David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, the Japanese Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist
just signed the petition asking the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to let Nicanor Perlas run as a presidential candidate.
Suzuki says in his comment, "
Nicanor Perlas is a serious candidate for political office, not a nuisance. Humanity has undergone an enormous change in numbers, technological prowess, consumer demand and a global economy. We have become so powerful that we are undermining the very life support systems of the planet. But we cling to our political and economic priorities, that we are blinded to the reality that it is nature that sets limits that we have to respect or else our survival is put at risk."
"The Philippines illustrates the problems afflicting all of humanity: unsustainable population growth, pollution, deforestation, ocean depletion and pollution, and so on. The challenge we face is to shift our perspective from one in which we and our political and economic institutions set the priorities to one in which we recognize that our health, well being and survival are utterly dependent on the state of nature and the natural world must be respected as setting the limits and parameters for human activity. As we saw at Copenhagen, the meetings failed because we cling to our political borders and raise economic issues and fail to acknowledge the supremacy of nature's limits.
I believe it's people like Nicanor Perlas, who is internationally recognized for his work, who are providing the perspective we need to find truly sustainable solutions. You are fortunate in the Philippines to have a candidate like Perlas to raise these issues.
I wish we had such prominent people in my country and I urge you to approve of his candidacy so that serious issues can be faced in public discourse," Prof. Suzuki continues.
Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his TV and radio series and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science magazine, The Nature of Things, seen in syndication in over forty nations. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.
A long time activist to reverse global climate change, Suzuki co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, to work "to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that sustains us." The Foundation's priorities are: oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, and David Suzuki's Nature Challenge. He also served as a director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association from 1982-1987.
Presently, David Suzuki Professor emeritus Sustainable Development Research Institute University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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