XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   XPost: nanaimo.general   
   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   Vancouver Sun - November 7, 2014   
      
      
   David Suzuki’s last stand   
      
   Blue Dot Tour is B.C. environmentalist's final push for big changes   
      
      
   The Blue Dot Tour: With David Suzuki, Neil Young, Feist, Margaret Atwood,   
   Raffi, Shane Koyczan and more   
   Nov. 9, 8 p.m. | Orpheum Theatre   
   Tickets and info: bluedot.ca   
      
      
   David Suzuki wants a clean environment to be a constitutional right.   
      
   That’s why the 78-year-old environmentalist and host of CBC’s The Nature Of   
   Things is crossing Canada with his Blue Dot Tour, the last major endeavour of   
   this kind Suzuki will undertake in his career.   
      
   Suzuki called the Blue Dot Tour, which wraps in Vancouver at the Orpheum   
   Theatre on Nov. 9, “the most important thing I’ve ever done.”   
      
   The Orpheum performance will feature a gaggle of guests including veteran   
   rocker Neil Young, celebrated author Margaret Atwood, children’s entertainer   
   Raffi and spoken word wizard Shane Koyczan, among many others.   
      
   In a recent interview with The Vancouver Sun during the Blue Dot Tour stop in   
   Yellowknife, Suzuki joked that the Vancouver event is so big he will have to   
   find a way to keep it “under six hours.”  He also took some time to talk   
   about   
   the logistics of the tour, how he aims to change the Constitution, climate   
   change and the future of The Nature Of Things.   
      
      
   Q: Can you tell us about your experience so far on the road doing the Blue Dot   
   Tour?   
      
   A: It’s been beyond anything I possibly could’ve ever imagined. I’ve   
   done five   
   or six other cross-Canada tours, always trying to raise public awareness so we   
   get a movement, but this one has been extraordinary in terms of the   
   participation of people ranging from artists to writers and musicians. We’ve   
   sold out in all of the venues. By the time we get to Vancouver this week,   
   it’s   
   going to be a tsunami, I think. (He laughs.)   
      
   Q: What do you think makes this tour different than previous endeavours?   
      
   A: Part of it is that it’s an idea whose time has come. People are hungry to   
   get off this constant repetition about the economy, the economy, the economy.   
   If you scratch Canadians, close to 100 per cent of them will say, “Nature is   
   absolutely critical to my well-being and my identity.” Close to 85 per cent   
   of   
   them say, “Yes, the right to a healthy environment should be enshrined in the   
   Constitution.” We have a multimedia presentation — (B.C. spoken word   
   artist)   
   Shane Koyczan wrote a piece that is absolutely electrifying. The Barenaked   
   Ladies blew out Massey Hall and they have a new song for the tour that   
   they’re   
   gonna play in Vancouver. Margaret Atwood is flying in from Toronto to be at our   
   Vancouver event. It’s not about the environment, it’s about the way we’re   
   living and the values that matter to us. And people are excited about it.   
   It’s   
   caught their attention.   
      
   Q: Looking at the Blue Dot plan, it seems like a riff on an old idea — and   
   not   
   necessarily a bad one — that “to think globally, you have to act   
   locally.” Do   
   you think that motto still applies?   
      
   A: We don’t hear that used very much any more.  I used to say it all the   
   time.   
     Part of the problem is that when you think globally, it becomes so   
   overwhelming — “Oh shit, I’m just one person.  What difference does it   
   make?”   
     I really think it’s at the local level that you can see an impact and that   
   empowers you then to go to a higher level.   We didn’t invite any politicians   
   (on this tour), although they were welcome to come as individual citizens.   
   But it wasn’t about politics,   it was about getting grassroots support and   
   going from there.   
      
   Vancouver passed our declaration for a healthy environment last week.  Richmond   
   was the first to pass our declaration two weeks ago, unanimously.  Once   
   there’s   
   enough buzz at the municipal level, they will go to the province and say, “We   
   need provincial legislation,” and then if we get seven provinces with more   
   than   
   half the population of Canada, then we can go to the feds and ask for (a   
   constitutional) amendment.   
      
   Q: So how do you get the discourse to shift from the economy to the   
   environment?   
      
   A: That’s the big challenge.  The economy has set the frame far too long.  I   
   think going for the constitutional amendment really changes the whole thing by   
   focusing on what is the most important thing that we need as a biological   
   creature and surely that’s the environment.  No CEO, no politician can say,   
   “I’m not in favour of a clean environment — clean air, clean water and   
   clean   
   energy.”   
      
   Q: With an environmental “tour” comes criticism about the carbon footprint   
   and   
   travel arrangements.  How do you answer people asking, “How can you do a tour   
   without doing exactly what you’re criticizing?”   
      
   A: This is the thing I can’t believe: We’ve had no pushback of that sort. I   
   know that Neil Young — I was on Neil’s Honour the Treaties tour — got   
   hammered   
   in Alberta over that.   
      
   For me, it’s very easy. First of all, we came across the most efficient way   
   of   
   moving people over long distances:   That is a bus.   But it’s the greenest   
   bus   
   on the planet.   It runs on biodiesel.  Normally, when Neil pulls up to a   
   venue, he stays in the bus and the bus runs its engines to provide power.  This   
   thing has got six solar panels on the roof that charge batteries so that when   
   you park, the refrigerator and the lights all run off batteries.  It’s very   
   cool.  So we don’t even talk about the bus because it’s an efficient way to   
   travel.   
      
   On this tour, (electric vehicle infrastructure company) Sun Country Highway has   
   donated cars to accompany us along the bus right across the country.  I’ve   
   been   
   in Teslas, Volts, Leafs — they’re all terrific.  You can go 100 to 150 km   
   and   
   then just pull in and you’re loading electrons in your car instead of fossil   
   fuels.  You think, “Holy shit, why haven’t we been doing this for   
   decades?”   
   This really is the wave of the future.  Electric cars are coming big time.   
      
   Q: But what’s probably scary for oil companies is to potentially lose the   
   power   
   infrastructure?   
      
   A: The thing I keep telling them is, “You guys are energy companies, not oil   
   companies.  Why don’t you show some nimbleness and see what’s coming?”    
   There’s   
   absolutely no question fossil fuels are going to have to be phased out if we   
   want to survive as a species on this planet.  The latest report from the   
   (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) makes that crystal clear: Fossil   
   fuels are sunset industries.   
      
   Q: The conversation about climate change centres a lot on North America, but   
   what do you think about China and India, who are really relying on coal and   
   carbon-based energy at the moment?   
      
      
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