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Hamilton Spectator
29-07-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
David Suzuki not giving up hope despite dire warning it's ‘too late' to fight climate change
Canadian icon and environmental activist David Suzuki didn't mince words when talking about Earth's fate this month. In a much-publicized interview in iPolitics , Suzuki was quoted as saying the fight against climate change is lost and 'it's too late' to avoid whatever fate awaits us. 'We have failed to shift the narrative and we are still caught up in the same legal, economic and political systems,' Suzuki said in the interview. 'For me, what we've got to do now is hunker down.' In the piece, Suzuki also noted Swedish scientist Johan Rockström had defined nine planetary boundaries — including carbon in the atmosphere, pH in the oceans and more. And Rockström said we've already passed seven of these boundaries. 'I've never said this before to the media, but it's too late,' Suzuki said in the piece referring to seven of nine boundaries being passed. And that statement caused reactions from many who are also working to protect the environment. 'I came to the same conclusion several years ago. For 65 years, I have warned how climate change threatens agriculture and our food security. We reap what we sow,' @Harold_Steves shared in a post on X , referencing the article. 'For many, he validates the rising frustration and anxiety people are feeling about the escalating climate impacts we are all experiencing. In some ways it's a relief to hear someone with his stature say plainly: this isn't working, our leaders and the system are (not) set up to tackle such a complex problem,' Greenpeace author Sarah Wilbore shared in a blog post . 'But for others, the starkness of his message and the finality of his words risks pushing us deeper into hopelessness to the point of inaction or worse, apathy.' 'Suzuki wisely tells us to invest in local community to help us prepare for the ongoing disasters of climate change. The fact that he has completely given up on government to do what is right is what I'm still processing,' @ESL_fairy wrote on X . The article came out shortly after CBC reshaped a 2022 Nature of Things documentary , where Suzuki and daughter, Sarika Cullis-Suzuki, talk frankly about when she told her dad she was pregnant, and he cried holding his grandchildren, because he realized they would not be able to 'live out their lives.' How have humans survived extreme environmental change in the past? And what will it take to survive what's next? But in a followup blog on his own website July 17, Suzuki softened his tone. 'I've been getting flak — and praise — for comments I made,' Suzuki said, referencing the article. 'I make no apologies for that, but I should clarify: I don't think we should give up hope. We never know what surprises nature has in store, and we're in uncharted territory with no history to guide us.' Although we aren't going to halt global heating, we have solutions to slow and ultimately cap it, Suzuki said, adding we must also find ways to adapt to a changing climate of more extreme and less predictable weather. 'It's still possible to move off this destructive path, but not if we continue to elevate human-invented economic systems and politics above the foundation of our existence, which is nature: clean air, safe water, rich soil, toxic-free food and sunlight,' Suzuki added. But his sombre warning was also critiqued by some. 'Suzuki calls for 'massive lifestyle changes,' but leaves out something crucial: most people are already at their breaking point: rent is unaffordable, food costs are crushing, there is a genocide happening. Telling people to overhaul their lives without policies or support doesn't sound liberating, it sounds terrifying,' Wilbore wrote on the blog. 'The panic-inducing approach has proved to be counterproductive. The right way is sensible efficiency and pollution pricing,' @NobariAli wrote on X . For more information about Suzuki's thoughts, and the David Suzuki Foundation, visit . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CBC
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Whooping cranes were almost extinct — until Canadian ornithologist George Archibald learned to dance with them
Social Sharing In 1954, an eight-year-old George Archibald was sitting in a one-room school in Nova Scotia when he heard a CBC radio program about whooping cranes in Northern Canada. It was a dramatization: actors portrayed two cranes, and one was panicking about their nesting grounds being discovered, fearing the cranes would soon be killed. Her mate reassured her that they lived in an area protected by the Canadian government and they were safe. That program changed Archibald's life — and the cranes' future. As an adult, he devoted himself to conservation, co-founding the International Crane Foundation (ICF) and spending more than five decades facilitating the birds' stunning recovery. In the 1940s, there were fewer than 20 whooping cranes left. Today, there are more than 800, though they are still an endangered species. Dances With Cranes, an episode of The Nature of Things, features a year in the life of whooping cranes and the humans saving them from extinction. Wooing a bird that loved only humans Dances With Cranes has a very literal meaning — Archibald's work to bring back whooping cranes from the brink of extinction involved deep knee bends, flapping his arms, and jumping up and down. In the 1960s, a whooping crane — which came to be known as Tex — was hatched and raised in a zoo, but mistakes were made in her upbringing. "The director of the zoo took this little bird into his home, and it became hopelessly imprinted on humans," Archibald says in the documentary. "For 10 years, they tried pairing Tex to a male crane. She had absolutely no interest in cranes, but when male zookeepers walked by, she would start dancing." Archibald offered to work with Tex, and she was sent to the ICF in 1976. To trigger her reproductive cycle — so she could be artificially inseminated — Archibald learned to dance like a crane. Dancing is the bird's language of courtship. And after seven years, it worked. Tex laid a viable egg, producing a whooping crane named Gee Whiz. That bird produced 26 of his own offspring, which in turn resulted in about 130 more chicks. One Canadian's lifelong mission to save the whooping crane 35 minutes ago Duration 5:47 George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation, once sat down with David Suzuki to talk about his work bringing the whooping crane back from the brink of extinction. 45 years later, Sarika Cullis-Suzuki visits Archibald to see the impact of his efforts. Watch Dances with Cranes now on CBC Gem and The Nature of Things YouTube channel. A female crane born to Gee Whiz became the first of the lineage to breed in the wild. The unique story and remarkable success earned Archibald his 15 minutes of fame: an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Archibald received a devastating phone call just before his interview: raccoons had entered Tex's enclosure and killed her. On stage, Archibald told Carson what had happened, and the studio audience gasped. "All across the country, I think a good portion of the 22 million people did the same," Archibald later told Audubon magazine. "And I think whooping cranes likely got a lot more sympathy through Tex's death than from her dance." Helping cranes to thrive in the wild Archibald's work in crane conservation has won him countless awards, four honorary doctorates and the Order of Canada. And the ICF continues to be a lifeline for all 15 crane species, working with specialists in more than 50 countries around the world. At the ICF headquarters in Baraboo, Wis., about 100 cranes live in a captive flock. Captive breeding is often necessary to save an endangered species from extinction, but the goal is to see the birds flourishing in the wild. "The last thing in the world you want is [for them] to be fixated on humans," Archibald says. Dances With Cranes shows ICF staff donning elaborate crane costumes and interacting with new chicks, encouraging them to forage for food. It's a laborious blend of rearing and caretaking, with the hopes the birds will eventually join an existing wild flock. The ICF also encourages adult whooping cranes to raise chicks when possible. Archibald says he has approached his decades of work with optimism and patience and quotes his mother as inspiration: "The only way to get something done is to do it." "I saw the crane foundation right from the beginning as a fertile egg that had to be incubated with the proper conditions, and at some point it's going to hatch," he says. "And I feel that way about all of our projects — that they're very difficult, but through faith and hard work, eventually you'll have a hatch."
