David Suzuki's 'Rediscovering Our Place In Nature'

Environmental activist, David Suzuki, explains how the progression that allowed Homo sapiens to advance into a “super species” may be the primary factor to what ends the wellbeing of our future. In his excerpt from “Rediscovering Our Place in Nature”, Suzuki goes into detail about how the components of life on Earth should not be compromised for the desires of a portion of the people who live there.
Suzuki begins by going into detail about how during the Paleolithic period, millennia ago, Homo sapiens roamed side by side with the towering beasts of the time. Early humans did not possess any defining physical characteristics or features as their living counterparts did. They didn’t have eye catching strength or immense running abilities. Yet,

What would take its place were a global economy and a fragmented understanding. This new era was characterized by big cities, fruits being readily available during obscure times of the year, and, consumer goods being flown into any part of the world. Now the days of small villages and locality were growing scarce. As humans continually lose track of the story behind the beginning and the consequences of the lack thereof; the population remains in a state of conflict with the life that supports them. In 1962, “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson’s acted as the catalyst to Suzuki and many others understanding of what the environmental movement would come to be. The definition would take on several different faces throughout the world, ranging from logging to, chemical pesticides, and CFCs. The pesticide DDT and the effect it had within the food chain resulted in the increasing number of deaths of birds. The chemicals that make up CFCs, found in deodorant, ended in the ongoing depletion of the ozone layer. From these cases, a new realization of what consequences ignorance brings and raises the new question of how to predict and stop

Suzuki was the host of a television series called “The Nature of Things” where he had the opportunity to learn more about both the battle of clear cut logging in the Queen Charlotte Islands and how the native people of the area, the Haida, had been coming to terms with the logging predicament at hand. Guu-jaw a native of the island explains the way he and his people see the world, Suzuki sees the immense difference. The native people’s connection to nature still stands; however, the majority of civilizations are gone. After his encounter with the Haida people, Suzuki realizes that he had been handling environmental issues incorrectly; now allowing himself to understand that the illusion of misunderstanding is the core of peoples misunderstanding. No matter how removed humans may be from nature itself physically, the two will inevitably be interdependent on one another, such as our essential needs. From the air we breathe to the energy we