David Suzuki - David Suzuki

Each day I wore long johns, a thick sweater, a fleece jacket, and a down coat to teach in the unheated classroom. With all my layers of clothing, I looked like the Michelin Man, while the monks sat cross-legged with bare arms and shoulders. I gave two lectures a day, each lecture two hours long with a half-hour break between them. Any university professor in Canada would be delighted with students like those monks — they were attentive, asked insightful questions, and had a wonderful sense of humor. The translators were fabulous. We had two young men who took turns translating and would transform a simple statement into a drama, full of gestures, body movements, and exclamations. I might make a two-sentence statement, after which the translator would go on for what seemed minutes, amplifying the statement and perhaps even adding his own two cents' worth. If I made a joke, about half of the students would immediately laugh, as they clearly understood English; then there would be a delayed laugh from the ones who understood only the translation.

I began my part of the course with material from my book The Sacred Balance , showing that we are not separate from the air, water, soil, and sun. I talked about how air was once referred to as spirit , which is the basis for the words inspire and expire ; how we are all embedded in this matrix of air that links all life together and throughout time. It was so clear this resonated powerfully with the monks' spiritual teachings.

Severn and Sarika were invited to give a talk to the children who lived in the village. Like the monks, the children were tremendously attentive and responsive to the discussion about the environment and what youngsters can do. So despite being a reluctant participant, I ended up feeling grateful for having met His Holiness and for the opportunity to teach those monks and the children.

I SUPPOSE IF PUBLIC attention is a criterion, I am a celebrity in Canada. I never sought or desired celebrity, but television provides a kind of intimacy that movies do not. Someone can watch a show while going to the bathroom, lounging in front of a fireplace, or stretching out in bed. So when people run into me, they often greet me as a familiar friend. I can't help being startled each time someone addresses me, though almost always it is to say something very kind. I must admit, I am not able to respond generously because greetings are still a surprise and intrusion, and my teenage reticence to engage in conversation returns.

Back in the '70s, there was a lot of resentment of my viewpoint, especially from businessmen, and they openly expressed their disagreement. Even today, there are those who dislike my stands. I opposed the current U.S. administration's invasion of Iraq and applauded Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's decision that Canada would await the un search for weapons of mass destruction. A few weeks after President Bush ordered troops into Iraq, I flew to Edmonton, Alberta. After we landed and I stood up to deplane, a man behind me recognized me, leaned over with a smile, and said, “I guess you are rooting for your friend Saddam” (Hussein, toppled president of Iraq and at the time being hunted by the Americans). I was speechless, but before I could even stutter a clever retort like “f-k you,” the woman standing next to him berated him loudly and he slunk away. Good to have friends nearby.

Another time, I was working out at the YMCA in Winnipeg. I was exercising on a cross-trainer, one of the few machines I can tolerate with my knees gimpy from years of jogging, when the young man next to me said, “You're Suzuki, aren't you?”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but here I'm just an old man trying to stay healthy.” I thought he might chuckle, but instead he retorted, “You know, you've got a lot of nerve spouting the crap you do. You should be pulled off the air. CBC is a waste of taxpayers' money.” Well, this time I didn't lose my wit and told him where he could shove his ideas, expecting him to lash out at me. Instead, he meekly dismounted his machine and left. It's funny, but even though 95 percent of all people who call out to me are friendly and generous, it's the ones who disagree so obnoxiously who stick in my memory.

When the CBC began to tout its search for “the greatest Canadian” for a television series of that name in 2004, I was interviewed on radio and asked what I thought about the idea. I scoffed at the notion that it meant anything. Greatest what? Greatest crook, moneymaker, athlete, looker, writer? Besides, how can we select one person out of millions who are Canadians and conclude that one individual is the greatest. My mother, for example, never made the newspapers or a television report, but she finished high school, worked hard all her life, brought forth four children, and raised them to be responsible, contributing citizens of the country, and to me, she was the greatest. I feel the same about my father.

I now realize that the exercise of trying to define the greatest Canadian was not a wasted or even frivolous effort. I was astonished to watch and listen to conversations, often quite heated, about Canada and Canadians. It was great to hear the talk and feel the passion — it got us thinking about this country, its values, and what makes us special. I was surprised and CBC management was delighted when the project took off. According to Slawko Klimkiw, the man then in charge of television programming, 60 percent of the votes in the first round were submitted by women. I don't know how he got that statistic, because not one woman appeared among the top ten nominees. I felt there should have been four categories — men, living and dead, and women, living and dead. But as an exercise to get people involved and thinking, it worked.

As not only a scientist but also an environmental activist, I had no idea that I would be anywhere on the list, so when the names were first announced, I was surprised to be placed among the top ten. As I said later in an interview, I would have been honored to be in the top one thousand. What a remarkable list — not a single businessperson or, sadly, woman, but three scientists (Sir Frederick Banting, Alexander Graham Bell, and me).

The United States dominates Canada in so many ways. I kept thinking about people on the Canadian list in comparison with any Americans might select. Ultimately Canadians chose as number 1 Tommy Douglas, a socialist preacher and politician who championed national medicare and many other social causes — would such a person have even appeared among the top one hundred Americans? I felt our list alone indicated how Canada is different from the U.S.

It is funny to look at the list of “greatest Americans” as voted by Britons in an Internet poll before a BBC program titled What the World Thinks of America . Of 37,102 votes cast, the top ten were: 1. Homer Simpson (47.2 percent), 2. Abraham Lincoln (9.7), 3. Martin Luther King (8.5), 4. Mr. T (7.8), 5. Thomas Jefferson (5.7), 6. George Washington (5.1), 7. Bob Dylan (4.7), 8. Benjamin Franklin (4.1), 9. Franklin D. Roosevelt (3.7), and 10. Bill Clinton (3.5).

Among 2.4 million votes cast by Americans for the “greatest American” poll, the results were: 1. Ronald Reagan, 2. Abraham Lincoln, 3. Martin Luther King, 4. George Washington, 5. Benjamin Franklin, 6. George W. Bush, 7. Bill Clinton, 8. Elvis Presley, 9. Oprah Winfrey, and 10. Franklin D. Roosevelt. Interesting. Six presidents, including two (Reagan and Bush) I am sure historians will judge harshly, two blacks (King, Winfrey), one scientist (Franklin), and one woman (Winfrey).