Suzuki Foundation disavows comment
Founder says pipelines will be ‘blown up’
The David Suzuki Foundation has distanced itself from environmental activist David Suzuki’s warning that “pipelines will be blown up” if political leaders do not act on climate change.
During an interview with CHEK News on Saturday, Suzuki warned that “if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on” there will be “pipelines blowing up” without elaborating further.
A video broadcast of the remarks shows Suzuki wearing a white jacket bearing the David Suzuki Foundation logo.
Two days later the foundation, an environmental non-profit headquartered in Vancouver, put out a statement on Twitter denying any involvement in the claims, explaining Suzuki spoke on his own behalf and not for the organization.
Their founder, it said, was not making a “direct threat to destroy fossil fuel infrastructure.”
“David Suzuki has been predicting environmental consequences for decades. Similarly, this comment was a predictive reflection on the escalating stakes and potential for conflict due to the effects of human-caused climate change,” the organization explained in a Twitter thread.
His comments, the foundation said, were a “reflection on the increased frustration” felt by those, on the west coast for example, watching their communities destroyed by heat domes, wildfires, atmospheric rivers while the B.C. government continues to expand fossil fuel infrastructure, including LNG plants and pipelines.
David Suzuki co-founded the non profit in 1990 with his wife Tara Cullis as a solutions-based response to tackle the environmental crisis.
The Foundation prioritizes ocean health and sustainable fishing, climate change, clean energy and sustainability, and partners with local people, especially Indigenous communities to develop alternative and sustainable models of economic and community development.
A Saturday event in Victoria saw hundreds march from Centennial Square to the B.C. Legislature, to urge governments to take action against the ongoing climate emergency in the province.
“We’re in deep, deep doodoo,” Suzuki said at the protest.
“This is what we’ve come to. The next stage after this, there are going to be pipelines blown up if our leaders don’t pay attention to what’s going on.”
Reached by the National Post on Monday, Suzuki said violence within the environmental movement is already happening, although he identified police actions against anti-logging protesters and anti-gas pipeline protesters as the culprits.
Asked whether or not he would support the bombing of pipelines, Suzuki said, “Of course not.”