On today’s episode we feature a conversation with iconic Canadian scientist, author, television presenter, and activist David Suzuki.

Suzuki is a biologist by training and a former professor of genetics who’s just as well known for his outspoken views on the need to protect nature. Suzuki is the author or co-author of more than 50 books and the host of the long-running science program The Nature of Things. He’s also the founder of the David Suzuki Foundation and the Blue Dot Movement, the latter of which aims to enshrine the right to a healthy environment in the Canadian Constitution.

Mongabay interviewed Suzuki last year about the Blue Dot Movement, and we thought now, at the start of 2018, would be a great time to check in with him about what progress has been made, what environmental issues he thinks are most pressing as we forge ahead into the new year, and his plans to convene a gathering of First Nations keepers of traditional ecological knowledge with Western scientists.*

Here’s this episode’s top news:

• Peru declares a huge new national park in the Amazon
• Study: Amazon dams are disrupting ecologically vital flood pulses
• Global warming, pollution supersize the oceans’ oxygen-depleted dead zones
• Belize imposes offshore oil moratorium to protect reefs
• There’s a new member of the lemur family

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*Editor’s note 5/30/2018: The conference noted by Dr. Suzuki in the audio recording is now planned for February 2019.

Follow Mike Gaworecki on Twitter: @mikeg2001

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