Season 1: COVID-19 and the Basic Elements of Life

COVID-19 has uprooted our lives, causing devastation for millions. It’s also forced us to slow down, pause and consider how we might learn to live healthily and sustainably on this planet.

Let’s use this time to rediscover some fundamental truths about our place on Earth: fire, air, water, earth, spirit — the basic elements of life. Without them, there is no life. When our relationships with them are unbalanced, we put our very existence at risk.

In this podcast, David Suzuki explores how the pandemic can help us refocus on what’s most important, and what a green and just recovery from COVID-19 could look like.

Friends including Jane Fonda and Neil Young, as well as leading experts, join David as he returns to the fundamentals to help us seize this unique opportunity to rediscover our place on this beautiful living planet.

That’s really what this podcast is about, this virus — this historical moment — that has engulfed an entire planet, and the chance we have now to find a healthier, happier, equitable and sustainable way forward… My great hope is that by coming back to a fundamental understanding of who we are, we can find a better path forward.

David Suzuki

Listen to Season 1 of the David Suzuki Podcast

Episodes

In this season, David Suzuki interviews celebrity friends like Jane Fonda and Neil Young, leading thinkers like Jennifer Keesmaat and Kwame McKenzie, Indigenous activists and leaders like Winona LaDuke, Jeannette Armstrong and Autumn Peltier, financial journalist Attracta Mooney and youth activist Allie Rougeot — plus a variety of David Suzuki Foundation science and policy experts.

Acknowledgements

Season 1 of The David Suzuki Podcast – COVID-19 and the Basic Elements of Life – was produced by the David Suzuki Foundation, in partnership with Jason Arkley Productions.

David recorded these interviews from the traditional unceded territory of the We Wai Kai First Nation. He and his team are profoundly grateful to Indigenous Peoples, who have been responsible stewards of these beautiful lands for thousands of years, and who continue to teach us so much about how to live sustainably on this planet.

This podcast was developed and produced by Jason Arkley, David Leibl and Brendan Glauser. Editing, production and sound design by Katie Jensen, Renita Bangert and Michal Stein of Vocal Fry Studios. Theme music by Scott Nolan. Artwork generously provided by Roy Henry Vickers.

Music is an incredibly powerful source of expression and communication. We are thrilled to wrap each episode of this podcast with a song – four of which feature independent artists from the heart of Turtle Island. A heartfelt thank you to Andrina Turenne, Richard Inman, Leaf Rapids, Carly Dow and Neil Young.

To support our work and help us make more podcasts like this one, please donate.

Take action

This podcast explores the issues of our time, while providing insights on how to get involved and make change in our lives and communities.

You can help make sure we seize this unprecedented opportunity to build back a better world by urging Ottawa to advance a green and just recovery from COVID-19.

You can also support other David Suzuki Foundation digital campaigns calling for enhanced climate action, nature protection and more.

Looking for other ways to get involved? From green living tips to volunteer opportunities and more, we’re here to help.

People should join movements. Individualism is the tool of the ruling class. We have to work together in concert with like-minded citizens, in movements that are experienced and strategic. It was when I became an activist that I knew I wanted to live, what my purpose was and that my time wasn’t being wasted on Earth. Activism saved me; career was secondary.

Jane Fonda