Neil Young has joined the Blue Dot Tour with environmentalist David Suzuki.
While in Vancouver at the Orpheum Theater on November 9 2014, Young held a series of interviews, as well as, a concert performance.
Neil Young - "Who's Gonna Stand Up"
Suzuki launched the cross-country tour earlier this year to urge Canadians to support a constitutional amendment that would protect the environment.
In an interview with Georgia Straight, Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly by Charlie Smith, Young discussed the Alberta tarsands, Constitution, and First Nations.
“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.”
Everyone patronized the first nation people instead of validating their concerns and reconciling with their horrific past. Remember, your beautiful wife lived in a tepe when you first met her. Now go home to her. The party's over.
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