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Last Friday, hundreds of U of T students gathered at Convocation Hall for a lecture. But this wasn’t just any lecture — it featured environmentalist David Suzuki. Any SUV-driving, littering, non-environmentalist who attended was probably disappointed that the talk was neither boring nor trite.

The event was hosted by the UTSU, UTERN, the Good Ideas Fund at Hart House, and CUPE 3902, among others. Clayton Thomas-Muller, who is the Tar Sands Campaign Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network, also spoke about his work traveling across North America, defending the rights of Indigenous peoples against unsustainable energy policies. City Councillor Olivia Chow also gave a short, motivational speech.

David’s lecture had an informal feel — not what I expected. Instead of pulling out charts and PowerPoint slides, he told stories about his experiences with government officials, business leaders, and other students. How are different people dealing with (or not dealing with) the state of our planet? What have people done in the past to take action, and was it effective? Is it too late? These are the questions he addressed. And FYI, it’s not too late, but it won’t be long until we can no longer escape the consequences of our over-consumption, which he likened to how bacteria live inside a closed container… eventually they will run out of food, overpopulate, and die.

So eat vegetarian for one week every month. Leave your car at home once a week. Turn off your electronics. Sign up for the David Suzuki Nature Challenge!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Events, On Campus, We've Got Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.