VANCOUVER—With less than two months to go before the federal election, Canada’s most iconic environmental crusader is urging the country’s youngest voting block to make the fate of the planet its top issue.

In an in-depth interview with the Star Vancouver, David Suzuki called the issues of climate change and the biodiversity crisis — there are a million species at risk of extinction, according to a UN-backed panel — “critical to our survival.”

“We’re in it now. Big time,” he said. “We’re at war with our emissions.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve devoted so much of your life to environmental issues. How do you feel about where we are today?

Not very good.

The cartoon Road Runner, you know the bird that runs and is being chased by Wile E. Coyote? They’re dashing along the road and they come to the edge of a cliff, and Road Runner does a 90-degree turn and runs away. Wile E. Coyote has got so much momentum built that he goes right over the edge. That’s where we’re at. We’re already over the edge.

That’s not a reason why we should say, “Oh well, there’s no point. It’s too late.” I think it makes a big difference whether Wile E. Coyote falls five feet or 500 feet.

Looking back over the past few decades, what have been some of your biggest frustrations and also some of the successes you’ve seen?

Back in the 1970s, I remember going up to Fort St. John and giving a speech fighting against the dam at Site C on the Peace River. And we stopped it. Now, that dam is being built by a government that before it was elected said they were opposed to the dam. Over and over again, we thought as environmentalists we won, but (those victories) were just temporary.

The problem is, I believe, the whole way that we see our place in the world. For almost all of human history, people understood that we lived in a very complex world of other living organisms. We’ve come to believe we’re at the centre of the action and everything around us is for us to use. I think that’s what’s ultimately got us into trouble.

What advice do you have for the next generation of environmental advocates?

(Swedish student activist) Greta Thunberg, to me, is having more effect now than all of the environmental groups put together. What she’s saying is very simple: “Why should I go to school if I don’t have a future?”

“I believe the science,” is what she’s saying, and scientists tell us that we’ve got to rapidly reduce our emissions. Then she says emissions are still rising. “So, don’t come to me and tell me that you’re doing everything you can to look out for my future. You’re not.” She’s dead on. And that’s the way environmentalists of the future have to fight now. It is their very survival and livability on this planet that is at stake.

Why should climate action be a priority for people when they head to the polls?

This is the issue of our time. We’ve been given the twin issues of species extinction and climate change. These are issues that are critical to our survival. If we go into this election where we have politicians who don’t even believe that climate change is real or who think these are minor issues, that the corporate agenda and jobs are more important than anything else, we’re going to squabble our way along and we’re not going to be serious in addressing what Greta Thunberg is saying.

We have to make climate change and loss of biodiversity the No. 1 issue and to young people we’re saying it’s your entire future at stake. What this next government does or does not do is going to reverberate through your lives and could very well determine whether you’re able to live a full life.

And I tell them if you saw this sense of unity that Canadians felt when the Raptors were in the NBA playoffs — what a magnificent time that was. Why can’t we do that on climate and biodiversity? Because once we do that, all kinds of possibilities are there.

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Are you optimistic that we can do it, that we can avoid the worst impacts of this climate emergency?

Ah, no. But that doesn’t mean you can’t try.

You know, looking back on my career, I don’t feel good about the fact that we won things because, as I say, our victories were short term. But I feel that I am defined as a person by the fact that I tried. And that’s all we can do, is you try.

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