The man known for pointing out the terrible problems that face humanity is back, but this time he’s all optimism. Sure, David Suzuki has nothing nice to say about new Ontario premier Ernie Eves or the current economic structure, but his new book, Good News for a Change, is all about a positive outlook.

“The good news is that there’s lots of good news out there,” declared Suzuki at a lecture delivered Monday night to more than 1,250 attentive listeners at Con Hall.

Amid numerous bursts of applause and cheers, Suzuki stressed our lost sense of the real “bottom line.” “We’ve become puffed up with our sense of self-importance and power. There are forces that lie beyond our understanding and control. These…define the real bottom line.”

The air we breathe, the water we drink, the sun we depend on for energy and the soil we need for food are what allow life to exist, he noted. And if we poison any of them, he said, we are not just destroying something “out there” but destroying ourselves. “What we do to the earth, we do to ourselves….We are created by the four elements, and I mean that in the most scientifically profound way,” said Suzuki.

He said he used to believe the challenge was simply to take as little as we can out of the environment and put as few bad things as possible back in. But after seemingly wonderful inventions like CFCs or DDT turned out to have horrific, unforeseen impacts, he says it is impossible to predict the long-term effects of our actions, and for that reason, we have to be very, very careful, especially with things like genetically engineered foods.

He targeted our economic values as the main problem, namely our belief that the economy must always be growing.

“Endless growth is the creed of the cancer cell,” he said. Suzuki stressed positive trends in households, businesses and government, as well as hope for the future through individual action. “Don’t try to be Superwoman or Superman, just do what you can.”

“It was very inspiring and motivational…he gave a good perspective and took the trouble to find out about other areas of thought,” said Andrew Overholt, a third-year engineering student. Added Elizabeth Chapman, a third-year student at Trinity College, “He’s not just some freak environmentalist…he has a very solid vision.” She added, though, that she disagreed with his contention that nuclear power was unsafe.

Event co-organizer Matt Lenner said Suzuki was trying to send students a wake-up call. “It’s a very good thing in sending students into their exams and summer jobs, as well as fourth-year students into the work force.”

Suzuki also spoke out about education, condemning commercialization in schools as “horrific” and criticizing the loss of respect and dignity for teachers.

Ernie Eves also came under the microscope, as Suzuki shot down the new Ontario premier’s expressed distaste for taxes. “What kind of bankrupt idea is that?”