The Legacy

Now available in paperback, The Legacy represents the culmination of David Suzuki's knowledge and wisdom and his legacy for generations to come.

If he had to sum up all that he has learned in one last lecture, what would David Suzuki say? In this expanded version of the lecture that he delivered in December 2009 and that will be released as a film in 2010, Suzuki, one of the planet's preeminent elders, explains how we got where we are today and presents his vision for a better future.

In his own lifetime, Suzuki has witnessed an explosion of scientific knowledge as well as a huge change in our relationship with the planet—a tripling of the world's population, a greatly increased ecological footprint through the global economy, and a huge growth in technological capacity. These changes have had a dire effect on Earth's ecosystems and consequently on our own well-being. To deal with this crisis, we must realize that the laws of nature have priority over the forces of economics and that the planet simply cannot sustain unfettered growth. We must also recognize the limits of scientific reductionism and the need to adopt a more holistic point of view. Perhaps most important, we must join together as a single species to respond to the problems we face. Suzuki ends by saying that change begins with each of us; all it takes is imagination and a faith in the inherent generosity of Mother Earth. Also available in paperback.

Published in partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation.

David Suzuki is an internationally renowned geneticist and environmentalist and a recipient of UNESCO’s Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science and the 2009 Right Livelihood Award. Host of the longrunning CBC television program The Nature of Things, he is also the author of more than fifty books.

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. Throughout her writing career, she has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. Atwood is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children's literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson, with whom she is the Joint Honourary President of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International.

"The Legacy is part autobiography, part history, part basic science - and above all, a plea for the planet." -Montreal Gazette

"David Suzuki is one of the loudest voices in the global green community, and is surely the elder statesman of Canadian environmentalism. [He] adds to an already impressive body of work with The Legacy." -Quill & Quire

"Lynne Bowen does not just write about Italians in British Columbia, she evokes their ethos and brings them to life vividly and dramatically. Under Bowen's guidance we understand what it was like to be a shop owner or railway labourer or mill worker or miner; we smell the aromas in Italian kitchens and the scents of lovingly tended family gardens. Bowen is a consummate storyteller." -Jean Barman

"Suzuki locates his vision of nature's order even more deeply, as an 'elder,' in the healing resources of aboriginal wisdom . . . The imaginative reach of Suzuki's earth-vision grounded in scientific fact is astounding. Single sentences can change our perceptions of space and time ranging from the pre-Cambrian era to future millennia . . . to this reader, Suzuki's grasp of the magic, profound complexity of nature's underlying matrix is the strength of his new book." -Telegraph-Journal

"Suzuki, one of the planet's best-known environmentalists, explains how earth got where it is today and presents his vision for a better future - The Legacy encapsulates Suzuki's thoughts, philosophies and hopes for a sustainable future." -Arabella Magazine

"Occasionally we encounter someone who appeals to the better angels of our nature and reminds us of values we once held dear. For me that person was David Suzuki. It was a privilege and a joy collaborating with him on this project for the past two years and I take great pride in the result." -Sturla Gunnarsson

"Readers . . . will find Suzuki's tangential musings on subjects like argon molecules, shrinking swordfish, or the role of salmon in fertilizing forests some of the book's best reading . . . at the core of his writing lurks a scientist's wonder at the world, and a compelling sincerity that makes you believe - or at least, want to believe - [there is] still some hope for this muddled planet." -Winnipeg Free Press

"The book reads as if Suzuki is speaking to you, taking you by the hand on a journey." -Green Living

"The 'legacy' in this lecture is one of truthful words about the hard place we're in, but it's also one of hopeful words: our chance if we will take it for 'opportunity, beauty, wonder and companionship with the rest of creation.' My hope is that we ourselves will emulate David Suzuki and leave legacies in our turn." -Margaret Atwood

"With environmental crises facing the planet - climate change, ocean acidification and loss of biodiversity, to name a few - Suzuki says this is the time to act. The Legacy is part autobiography, part history, part basic science - and above all, a plea for the planet. Buy it." -National Post