The Big Picture by David Suzuki

I saw this book on one of the front shelves in Kinokuniya bookstore. It caught my attention only after I read the review on the back of the book. I didn't know who David Suzuki was, that's why the book title didn't attract me... but the old man picture did. He looks so deep in thought.

That's David Suzuki... a Canadian environmental activist.

In a National Geographic (or was it Discovery Channel?) documentary, two brothers went to visit the 'Three Gorges Dam' in China. They went for a river cruise along the Yangtze River (Yellow River). It was heartbreaking to see how nature's wonderful and breathtaking beauty been sacrificed just to make way for modernization and in the name of economic and social development. The dam is huge, but not as huge as compared to the lost of our natural world.

Perhaps, there are no other options?

I remember the commentator mentioned something about how human is the only species that can alter Earth. At that time, I thought 'how true...'. But, while reading this book, I realized that is so, so true.

In his book, David Suzuki laid out all the evidences of how our actions have been altering Earth. If we don't act soon, this 'home' will be no more. I'm sure I don't need to mention everything... There's one effect that we can already feel. Global warming... us that live in the tropics can already feel the heat. It gets really hot when it's hot and too heavy when the rain comes... But global warming does more that just releasing more heat and rain. It impacts everything in our chain of life. Our weather, our air, our food, our health, our future... our life.

You might think that ants are just a tiny species that can be ignored and we can live without. You can read this book and find out how wrong you are. Just like I did... If ants are at the bottom of the food chain and we are at the top, it's not so hard to imagine what will go wrong if the chain is disturbed isn't it?

If you watched the movie, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', you'll probably remember what Klatu said...

If the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the Earth survives.

One day, we will all go together with our Earth and the universe. But while we are still here let's work together to make this Earth healthy again... and make right what we have made wrong.

As for myself... I'm taking tiny steps in my struggle to become a true environmentalist.
Wish me luck!

~I DO LOVE THE WHOLE WORLD! BOOM DE YADA!~

p/s: Check out David Suzuki Foundation... the link is under my 'Friends and Favourites' section.

Next, I plan to read 'Ecological Intelligence' by Daniel Goleman. I need to know more about what I can do to help my beloved Earth.