 As a science broadcaster and environmental activist, he has been fighting for the protection and understanding of our environment for nearly 40 years. He is perhaps best known for his long-running and popular TV science magazines The Nature of Stinks and for criticizing government's lack of action to protect the environment. This past February, he completed a hugely successful trans-Canadian tour entitled A Feeware Prime Minister, giving ordinary Canadians a chance to tell our government what they would do if they were elected prime minister. An overwhelming majority of people spoke of real action on the environment and global warming. It is my pleasure to introduce to you Dr. David Suzuki. I just want to tell you that I just came in from Toronto last night. Yesterday afternoon I met with the National Hockey League Players Association and they are pushing a program to have as many hockey league players as possible sign up to travel carbon neutral throughout their entire hockey season. They've only gone to 17 of the 30 teams and already they have over 300 people signed. They think they may hit over 600. The entire Dallas team signed, the entire Florida team signed. I don't know how many connects have signed on, but it was a very exciting example of the fact that people are beginning to take action in their own lives. I'll talk about that later. I just would like to put this whole issue now in some kind of context. As a biologist, I know that the evidence is that human beings arose on the planet about 150,000 years ago in Africa. And the key to our success, compared to all of the other incredible animals on the plains of Africa, we weren't very impressive. But we had one thing going for us, which was a large complex brain that endowed us with the capacity to do something no other creature did. It invented the idea of a future. No other animal has a sense of a future as we do. And because we have invented an idea of a future, we're the only creature that realized we can affect the future by what we do today. If we look ahead through our experience and knowledge, we can see where the dangers lie. We can see where there's opportunity. And we can affect the future by what we choose to do today. We can avoid danger and exploit opportunity. And I believe that foresight was the great key to our species' enormous success. In only 150,000 years, we've taken over the planet. And now we've got all of the increased ability to predict, to look ahead. We've got scientists and computers, engineers and telecommunications. And for over 40 years, they've been telling us that we're heading down a very dangerous path. And now at this moment, we are turning our backs on the very strategy that got us to where we are. We're no longer listening and we're saying, no, but we can't afford to do that. Something really bizarre is happening. You could say, well, we're so smart, we don't have to do that anymore. I'd just like to remind you that for over 30 years, scientists in the United States said New Orleans should never have been built where it is. You don't build a city in the heart of hurricane country where half the city is below sea level. If you want to avoid a force 5 hurricane which is bound to come, this is what you've got to do. And for 30 years, politicians said, we can't afford to do that. It'll ruin the economy. And you all know what happened when Hurricane Katrina came. Foresight is the strategy, the strategy for our survival. The Nature of Things did the first television program on global warming in 1988. And in 1988, I wrote, this is an issue of great importance that we have to act on now. But it's a slow-motion catastrophe. In 1988, I believed it wouldn't kick in for another 50 to 100 years. I thought we had time. And what shocked me is that every year since then, the reports have just been getting stronger and more urgent. In 1988, I want to remind you, the environment was the absolute number one issue around the world. A guy ran for president of the United States and said, if you vote for me, I will be an environmental president. His name was George H. W. Bush. There wasn't a green bone in his body, but he had to say that because Americans had put the environment at the top of the agenda. And as soon as he was elected, he showed how shallow campaign promises are. He became the worst environmental president the U.S. has ever had. And he stayed that way until his son was elected. Then he became the second worst environmental president the U.S. has ever had. 1988, that's interesting. I just gave a talk to the EPA in Washington two weeks ago, and I said that line, nobody claps. They're scared shitless. Someone was listening to them. 1988, Brian Mulroney was re-elected and appointed his brightest star to be a minister of the environment. Who knows who that was? Lucien Bouchard. And I interviewed Lucien Bouchard two months after he was appointed. I said, what's the most important issue Canadians face? And right away he said global warming. And I said, how important is it? How serious? He said it threatens the survival of our species. If we don't act now, we're in deep trouble. 1988, major conference of atmosphere scientists in Toronto. Brian Mulroney appointed Stephen Lewis to chair one of the sessions in that meeting. Scientists were already so worried about global warming. They said we must aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 15 years. That's 20% below 1988 levels. Brian Mulroney set up a committee to say, can it be done and how much will it cost? And that committee found that it could be done, but it would cost over $50 billion. But if we didn't, we would save a net $150 billion in health costs, costs of wear and tear on roads and all of that. $150 billion. That report has never been released to the public. You know why? Because Brian Mulroney knew that he would take the heat if he started to spend that money to reduce emissions. And somebody else 15 years later would get credit for doing it. And this is a dilemma that we face. The deal with climate now is not an issue that can be dealt with and solved before the next election. So it's too far down the line for politicians. What politician is going to take the heat for spending that money when someone else will get credit for it down the line? So what do we do? We've got a real dilemma then. We have to make this an issue, an issue that is the number one issue in the coming election. We've got an election coming. You know it's coming within a year. Don't allow them to subsume the issue of climate, to overwhelm it with issues of crime and marijuana sentencing and gay marriage and stem cell research. All of those are important issues. But we've got a demand at every all candidates meeting. We've got a right and call and keep this at the top of the political agenda. And once the election is held, whoever's elected, we've got to keep the heat on and demand that they do what they said they would do before the election. Adrian is right. This is the issue of our time. But we've got to do more than just stand here and demonstrate. We've got to get into the hurly-burly of the next election and make it the issue that every politician is going to face up to. It's up to us. Thank you.