Canadian broadcasting icon David Suzuki, who taught so many of us extraordinary scientific tidbits over the years, is handing over the reins as host of CBC’s radio show The Nature of Things, announcing he’ll do his last broadcast in the spring of 2023.
Suzuki, 86, who has hosted the show for exactly 43 years (he began on October 24, 1979), feels it’s time to step down and let someone else fill the position.
Suzuki stated in a CBC news release late Sunday, “I have been fortunate to have been bestowed with good health, which has enabled me to stay the host of the series far after my “best before date.”
“Aging is a normal biological process that makes room for younger people to contribute ideas that are fresher and more inventive. For years, I have cautioned that we must get ready for the transition after I depart in order to secure the continuation of The Nature of Things. That time has come.
Through the television programme Suzuki on Science, Suzuki joined the CBC in 1971. He created and hosted the long-running, well-liked radio programme Quirks and Quarks in 1974, and a number of other TV specials followed.
When he took over as host of The Nature of Things, he cemented his status as one of Canada’s most well-liked characters. As testament to his broad appeal, the science magazine was renamed The Nature of Things with David Suzuki and doubled in length from its original half-hour format.
It would be difficult to find a Canadian over the age of 30 who hasn’t heard of Suzuki.
Plans for the show will be revealed by CBC in the upcoming weeks.
Suzuki leaves behind a “indelible legacy,” according to executive vice president Barbara Williams of the firm.
Long before climate change became a hot topic, Williams said in the release, “David has made science more approachable to countless viewers in Canada and around the world, finding new ways to demystify our complex world and illustrate how the future of humanity and the natural world cannot be separated.
In an interview with Ian Hanomansing on The National, Suzuki says he’s not comfortable with calling it a retirement: “I’m just moving on.
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Suzuki has a long history of being a vocal environmental campaigner and has occasionally come under fire for his opinions on the environment and climate.
He had to apologise for saying in an interview last year that if nations don’t move quickly to combat climate change, there will be “pipelines blown up.”
“Any suggestion that violence is inevitable is wrong and will not lead us to a desperately-needed solution to the climate crisis,” he said in his apology.
I’m sorry; my statements were uttered in a fit of utter rage.
The comments were “formed out of many years of observing government inaction while the climate crisis continues to get worse,” according to the David Suzuki Foundation.
— files from The Canadian Press are included.
The following year, David Suzuki will leave “The Nature of Things”
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