Homepage

About Us

Members

Programs & Activities

Nortel Networks

Publications

Newsletter

Press Archives

Links & Resources

Contact Us

On 4 March 2005 distinguished author, scientist and broadcaster Dr David Suzuki delivered the sixth annual Nortel Canadian Studies Lecture to an audience of over 1200 people. Hosted by the Centre for Canadian-Australian Studies this year's address was so popular that over 500 people had to be turned away.

Dr Suzuki stressed how imperative it is for governments to realign public policies with the needs of the environment in order to promote human sustainability. He challenged the current way of thinking and encouraged the audience to move towards understanding the importance of the environment and humanity's dependence on it. He said the world needs to consider the environment, and that humans need to recognize their place in the world.

“We are biological beings,” he said. “We are animals and as animals there are things we need to protect or we don't live. Or, if we do survive, we don't live in a healthy or happy way…We are the environment. And whatever we do to the environment, we do directly to ourselves.”

“The economy has to come back to into balance with what really sustains us,” said Dr Suzuki. He discussed the importance of shifting the world's political policies from a strictly economical focus to a more environmentally beneficial perspective. Dr Suzuki said that both government and business appear unable to recognize the significant cost savings of implementing true environmental reform because they are incapable of seeing beyond the monetary implications of establishing such policies.

“We can radically reduce our fossil fuel use without in any way harming the economy,” he said. “But the difficulty is that when you release a document like that, the automatic response of the government and business community is that it can't be done — it's going to cost too much and it will destroy the economy.”

Dr Suzuki was introduced by the Director of the Sustainability Centre in Sydney, Dr Mark Diesendorf who spoke of the importance of ecological sustainability in Australia. He said that Australia lacked the ability to produce clean energy because institutional infrastructures, like the government and big business, were hindering the process. But he insisted it was possible, referring to a recent study which investigated Australia's ability to reduce Green House gases by 50 per cent by 2040.

Other speakers of the night in included Aboriginal Elder Barbara Nicholson, who spoke on behalf of the local Wadi Wadi people to welcome Dr Suzuki to Australia, and the University of Wollongong's Vice Chancellor, Professor Gerard Sutton, who formally welcomed guests and visitors to the university.

The Director of the Centre of Canadian-Australian Studies, and MC for the evening, Associate Professor Gerry Turcotte officially thanked Nortel for its six-year sponsorship of what was the Centre's flagship event. This was the final lecture under the Nortel banner.