Wade Davis Honored.

Wade has been invited to give the 48th annual Massey Lecture, the renowned public speaking event hosted by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Wade is a prophet warning us against the loss of not just species and habitat, but of languages and indigenous wisdom; he’s a Cassandra of cultural destruction.  As Richard Handler of the CBC puts it:

Davis's argument is simple enough. It is that human societies don't evolve in a straight line from the prehistoric to the sophisticated and modern.

Culture is "a series of options," as he puts it, and it is not trivial. "It is not decoration or artifice, the songs we sing or the prayers we chant. It is a blanket of meaning that gives meaning to our lives."

And that blanket is being stripped from indigenous societies around the world by a ravenous, modern civilization that only cares about its needs and comforts.

Wade has brought his wisdom and insight to Bioneers before, cautioning us to what we are losing and filling us with hope for what can still learn from indigenous societies. We’ve just posted our radio show featuring Wade from several years ago. Listen to him, and you’ll be struck by his deep empathy for both the natural world and the people who know how to survive in it.

Wade will be joining the company of past Massey lecturers including Claude Levi-Strauss, Doris Lessing, Conor Cruise O'Brien, and Martin Luther King Jr. It's an honor he truly deserves.