Happy birthday Moses! Well, happy birthday of David Suzuki, who achieved 85 years yesterday. It's already been a good run for Suzuki who is revered by some and reviled by others. I don't know whether he would want to be called an environmentalist any more because he has reservations about some aspects of the environmental movement. Still, his life-long commitment to caring for Planet Earth, or Turtle Island is exemplary. He is a scientist who became the host of the CBC program The Nature of Things. He has been a passionate activist along the way, as well as a symbolic, sometimes abrasive figure in the broad picture of the environmental movement.
When CBC television invited Canadians to participate in ranking the Greatest Canadian back in 2004 he came in at number 5, which was impressive. Thank God he was above Don Cherry. Suzuki has improved over time, while Cherry definitely has not.
In some respects Suzuki has been a Moses figure, leading Canadians through the years in the wilderness of ignorance and denial regarding the climate crisis. While we were living in Halifax around the turn of the millennium I went to hear Suzuki on the Dalhousie University campus. He was speaking at 9 AM, an ungodly hour for students, so I got there half an hour early with a friend from the congregation. The line snaked around the building and while we got in we had to stand at the back of the balcony. That's a strong draw for someone who was well into his sixties at the time.
Suzuki is not a fan of organized religion, so the biblical Moses comparison might annoy him. Through the years he has become increasingly spiritual, with admiration for the emphasis on living in balance with Creation demonstrated by Indigenous peoples.
Our son Isaac was in Victoria a year ago February and while attending a course of the provincial museum he came upon Suzuki with one of his younger grandchildren. Suzuki has not given up hope for the planet, even though he has warned that the outcome of the climate crisis could be far more dire than the COVID pandemic. The book Letters to My Grandchildren includes his thoughts on a wide range of subjects, including his work through the years.
There were times when the Moses of the exodus was ignored by God's people, with nasty consequences. Hear's hoping and praying that we'll listen to the men and women who are sounding the alarm and calling us to a different path for the sake of the Earth.
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