We're in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone's arguing over where they're going to sit.
David SuzukiRead
Do you know how much land is under ice, rock and snow? Do you know why 90 percent of us live within 100 kilometres of the U.S. border? We have this idea we're a vast country. But the reality is that a lot of it, a huge amount, is uninhabitable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the misconception of Canada's vastness, highlighting the uninhabitable regions covered by ice and snow.
David Suzuki's quote reflects on the common perception of Canada as an expansive and largely inhabitable nation. However, he points out that a significant portion of the country is covered in uninhabitable landscapes such as ice, rock, and snow, which explains why a majority of the population resides close to the U.S. border. This statement serves as a reminder of the realities of geography versus popular belief.
Themes
CanadaNatureGeographyPopulationEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
During a geography class, to illustrate the impact of climate on human settlement patterns.
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We no longer see the world as a single entity. We've moved to cities and we think the economy is what gives us our life, that if the economy is strong we can afford garbage collection and sewage disposal and fresh food and water and electricity. We go through life thinking that money is the key to having whatever we want, without regard to what it does to the rest of the world.
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The future doesn't exist. The only thing that exists is now and our memory of what happened in the past. But because we invented the idea of a future, we're the only animal that realized we can affect the future by what we do today.
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