David Suzuki says, “Indiginize Yourself”

David Suzuki spoke at the WEEC 2017 in Vancouver. He plead with the audience to regard the four sacred elements, Earth, Air, Fire and Water, as the foundation of the way that we live. These 4 sacred elements should define what we are grateful for and our responsibilities. Suzuki said that we have to learn from Indigenous knowledge, who are the only people with a track record of living in relative balance with nature. We have to learn from the perspective with which they live, to see Mother Nature and our responsibilities to take care. We need to Indigenize ourselves, he went on. We need to dream up a new way to view nature. Can we teach people to treat the four elements as sacred? Do most people even know what sacred means?

At my school I try to connect students to nature. I try to teach them about the story of this place. I use Squamish Nation stories about the Salmon People and the Cedar Forest to share the lessons taught to their people about respecting the land.