"If everybody lived like Canadians do, we'd need 5 more planets"
CMAJ 2000;162:687
The current emphasis on global economic development is a "form of brain damage," Canada's best-known environmentalist says. Speaking during the Sixth Canadian Conference on International Health in November, David Suzuki said it's impossible to separate economic interests from the environment. "The economy is based on the idea that we can have steady growth forever, and if we don't it's a disaster. But only 2 things believe in growth forever: the economy and cancer cells. Both result in death."
 | Suzuki: Economic interests and the environment are one |
The environment was a mainstream concern during the 1980s, says Suzuki, but by the early 1990s the economy ruled again. Ironically, this re-emphasis came on the heels of a 1992 document signed by 1600 senior scientists warning that "there is a collision course for life on the planet."
Suzuki says mankind is destroying the earth at an unprecedented rate, with a minimum of 35 000 species becoming extinct each year. Meanwhile, Canadians consume more and more. In the last 40 years, the average family size decreased by 50% while the average size of a house doubled. "If everybody in the world lived the way we do in Canada," he said, "we would need the resources of 5 more planets." And science isn't helping, because "for most of humanity, life is not getting better." Suzuki laughed at the notion of managing a forest "scientifically. They are taking about a plantation, not a forest. Only nature and time can grow a forest."
Meanwhile, Ontario family physicians and the David Suzuki Foundation are speaking out on the health effects of air pollution and global warming in an attempt to raise public awareness about the issues. "Air pollution can be deadly for some, and all of us are affected by even very low levels of pollutants," Dr. David Mathies, president of the Ontario College of Family Physicians, said as he launched the campaign in November. "We see the effects of air pollution on people's health day after day, and prevention is part of our jobs." — Barbara Sibbald, CMAJ
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