37. David Suzuki

Co-Founder, David Suzuki Foundation

Age: 79 | 2011: #2For half a century he’s been warning that our short-sighted stewardship of the planet is leading toward disaster, and the world has finally started to listen. David Suzuki frankly fears it may be too late, though he knows that’s no reason to abandon hope and hard work. Soon to turn 80, he shows few signs of slowing down, giving speeches, publishing books (the most recent, Letters to My Grandchildren, is the 55th title that bears his name), marching in climate-change demonstrations along with the likes of Jane Fonda and Bill McKibben, and paddling the Peace River in solidarity with First Nations protesting the Site C dam approval.He’s a polarizing figure (just ask Justin Trudeau, with whom he has publicly quarrelled), and corporate types like to paint him as a hypocrite for living in a multi-million-dollar Point Grey home (which he bought, four decades ago, for $135,000). Some young environmentalists feel his message and his methods have become outdated, but no one can deny that the geneticist-turned-TV-host-turned-environmental activist—who’s regularly voted among the most admired and trusted Canadians—will leave a legacy that places him in the company of Wendell Berry, Rachel Carson, and Jacques Cousteau.

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