An Audience With David Suzuki

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3841115.htm Panellist: David Suzuki, Renowned Environmental Scientist and Campaigner. -- David T. Suzuki PhD, Chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, is an award-winning scientist, environmentalist and broadcaster. David has received consistently high acclaim for his years of award-winning work in broadcasting, explaining the complexities of science in a compelling, easily understood way. He is well known to millions as the host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's popular science television series, The Nature of Things. David’s eight part series A Planet for the Taking won an award from the United Nations. His eight-part PBS series The Secret of Life was praised internationally, as was his five-part series The Brain for the Discovery Channel. For CBC Radio he founded the long running radio series Quirks and Quarks and has presented two influential documentary series on the environment, From Naked Ape to Superspecies and It's a Matter of Survival. An internationally respected geneticist, David was a full Professor at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver from 1969 until his retirement in 2001. He is professor emeritus with UBC's Sustainable Development Research Institute. From 1969 to 1972 he was the recipient of the prestigious E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship Award for the "Outstanding Canadian Research Scientist Under the Age of 35". David has received numerous awards including the Roger Tory Peterson Award from Harvard University. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, and a member of the Order of British Columbia. He has received 18 honorary doctorates -- 12 from Canada, four from the United States and two from Australia. First Nations people have honoured him with six names, formal adoption by two tribes, and made him an honorary member of the Dehcho First Nations. David was born in Vancouver, BC in 1936. During World War II, at the age of six, he was interned with his family in a camp in BC. After the war he went to high school in London, Ontario. He graduated with Honours from Amherst College in 1958 and went on to earn his PhD in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961. The author of over 45 books, David is recognized as a world leader in sustainable ecology. He lives with his wife, Dr Tara Cullis, and two daughters in Vancouver. ---- CLIMATE - NO RISE SINCE ’98 Bill Koutalianos asked: Since 1998 global temperatures have been relatively flat, yet many man-made global warming advocates refuse to acknowledge this simple fact. Has man-made global warming become a new religion in itself? IPCC SCIENCE STRANGLEHOLD Professor Stewart Franks asked: The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has had a stranglehold on the public climate discourse since 1990, claiming that 'the science is settled'. Are you aware of the thousands of scientists highly critical of the IPCC. Is it possible that the IPCC are wrong about the threat of climate change? Is it at least possible that they may have exaggerated the threat of climate change and that the climate is in fact more stable than the IPCC suggests? SCIENCE CAUTION Greg Steenbecke asked: How can we as scientists sell to the general public that we apply cautious language because of the implications, not because of our reservations? GOOD GUYS DON’T WIN Nell Schofield asked: In all of human history’s narratives, the good guys always win in the end. Hollywood still loves this formula. But it’s getting harder and harder to see how the good guys, like yourself, can win against the big carbon bullies who control politicians and the fossil fuel greedy guts that run governments. How can we capture the public’s imagination and turn this grim fairy tale around to give us the happy ending we're all craving? GAOL POLITICIANS? Tony Thomas asked: David, you’ve urged at least twice (7/2/2008, 25/6/2012) that legal ways should be found to gaol politicians for denying what you call the science of climate change. Do you still hold that view? FROM THE FLOOR An Audience Member asked: With willful blindness it is impossibility for ice to melt and Australian waters to rise Fort Denison is showing no rise in sea level in 168 years and I’ve just come back from Perisher Valley where it snowed Friday and it snowed yesterday and it is spring time. I’m just disappointed that the truth isn’t coming out. IDEOLOGY V SCIENCE Daniel Mainville asked: Having grown up in Northern Quebec watching The Nature of Things, I consider myself part of the Suzuki generation. Your passion and commitment to the environment inspired me to become an environmental engineer. I thank you for that. Given the rise of right wing conservative politics in Canada and now in Australia, how can we shift the political debate on the environment from ideological and economic self-interest to science and evidence based decision making? NUCLEAR POWER Goronwy Price asked: George Mombiot of The Guardian newspaper and a lot of other leading environmentalists have come to the view that nuclear power has to be part of the solution to global warming. They point to France which went nuclear in the 1970s and within 10 to 15 years closed every single coal and oil burning powers station leading to dramatic reductions in Greenhouse emissions. Contrast that with Germany which has recently opened 2 new coal burning stations with more on the way after it announced the closure of its nuclear program post Fukushima. Isn’t it obvious that anti nuclear power environmentalists such as yourself and our green party in Australia by opposing nuclear energy are now part of the problem not part of the solution? RELIGION & SCIENCE Lucy Murrie asked: You’ve said religion blinds some to science – but not me. My education at university has been vital in understanding environmental impacts such as that of rising sea levels in the Pacific Islands, similarly my faith teaches me to be a "steward of the Earth" and assist the environment in any way I can. Is it less about religion and more about greed for over consumption and the “want everything now” mentality that is making us refuse to assist the environment? GM OK Professor Rick Roush asked: After 16 years of experience and 10% of the world’s cropland planted annually by more than 12 million farmers, every major scientific organization in the world has agreed that commercialized genetically modified “GM” crops are safe for food and the environment. The European Commission concludes that GM crops have been adopted rapidly by farmers globally because of reduced production costs, reduced use of toxic pesticides, increases in yield, and net economic benefits to farmers. Herbicide tolerant crops have in particular, reduced tillage, erosion and greenhouse gas emissions. After all of this, what scientific evidence in particular supports your concerns about GM crops and foods? GM BANANA Professor Jim Dale asked: My research group works on bananas and primarily on genetic modification of bananas. Our major project is to develop bananas with high levels of pro-vitamin A targeted at alleviating vitamin A deficiency in East Africa where cooking bananas are a staple. We have already achieved more than our target levels of pro-vitamin A using a banana gene, a gene from a banana that naturally has high levels of pro-vitamin A. We don’t think this is bad science. In fact we think it is good science which should result in a very significant humanitarian benefit. FARMERS & ENVIRONMENTALISTS Peter Ward asked: While engaging with agriculture will be essential to ensuring environmental outcomes, to-date a lot of the conversation has been one way. Often, figures within the environmental movement and regulators attempt to dictate to farmers the way in which they should produce food and manage their land without recognising the realities of life on the land and the fact that primary producers have considerable knowledge of their land and local circumstances. In the majority of cases, landholders and environmentalists are working towards common goals, so what would you propose to do to improve this relationship? PAY TO HAVE BABIES Jennifer Horsburg asked: Our major political parties are committed to increasing our population by giving cash payments, such as baby-bonuses, paid parental leave, etc. In our over-populated world, do you think it's selfish and immoral to pay people to have babies? FRACKING Jennifer Carter asked: Hello Dr Suzuki. The Gippsland area in Victoria boasts highly productive farming land and a tourism industry based in part on its extensive and RAMSAR-listed inland lakes system. But now we fear the imminent lifting of a moratorium on unconventional gas extraction, which would industrialise large parts of this region and expose it to irreversible contamination of water, land and air. What should we do? Why should our valuable and irreplaceable assets be secondary to mining interests, particularly when communities have made it abundantly clear they don`t want this fracking industry? SUSTAINABLE ADVICE Nina Hardy asked: The doom and gloom around environmental and social issues tends to de-motivate people and make them feel the problem is beyond their control. What lessons from around the world can you share with us here in Australia to help achieve positive change for a more compassionate and sustainable future, despite our government leading us in the opposite direction?