Well... guess who I met on Sunday?


Of course, before we went to see Dr. Suzuki speak, I thought, "Maybe I should bring a camera... naw, we won't be buying a book, so I won't get to meet him... enhhh... I'll just leave the camera home." Well, wouldn't you know it... THE David Suzuki was out signing books before (and after) his presentation and speech, just out in the hallway, outside the room. AND, he wasn't just selling his new autobiography (which does look interesting). He was selling several different books. So, after walking right by him and getting a seat, we decided I'd go out and pick a book, so we could get him to sign it. I picked out "The David Suzuki Reader", 'cause it looked more varied in its topics. It's a collection of theories, ideas, and writings from the Suz, from over the years. Lots of different topics and subjects, from aging to family to Auschwitz to zoology. So, I did get to meet him. That was pretty cool. Brief, but cool. He's one of a handful of Canadian/CBC legends, and although I'm sure he has his faults, he's done some pretty incredible things in his life for the world. After he signed the book,

"To Stephen & Carolyn
For a Mindshift
David Suzuki"

I extended my hand to shake his. Ginny Nicholson (who was like the Suz's assistant, on behalf of The Bookmark) just about freaked and was like, "No! He doesn't shake hands!" She was like some kind of secret service agent protecting the president, which was weird. Suzuki just said that he doesn't shake hands because his arthritis is so bad now (after all, he IS 70. 70!!). I thought it was a little weird, but I just basically told him I have a pretty strong handshake, too, so it was good we didn't get to shake. I still really wish I'd gotten to shake his hand, though. Ah well, I still got his autograph and got to briefly meet him. I just wish I could sit down with him somewhere some time and talk about science and the world.

At any rate, he gave an awesome multimedia presentation and speech. Many people left feeling pretty under-achieving, given the stuff he's acomplished in his life. Towards the end, he got really animated and passionate. Partly about the environment, and partly about Stephen Harper. Basically, here's the gist:

The Kyoto Protocol agreement, when signed and ratified by Russia, became international law. Its intent is to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. You know, since in the next 100 years, the world's average temperature is going to rise by 1.4-5.8 degrees Celsius. Already, since water expands when its temp rises, water levels in the world are rising. Places are flooding, the odd little island with, perhaps, unique species, is disappearing every now and then. Imagine what happens when the temps go even higher than now and the icecaps melt even more. More flooding, more drought, loss of plants and animals... it's gonna get ugly within our own lifetime. The nice thing is that we can change that. The trick is just that it's going to take a lot of people to do it. At any rate...

Chretien signed the Kyoto agreement as a Canadian, and on behalf of Canada. Then, Harper came in. Harper withdrew our country from Kyoto (he never asked me!) , and said we were going to go our own way. Where the heck does he get off thinking he can just break international law with no consequences? Stupid android prime minister. Suzuki figures that for Harper to give a damn, well... for Harper to at least do something about the environment, it needs to become a top priority with voters (that's us!). So... put it on the top of your list, would you?

There are some other things we can do to make the environment a top priority again, and help out in the process. Here are three you can do right now:

Send Harper an email.

Educate yourself and others. (you know, like this)

Join the Nature Challenge (which, by the way, is deceptively easy!), and don't forget to sign up on Suzuki's site.

For more info on these items and a plethora of others, click on the link below to visit the site of the David Suzuki Foundation.