On Suzuki: "celebrity and integrity seem to be mutually exclusive"

From the Canadian Newspaper:

An inconvenient letter to the editor, from a “green librarian” no less. h/t to Kate at SDA.

David Suzuki disappointing

To The Editor:

On Saturday, Nov. 20 I went to see David Suzuki speak in Moncton at the Green Home Builder’s Show. I was hoping to ask him during the question period that normally follows these types of talks for advice on how to help me promote environmentalism to my group of largely apathetic students at Hampton High School, where I am the librarian.

Unfortunately, there was no question period. Directly following Dr. Suzuki’s speech, where he emphatically urged the audience to form strong interpersonal connections with their neighbours, family and local ecology, there was a book signing. I waited until the line was gone before I approached. I did not purchase any books, since I either have them at home, or have read them through our public library service. There was only one other man at the table, talking about a Prius, and he stopped and said he should go since I was waiting. Dr. Suzuki said it was alright since there was “no one there.”

I assumed since he was 75, perhaps his eyesight was poor and he did not see me. When the man left, I approached Dr. Suzuki.

He looked up and said, “book?” I said I didn’t have one but I wanted to ask him a question. He said, “I don’t have time for that,” and waved me away like a king dismissing a commoner.

There was absolutely no one else around the table except the security guards.

Then he shouted out, “Books! Books!” and continued waving me out of the way. There was no sign indicating no questions were allowed.

Only minutes before he had been espousing the value of slowing down and making time for each other and he didn’t even have the decency to say, “I’m sorry, I’m tired . . . or I’m not allowed to answer questions . . .”

Instead here I was, an educator and great promoter of his books, looking for help with the generation he claimed was most important, but because I was not spending money (other than the $45 I spent to hear him lecture), I was waved off.

I used to be proud to call Dr. Suzuki one of my heroes, and now I can see that he is a hypocrite.

I am in no way turned off the environmental causes I have always believed in, simply disappointed to have to tell my students, once again, that celebrity and integrity seem to be mutually exclusive.

Jenn Carson,

Hampton

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Crispin in Ulaanbaatar

November 26, 2010 9:34 am

Ray says:
November 25, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Dear Jenn, here in British-Columbia, where Suzuki is from, we always knew he was a fake.
+++++++++++
David Suzuki is from London, Ontario and went to primary school with a close friend of mine, Enid. His involvement in carbon trading, reported here on WUWT, should be hint enough that green refers to buckazoids.

Harold Pierce Jr

November 26, 2010 9:47 am

TomRude says on November 26, 2010 at 8:32 am:
Suzuki complains that the senate killed democracy… when unelected Suzuki and Jaccard lobbied the BC government to adopt the carbon tax, when Hoggan is stirring BC Hydro’s global warming
Since BC bureaucrats can now regulate the emission of GHG’s and levy carbon taxes, they can not only seize control of the means of production but also over every aspect of the peoples’ lives.
This is what all this global warming gobbly gook and climate claptrap is really about.
Premier G. “Clueless” Campbell never figured out what Prof.’s Suzuki and Jaccard were upto.

Cam_S

November 26, 2010 10:16 am

mwoelfle

November 26, 2010 11:31 am

I’m not having much sympathy for Jenn Carson after reading this: “I was hoping to ask him during the question period that normally follows these types of talks for advice on how to help me promote environmentalism to my group of largely apathetic students at Hampton High School, where I am the librarian.”
Ms. Carson, why are you “promoting” anything other than a love of reading in your public high school? I don’t care if you are interested only in reasonable environmental issues and not full blown AGW, you’re still overstepping your bounds as an educator by injecting personal interests into the classroom/library.

Paul Deacon

November 26, 2010 12:31 pm

“I was not spending money (other than the $45 I spent to hear him lecture)…”
Another fool easily parted from her money.

November 26, 2010 12:45 pm

This fellow sounds like another case of the “do as I say” syndrome (discussed at length in a book of that title by Peter Schweizer, which I recommend).

Herbie Vandersmeldt

November 26, 2010 1:45 pm

I had basically the same experience with him in about 1995 in Calgary. I was 15, and was going to ask questions related to “inconsistencies” in his presentation. He freaked on me. I’ve had a strong dislike for him ever since.

Billy Liar

November 26, 2010 2:14 pm

Cam_S says:
November 26, 2010 at 10:16 am
Thanks but I’d had enough of David Suzuki before I even got to your post.

B.Quartero

November 26, 2010 2:33 pm

David Suzuki stopped thinking a long time ago and opted for the promotion, finding that it just makes more money. He has done quite well for himself, but for those who like to think a bit he is just too flat.
On the great Wesdtern Canadian drought about 5 years ago, he could only respond with “Duh” on the “why” question. (global warming of course). That was immediately the last year of drought, with nothing but wet and “normal” years since..
He also loves the alertness of the wild deer as compared to the rather dull and slow moving domesticated cattle. Wild being better than domesticated; “see how alert the deer are?” Better for whom? The deer are alert because they are being hunted continuously, every hour could be their last, with the feeding frenzy generally beginning before they are completely dead, starting at the soft spot under their tail. Anybody will be a nervous wreck if that is your life. At least for the dull cattle life is good for a little while and they generally don’t know what will hit them.
But that is Suziki for you.
By the way, Plimer’s book is not that good. Full of errors and poor referencing; a bit political and at times trying to be smarter than he is. I agree with a lot of the criticisms directed at him. He can do very well by taking all the free comments, edit his book and bring out a much improved second edition. He just wrote it too fast and had only supporters doing the fact checking; luckily the agw crowd did him a favour and pointed out all the weaknesses.

Bruce Cobb

November 26, 2010 2:47 pm

“I was hoping to ask him during the question period that normally follows these types of talks for advice on how to help me promote environmentalism to my group of largely apathetic students at Hampton High School, where I am the librarian.”
Did they run out of the little red buttons? There’s nothing like blood and guts splattering all over your apathetic students to motivate them.

jrwakefield

November 26, 2010 3:25 pm

What a refreshing difference. It’s amazing that the CBC has both of these guys on the air. Rex Murphy gives us a glimmer of hope that objective journalism isn’t dead.
Rex was subsequently fired from the CBC for that report on climategate. He now writes for the National Post.

GAZ

November 26, 2010 3:36 pm

I went to Anthony Watts lecture in Australia.
After the lecture I approached him – I just wanted to say hello and how I enjoy reading WUWT regularly.
Anthony was most charming. He was genuinely pleased to have me and others just saying hi, and was happy to answer questions from other people.
Perhaps go to one of Anthony’s presentations, Ms Carson. I am sure he will make your feel welcome. And his message makes more sense than Suzuki’s.

David Ball

November 26, 2010 3:36 pm

TomRude says:
November 26, 2010 at 8:32 am
Your like or dislike of my tone is irrelevant. Being too soft to call a duck a duck (especially when it walks like one and talks like one) is not taking the high road. He had plenty o’ evidence to at least convince someone to make these guys open the books. Sorry.

dbstealey

November 26, 2010 4:28 pm

For our Hoser friends [I use the term with affection], this Canadian blog has a weekly update on climate issues.
Click on “Weekly Roundup” for news items like this, eh?

John May

November 26, 2010 5:05 pm

Speaking of hypocrites I suppose it wouldn’t shock anyone to know that Dr Suzuki was caught poaching in a fish preserve in BC after one of his productions.

vigilantfish

November 26, 2010 6:22 pm

Jason Price says:
November 26, 2010 at 6:12 am
I grew up in Moncton and it is so good to see her returned to reality. It is also poetic that it happened in Moncton(Monckton) 🙂
We have a cake eater here in Fredericton that espouses the foolish drivel from Al Gore so I hope ever so much that he also is introduced to his eye opening moment soon too.
——————–
I imagine you have many cake eaters in Fredericton. I grew up there – wonder if I know him or her?

Keith Minto

November 26, 2010 6:28 pm

This is a two minute video on a favorite topic of Suzuki, salmon farming. Just look at the reaction of the audience at the rant about the toxins, this spiel was given after they had eaten the salmon !
He actually signed a book for me and my daughter many years ago, doing so, without comment, I really wanted him to comment on Theodore Roszak (mentioned in one of his publications) but got no reply.
Not the friendliest of authors, but then again, there is so little time to save the planet. He seems to display an intolerance common to know-it-all eco- warriors. In a lecture at the ANU that I attended, he called the 1990’s, “The turnaround decade”.
Well David, we didn’t and we are still here, a little more informed than you seem to be.

Al Gored

November 27, 2010 2:43 pm

To understand Suzuki you must understand his childhood. He and his family were sent to internment camps in WW II. That left him with a huge subconscious chip on his shoulder, and sometimes his carefully concealed rage leaks out. His current mission is just a handy way to vent. For example:
“Update: February 10, 2008: Canadian Environmentalist David Suzuki Calls for skeptical leaders to be thrown ‘into jail’ – Excerpt: At a Montreal conference last Thursday, the prominent scientist, broadcaster and Order of Canada recipient exhorted a packed house of 600 to hold politicians legally accountable for what he called an intergenerational crime. […] “What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there’s a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they’re doing is a criminal act,” said Dr. Suzuki, a former board member of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. “It’s an intergenerational crime in the face of all the knowledge and science from over 20 years.”
(Sorry, lost the link to this but it is a well known incident.)
In person his sailor-like foul language reveals what lurks beneath his facade.
It is also worth noting that the CBC gave him his soapbox at the same time as the Canadian government was a Maurice Strong puppet.
Only in Canada, or at the UN, could this raging and manipulative sociopath be a member of any “(Canadian) Civil Liberties Association.”

Roger

November 27, 2010 11:41 pm

If Pat’s still following, I hope her library has Prof Lance Endersbee’s “Voyage of Discovery”. It’s not about climate change/scepticism per se, but the wider evolution and falabilty of scientific knowledge and ideas. Published by the author (deceased) you can order it online from Abbey’s Bookshop Sydney NSW.

Engchamp

November 28, 2010 1:10 pm

Pat… apologies for replying so late in the game, but try your own home-grown Robert Carter, who has opened my eyes to the science of climate, especially with his book, “Climate; the Counter Consensus”.
BTW, are you having trouble with utilising your upper case keyboard button, except for acronyms? Naughty librarian!

pat

November 28, 2010 3:18 pm

thanx for all the book suggestions folks. perhaps jenn could stock up on some of them as well.
Engchamp (note the capitalisation!) –
i’m not a librarian. it is the local library which covers a wide region and a large and growing population that is willing to stock the books. the use of lower case is a habit, good or bad, that i’ve adopted for online use.
btw i did get christian gerondeau’s “Climate: The Great Delusion” from the library recently and – for those like me without a scientific education – it made a lot of sense.

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