Zoologist: Humans On ‘Suicidal Path’

Zoologist David T. Suzuki told a packed Science Center B that humans are on “a suicidal path” as a species, as he accepted the 2006 Roger Tory Peterson Medal from the Harvard Museum of Natural History yesterday.

Suzuki blamed unsustainable population growth and economic expansion for “shattering” the connection between humans and nature.

Suzuki, author of more than 30 books, host of a popular nature television series, and honorary member of two Native American tribes, was presented with the Peterson award for his work in sustainable ecology and environmental advocacy.

Before a crowd of about 250 people, Suzuki warned of the dangers of population growth, reductionist scientific theorizing, and information overload—but reserved his outrage for the field of economics.

“Economics is not a science,” he said. “[It is] a set of values posing as science.” Suzuki said the practice of renaming the natural world as “externalities” is the root of the disconnect between modern society and the environment.

The “mindless commitment” to infinite economic growth, he said, does not correspond with finite “natural capital.”

Suzuki also reflected upon the change in Homo sapiens, who went from living in small isolated groups in Africa to being the most numerous mammals on earth during a period of 150,000 years. He attributed the evolved cognitive ability of foresight as the main reason for the transformation.

“Foresight is the very definition of what it is to be human,” declared Suzuki, who continued by remarking that humans have “[turned] our backs on the very means that we have depended on” by ignoring scientific warnings of environmental threats.

Suzuki, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, concluded by discussing the “Nature Challenge,” 10 steps that individual Canadians can take to protect nature. He is currently working with professors at Harvard to create an American version of the Nature Challenge.