Tagging this one was a tough choice between “Quote of the Week” and “Climate Craziness of the Week”. Quote won.
September 27, 2010: Dr. David Suzuki, co-founder of the environmental activist group, The David Suzuki Foundation, is now touring Canada promoting his new book, “The Legacy – An elder’s Vision for our Sustainable Future”. The speech he gave this evening in Ottawa at the Dominion Chalmers Church was essentially a summary of the book, with much of the book’s text used verbatim in the presentation.
Get a load of what he says about humanity’s role in the forces of nature:
“We have become a force of nature … Not long ago, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, forest fires, even earthquakes and volcanic explosions were accepted as “natural disasters or “acts of God.” But now, we have joined God, powerful enough to influence these events.”
If Mr. Suzuki thinks we’ve become a race of “God like beings”, able to influence hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, forest fires, even earthquakes and volcanic explosions, next we’ll probably hear things like this:
Read the full story here at the ICSC
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Addendum – some points about things we can’t influence and/or have been disproven:
Tornados and global warming link – “just not there”
Increasing tornadoes or better information gathering?
Going Down: Death Rates Due to Extreme Weather Events
Global Warming = more hurricanes | Still not happening
Increased hurricanes to global warming link: blown away
Influence earthquakes? – no link needed, we can’t even predict them yet, much less influence them.
Influence volcanic explosions? – yeah right. Go argue with Mt. Saint Helens. Some people did, decided to stay, and paid with their lives.
Floods? – Think Corp of Engineers and dikes that failed during Katrina or any number of floods on the Mississippi river, such as in 1993
Forest Fires? – Yeah, we sure were able to control the one in Yellowstone in 1988, though I’ll admit it was worsened by poor management practices.
Drought ? – Australia’s “worst drought in 1000 years” now fixed by nature.
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For those unfamiliar with the Great Suzuki, he is the Fruit-fly Guy. He studied fruit-flies as an academic, now he has become one.
What I wonder when watching someone like David Suzuki rant on as he does (like on the CBC interview linked in my above comment) is what on Earth is their actual belief system that has them freak out over what essentially amounts to nothing as far as I can tell? What are they thinking? Really, they think it’s the end of the world as we know it? I just don’t get it. I try to comprehend what they are saying, heck I’ve spend years learning about the topic (with it’s literally hundreds if not thousands of technical points and sub topics) but so far nothing that convinces me that their fears have any basis in the objective reality of Nature that is our common ground. In fact excellent studies by people like Girma Orssengo clearly show no change in the temperature signal for the last 130 years even though CO2 has risen since the ~1950’s (or is it 1960’s). So in fact I’ve found the opposite… which brings me back to, how can they be freaking out? Especially someone trained in science? It bewilders me.
On behalf of the sane people of Canada. I’m sorry for this Fruit Gadfly’s intrusion onto the world’s stage. I hope that we can make up for it with Lorne Michaels, Jim Carrey, Gordie Howe, The Band and Pamela Anderso… DOH!
The chairman of the David Suzuki Foundation is… Yes, the founder of Desmogblog the PR Hoggan. Anthony could have chosen between thousands of quotes by the Suz, so this one or another…
The Suzuki activists are getting elected in municipal election not as a green list, but as alderman in others list and then push their green agenda through the back door. Beware!
David Suzuki is a little strange with his logic. I like him when he’s talking about the environment. But when he starts talking about how humans affect the environment, he’s a little sketchy. I remember watching him give an interview on a commercial jetliner. He was talking about how he flew all over the place when planes produce pollution. His view that the work he was doing and the fact that the plane would be flying whether or not he was on it warranted a little leeway. Or something to that effect. That the good of informing the public was worth a little pollution (CO2, his words, not mine). And no, I did not mistaken Al Gore for Suzuki.
Another time, I saw him talking about humanity’s place in the eco-system. He said he never realized that humans are also part of the whole system. That we are part of nature just like all other animals. Really? He never thought about it this way before? This was a long time ago. But it looks like he’s started looking at humanity as an external entity yet again. It’s hard to pinpoint his true views when it comes to humans.
He has no problem using commercial facilities that produce CO2 and taking government money if it means getting the message out. That outweighs all other concerns, AGW included. He’s been like this long before Gore became known.
David Suzuki has said “Education has failed in a very serious way to convey the most important lesson science can teach: skepticism”.
If so, then he himself is an excellent example of said failure. His environmentalism isn’t grounded in science, but in a powerful Belief system more akin to a religion. It seems incredible that anyone would take his utterances seriously, yet I suppose he has his fellow faithful travelers.
pwl says @4:17 “ . . . how can they be freaking out?”
Your comment leads me to believe you are unfamiliar with pathological science and practitioners of the CAGW type. Here is a start:
http://www.fact-index.com/p/pa/pathological_science.html
“Pathological science designates a psychological process in which a scientist, originally conforming to scientific method, unconsciously veers from that method, and begins a pathological process of wishful data interpretation. Criteria for pathological science are:
The maximum effect that is observed is produced by a causative agent of barely detectable intensity, and the magnitude of the effect is substantially independent of the intensity of the cause.
The effect is of a magnitude that remains close to the limit of detectability, or many measurements are necessary because of the very low statistical significance of the results.
There are claims of great accuracy.
Fantastic theories contrary to experience are suggested.
Criticisms are met by ad hoc excuses thought up on the spur of the moment.
The ratio of supporters to critics rises and then falls gradually to oblivion.”
Wow! So Gore isn’t the worst. Suzuki is a case of narcissistic grandiosity that I never expected to encounter. Or maybe he is just a performance artist who has tapped into the Gore stream. So much for my thinking that Canada is a mild, milquetoast kind of country.
Canadians are sane!
http://www.nationalpost.com/Steeped+contradiction/3594014/story.html
Let us see if any of you can guess how I feel about David Suzuki and his Foundation. Strange that he would like to see all skeptics locked up when he himself spent time in a Japanese internment camp during WWII.
David Suzuki is to scientists as Bob Vila is to home builders.
A Television personality.
Thank you Canada but you can keep Jim Carrey too.
(but we will keep The Band)
A government supported friend was explaining to me recently how oil drilling removes the lubricant between subterranean faults, thus causing earthquakes. George Bush has done more than cause hurricanes like Katrina by his assaults on the atmosphere. He works from below as well!
Sadly, I don’t think David Suzuki’s opinion would be much at variance from my friend’s. When Tim Flannery and David Suzuki can attract such wealth and prestige with their clownish mix of pseudoscience and Gaia worship…who’d be a Steve McIntyre?
Why knock yourself out?
Donna has already fisked him . . .
http://nofrakkingconsensus.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/seven-real-questions-for-david-suzuki/
Anthony, just a thought. I would like to see Quote of the Week reserved for positive and/or sane remarks, with Climate Craziness reserved for such as Suzuki.
Mark says:
September 29, 2010 at 3:52 pm
What you need is CA Assistant which gives preview function, plus ease of formatting.
This is the God Suzuki refers too. LOL
“We have become a force of nature … Not long ago, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, drought, forest fires, even earthquakes and volcanic explosions were accepted as “natural disasters or “acts of God.”
He’s said the very thing that explains it all. We stopped accepting that they are natural (or God-made). Doesn’t mean we are now playing Gods, we just ceased excepting natures force.
To stop excepting something doesn’t change the truth of the cause.
You know the Greek word is Hubris, and Suzuki has it by the cubic yard….
I went through a road blockade that David Suzuki was participating in which was against clear-cut logging. The protest was set up at an area that had been completely burned to the ground by an intense forest fire (not by logging but it made a great backdrop) (and the area had been replanted by the logging company). Years later, the leaders of the protest organization became the owners of the same logging company.
Cell phones! Man’s usage of cell phones has increased the severity and frequency of earth quakes and other natural disasters. Do we dare risk not stopping the use? Is it worth endangering our future? Stop the cell phones today. (sarc)
KevinC says September 29, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Canadians are sane!
And you’d better believe you screaming fruit bars 🙂
Editor’s note: For those unfamiliar with geography, Ottawa is the National Capital of Canada, second largest country in the world (although Russia cheats) and home of the next Stanley Cup winners! Yeah!
Don’t be too tough on poor misguided Suzuki.
I have him to thank for really raising my awareness of the great big lie back in 2003 when I came across this on the late John Daly’s website which made me question any and every comment about the so called raising temperatures.
http://www.john-daly.com/stations/suzuki.htm
David Suzuki, master of hyperbole…….
Theo Goodwin says:
September 29, 2010 at 4:55 pm
You are right! He is far worse then Gore as he has his own television show on nature.
Making himself to be head scientist of the world on global warming and the green movement.
“now, we have joined God, powerful enough to influence these events”.
Seriously LOL !!!! That is killing me!!
What I would really like to see is Mr Suzuki explaining this at the Pearly Gates. Talk about an out of control ego !!