The Legacy: An Elder's Vision for Our Sustainable Future

In 2009, Suzuki (Dodging the Toxic Bullet), an internationally recognized geneticist and environmentalist now in his 70's, gave a legacy lecture at the University of British Columbia where he had been a professor for 39 years. His is an optimistic vision of the future, even though we are despoiling our natural environment at a rapid pace as if as a species we were "immune to the laws of nature." Rachel Carson's 1962 book, Silent Spring, inspired environmentalists such as Suzuki to become active on a number of issues, but looking back he believes that environmentalists have not sufficiently addressed the root causes of our species' destructiveness: our failure to recognize our spiritual dependence upon nature that "gave us birth and is our home and source of well being" and to which we will return when we die. Suzuki sees the magnitude of the present crisis as a transformative opportunity to reject those who claim that protecting the environment is unrealistic, or fiscally irresponsible, and find ways to "and to create a future rich in the joy, happiness, and meaning that are our real wealth." A small book with a big, generous message. (Sept.)