Neil Young talks about tarsands, Constitution, and First Nations before Blue Dot show in Vancouver

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      One of Canada’s most beloved musicians says he’s glad that oil-industry officials had a fit earlier this year when he condemned Alberta tarsands developments. In January, Neil Young compared what’s happening in Alberta to the destruction that occurred when an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, calling the bitumen industry “an embarrassment to many Canadians”.

      “I think I really hit a sore spot, ha ha ha,” Young told the Georgia Straight in an interview backstage at the Orpheum Theatre. “I’m very happy with the way it was characterized. They tried to get rid of my records and everything [a Fort McMurray radio station briefly stopped playing his songs], but they wouldn’t go away. The darn music just sticks around.”

      Young was joined by environmentalist David Suzuki for a series of brief media interviews before the Blue Dot Tour show began on November 9. Suzuki launched the cross-country tour earlier this year to urge Canadians to support a constitutional amendment that would protect the environment. It’s a cause the Toronto-born singer-songwriter heartily endorses.

      “We believe in the same thing and we’re both Canadians,” Young said. “We believe that Canada deserves to have the right to clean air, clean water, a clean home, and a clean environment in their Constitution. We demand getting there for all of Canada, and anybody who agrees with us should go for that.”

      Young also told the Straight there are some people who think that they’re actually saving the Earth because they’re supplying energy by extracting bitumen from the ground. But he insisted they’re wrong and that there are other ways of generating energy that don’t threaten the planet.

      “The fossil-fuel age is over,” Young declared.

      He’s been a harsh critic of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s support for tarsands developments. When Young was asked what he thinks of virtually every major newspaper except the Toronto Star endorsing the Conservatives before recent elections, he said that corporate-owned newspapers and the corporate sector share a common objective.

      “They all work together, and they have a very short view of the world,” he said. “It’s called a three-month window of opportunity for profit, and that’s not the way to run the country. So you’ve got to remember where the information comes from.”

      He remains optimistic about the future of the planet, despite the devastating impact that fossil-fuel companies are having.

      “I don’t give up on the human race,” Young said. “We are very smart. We can do many things, and we’re very capable of recovering what we’ve lost.”

      Young stated that he’s been inspired throughout his musical career by Indigenous peoples. He explained that they have a belief system based on supporting the Earth and respecting animals, including those that are killed to feed humans. And he suggested that people can learn to live in harmony with the Earth if they adopt the philosophy espoused by First Nations people.

      “There wasn’t a time when I wasn’t in a band where we didn’t have something to do with it—from Buffalo Springfield and all the history of everything we sang about,” Young said. “We always referred to the Indigenous peoples, the original peoples.”

      Suzuki is also an admirer of First Nations. He recalled that when he began hosting The Nature of Things in the 1970s, TV producers wouldn’t hesitate to show a picture of a drunk aboriginal person on skid row in a show about alcohol abuse. But he said it became unacceptable by the 1990s.

      The veteran environmentalist sees this as a reflection of the rising importance of First Nations, as covered in a new book by John Ralston Saul called The Comeback.

      “What we have seen is the rise of unbelievably powerful, articulate leaders like Miles Richardson, Guujaaw, and Art Sterritt, and a number of people who really changed the whole image,” Suzuki said. “I mean, First Nations people have been at the absolute bottom of the social totem pole in this country, but now they have risen up.”

      He compared their trajectory to the Black-power movement in the 1960s.

      “The white kids were all kind of envious because there was so much pride and people standing up for what they were,” Suzuki added. “And I see that now with a lot of people going, ‘Holy cow. I didn’t know anything about them.’ ”

      At that point, Young noted that North Americans are beginning to adopt Indigenous values.

      “We’re starting to wake up to organic food,” he said. “It gets mentioned all the time. We’re starting to understand that seeds shouldn’t be manufactured and controlled genetically. We’re starting to get a grip on the fact that nature is very important to us.”

      Recently, Young has been spotted out on the town in Los Angeles with his girlfriend, Daryl Hannah, who shares his passion for fighting the oil industry. But before the Straight had a chance to ask about that, a handler from the David Suzuki Foundation said the time was up.

      It was too bad, because it seemed that Young was just getting warmed up.

      Comments

      10 Comments

      Pat Crowe

      Nov 10, 2014 at 12:39am

      Now Charlie that is a fucking cool interview!
      Hey, ya know…I heard Daryl Hannah has webbed toes?!

      400 ppm

      Nov 10, 2014 at 9:14am

      Neil Young net worth: 65 million
      David Suzuki net worth: 2.7 million
      400 ppm net worth: 25 hundred

      west

      Nov 10, 2014 at 11:36am

      Another weed smoking party for the drug bumb

      Raifon

      Nov 10, 2014 at 11:57am

      What creability does either one of these two cameleons have ? One is a burned out country singer, and not a very good one at that and the other is an environmentalists that want evryone to comply with his view of the world while he continues to live a luxurious life that the energy sector provides, a hypocrite to say the least !

      RaveOn

      Nov 10, 2014 at 1:02pm

      @Raifon:

      They both have lot's of credibility. More than you, anyway. (and I bet they can spell credibility and chameleon) Not sure where Suzuki got all his money from - books, and speaking engagements probably. Young made his money through music. He may not be the world's greatest singer (like, Dylan, Cohen, Waits, the list goes on...), but he's a damn good songwriter. How, exactly, is the energy sector providing their luxurious lifestyle? I must have missed that part...

      Lee L.

      Nov 10, 2014 at 1:06pm

      oh yea.. far better to have Russia drill the Arctic seabed for oil to sell China than have us mine bitumen in Alberta.

      Kiskatinawkid

      Nov 11, 2014 at 6:43pm

      Good to see the red minus numbers exactly where they belong...by the boring, stupid douche bags who have no life and nothing to do but criticize those, who, unlike themselves, have actually accomplished something with their lives!

      out at night

      Nov 11, 2014 at 9:26pm

      @ Kiskatinawkid
      Oh how I wish I could click the 'thumbs u'p icon on your comment over and over. you nailed it! Yup, people who have talent, imagination, a strong work ethic and some sort of vision that resonates and catches on with people - surely we need to to take them down to satisfy some ache within ourselves that's built from envy, self-loathing, bitterness and remorse at our own failures to achieve our own dreams.

      Folks, we need to get off fossil fuels. China and Russia (and the USA, India, Canada, hey, for that matter, EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD) are going to keep on burning oil, gas and coal until we the people demand that alternatives be given a chance to flourish. As it is the powers that be have way, way, WAY too much money still to make to allow energy alternatives to truly break through. They are standing in the way and we need to be strong and resolute and push past them. It won't be easy. Young, Suzuki and others are trying to show a way forward. I'm in!

      Andrew

      Nov 18, 2014 at 10:50pm

      gee whiz....There was a Kinder Morgan tar sands pipeline blockade on Burnaby Mountain going on right under their noses and THEY DIDN'T BOTHER TO SHOW UP. Now I wonder why they didn't? Could it be that actually standing up and being in the way of heavy carbon pipe lines is TOO RADICAL an action for these A listers? Guys - you missed a great opportunity to actually walk your talk. Well, maybe you could still show up but if you haven't by now, I doubt that you will. Thanks for your solidarity. Not.