of Things on CBC Television.

David Suzuki Foundation - Vision and Initiatives

The David Suzuki Foundation was formed to preserve natural diversity and sustain high quality of life for generations to come. It collaborates with both the private sector and the government to execute its initiatives, including providing science-based education. The primary concern of the David Suzuki Foundation is protecting the climate, but it also promotes clean energy, sustainable fishing and protection of oceans. The group encourages the implementation of a carbon neutral program as part of a larger effort to reduce carbon footprint. According to the foundation, this can be done in simple ways including minimizing the use of gas-dependent vehicles, buying organic and locally grown foods, and supporting carbon tax laws.

David Suzuki Movie - Force of Nature

Force of Nature is a documentary film that centers on Suzuki’s philosophies about environmental protection. It goes back and forth from his classroom lectures and the different places and events that have affected his relationship with nature. This David Suzuki movie also includes personal incidents in his past; including the time he and his family spent in an internment camp in British Columbia during World War II. But mostly the film tells of his evolution into an environmental activist as well as his explanations about why and how people should take care of nature. He says in the movie that human beings are interconnected with other species without realizing it, but they should strengthen that bond and its symbiosis with nature.