For more than half a century, David Suzuki has inspired people around the world to embrace nature and treat the Earth as they would their mother: with the deepest love, admiration and respect. At 90 years of age, the world-renowned scientist, author and longtime host of CBC’s The Nature of Things remains Canada’s most powerful voice calling for environmental justice and planetary health.

Suzuki spoke to Nate Smelle in St. Catharines, Ont., in March during a stop on “David and Tara’s Stronger Together Tour,” a series of immersive events and theatrical performances headlined by Suzuki and his wife, Tara Cullis, highlighting a lifetime of shared activism.

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NATE SMELLE: I’ve felt inspired by your words on many occasions, but I was surprised to see that you and Tara were presenting a play focused on your love story. How is your love for each other interconnected with your love of nature?

DAVID SUZUKI: We share a dual love of nature through our own very different backgrounds. Our responsibility as adults is to receive the world from our ancestors and to care for it so we can pass it on to our children. We’ve done a lousy job with that, so I think Tara and I are really united by the mutual concern about the world that we’re leaving for our children.

NS: It’s like when you love something, you want to protect it.

DS: Of course. I think the fundamental problem we face is that, for most of human history, we knew we were deeply embedded in nature and utterly dependent on it. Indigenous people around the world still retain that sense that we are a part of nature. If you go to an event in an Indigenous community — whether it’s a funeral, a marriage or the birth of a baby —........

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