At the end of a long sunny day filled with families, world-famous authors and millions of words, it was really an excited fisherman from British Columbia who stole the show.
On Sunday, acclaimed environmentalist David Suzuki made an appearance at the city’s annual Word on the Street festival to promote his newly published autobiography.
The well-attended talk at the Scotiabank Bestsellers Stage saw Suzuki give a short visual presentation on some of the highlights of his life, showing the audience private pictures of his family, experiences of his childhood, the early days of his academic career and his later life working on the popular CBC show The Nature of Things.
But throughout the talk, Suzuki always returned to the urgent issue of the environment and its impact on the future. This personal message emphasized as crucial to everyone came full circle with a final film clip of Suzuki’s daughter Severn speaking at the Rio Earth Summit at the age of 12. Her speech highlighted how the adults of the world were ignoring the effects of their actions on their own children and how everyone’s future would be threatened as a result.
More than just a publicity plug for his new book, Suzuki used this appearance to show the kinds of experiences and people that shaped his desire to affect change, while also paying tribute to those who have inspired him along the way. He urged much of his audience to continue fighting for environmental causes, emphasizing that it is an issue that affects all Canadians on an everyday basis.
But for one more example of how Suzuki has already inspired a generation of activists, you need to look no further than his daughter Severn as a great example. One politician in particular approached her after the speech at the Rio Earth Summit and highly complimented the younger Suzuki for her message. It was none other than American senator Al Gore.
