Setting the real bottom line

Although every human being is created by the four elements – earth, air, fire and water – “we are failing to respond” to the damaging effects our actions are having on the environment, Dr David Suzuki has said.

He argued that these four elements need to be seen as “sacred substances” because “whatever we do to [them] we do to ourselves”.

“We are embedded in a matrix of air – it is a part of us. As soon as we are born, the first thing we need is air and we continue to need this until our dying day,” Dr Suzuki explained.

With this in mind, Dr Suzuki, who is the Emeritus Professor in Sustainable Development from the University of British Columbia in Canada, questioned “why we use air as a garbage can”.

He was speaking at the annual Commonwealth Lecture, which was held at London School of Economics on 12 March 2008. This lecture was organised by the Commonwealth Foundation, which aims to strengthen and support civil society across the Commonwealth.

Rapid growth in population

In 1900, the world’s population was 1.5 billion and only 16 cities had more than one million inhabitants, Dr Suzuki said. But by the year 2000 the population had quadrupled and the number of cities with more than one million people had grown to over 400.

With this ever-increasing number of people spreading “toxic debris into the air, earth and soil”, Dr Suzuki highlighted the collective impact of 6.6 billion people on the environment.

“Since each of us has to be fed, clothed and sheltered, the collective ecological footprint of our species - just from basic living - is now very large,” he observed.

Rightful legacy

By continuing current living trends “we are using up the rightful legacy of our children and grandchildren,” Dr Suzuki warned. It is essential, therefore, to look at “how we impact on the environment”.

“What we eat, how we move and where we live” are three areas highlighted by Dr Suzuki which need to be assessed, so that this “rightful legacy” is not ignored.

He gave examples of ways in which people can address these aspects of their lives – food, travel and home – such as “eating as much locally grown food as we can”.

Dr Suzuki added that there needs to be a shift from linking the economy with progress, and that it is “suicidal” to believe that the economies will continue to grow forever. “The economy is not the real bottom line,” he said. “It is the environment.”

Listen to an extract from the lecture

Secretariat Links:

• Country Profile: Canada
• Commonwealth Week
• Sustainability