No, David Suzuki hasn’t given up on the climate fight — but his battle plan is changing

Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki made headlines last week when he said in an interview with iPolitics that humanity has lost its fight against climate change.

“We’re in deep trouble,” Suzuki told the outlet. “I’ve never said this before to the media, but it’s too late.” 

Though he made it clear that he hasn’t entirely given up, Suzuki says that rather than getting caught up in trying to force change through legal, political and economic systems, we now need to focus on community action.

“I look at what the straight science says and that is that we’ve passed too many boundaries,” said Suzuki in an interview with CBC News on Monday. 

“It’s going to get hotter, there’s going to be floods, and all kinds of other things that we can’t predict at this point,” he said. “As the temperature rises, even half a degree to a degree warmer, the repercussions ecologically are going to be immense.”

Suzuki says he goes by Johan Rockström’s work with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research to define nine planetary boundaries, or safe limits, for human pressure on certain critical processes.

During an interview with CBC in June about deep-sea mining, Rockström discussed how humanity is approaching tipping points when it comes to climate change. 

“We have more and more scientific evidence that we are pushing these systems to the brink of potential collapse,” he said. 

Continuing the climate change fight amid dire warnings

Suzuki says that we passed the seventh boundary this year and are now in the extreme danger zone, noting that Rockström says we have five years to get out of it.

According to Suzuki, it’s not likely we’ll be able to pull back on these boundaries within five years.

“It’s crystal clear: we’re going to overshoot.” 

For example, there have been 12 consecutive months where temperatures warmed 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels — the threshold set by scientists to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change.

“And that was the level we were supposed to reach by 2100,” said Suzuki, noting that we haven’t capped emissions and they continue to climb. 

“At some point, you have to say, we’re not going to do it.”

Climate advocates have long said that one of the biggest things people can do to impact climate change is to vote, contact politicians and get involved. 

But now, Suzuki says he’s changing his advice to environmental advocates. He says he hasn’t given up on finding solutions, just on waiting for governments and institutions to take meaningful action.

David Suzuki says we’ve chosen politics and economics over the environment

“It’s an unpredictable world that we’re heading to, and so much of our efforts in the environmental movement have been spent on assuming that politicians are going to take the right steps,” he said.

As an example, he recalls approaching an MP at a fundraiser gala for his non-profit environmental foundation. Suzuki says he believed the MP understood the severity of the climate crisis and urged him to reach out across party lines to take action because climate change couldn’t remain political.

But he says the MP responded by saying he was worried about the next election.

“And I said, ‘Are you saying that you’re not going to do what should have been done years ago that must be done immediately because of the political possibility that you’ll lose the next election?’ ” Suzuki recalled. 

“And he said, ‘Yeah, that’s politics — politics prevents you from doing the right thing.’ “

Having abandoned politics as a solution, Suzuki says he’s turning to community.

“Do we just give up? No,” he said. “Get together with your local block or your series of blocks and start finding out who’s going to need help in an emergency.”

Suzuki says the Kitsilano neighbourhood in Vancouver where he’s lived for 50 years is having a block party next week that he hopes will help combat the isolation and loneliness he says will be major challenges for what lies ahead.

There are other places in Canada that are also prioritizing community. 

The town of Lytton, B.C., is still rebuilding after a 2021 wildfire destroyed most of its homes and businesses. Part of their rebuilding plan includes a Community Hub project.

“We’re calling it a hub because we plan to have a number of services within that building … and an outdoor space like a covered festival, farmers market multi-purpose space as well,” Lytton Mayor Denise O’Connor told CBC News.

The community hub will be net zero and will also have climate resilience built in, with a swimming pool that can double as a water reservoir.

Suzuki says this kind of community resilience will be key. 

“Mother Nature is going to come down so hard that we’re going to have to face up to the big changes, but I’m saying to environmental groups now, ‘focus on the local community, get them to be as self-sufficient and self-reliant as you can possibly be,’ ” he said.

“The science says that we’re done for, but I’m saying at least the time that we’ve got left, let’s fight like mad to be as resilient as we can in the face of what’s coming.”