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Damon Tran
R1A Sect. 017
Professor Teri Crisp
December 13, 2019
The Kinship of All

The book, ​The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature​, by David Suzuki

explores the important relationship that we humans have with the environment around us. In the

chapter “Protect by Our Kin,” he focuses on the importance of biodiversity in every organism

which resides on the Earth currently. The structure of the chapter or how information is given

throughout the chapter, is one that is easily understandable. Through this structure, he reveals

many interesting points such as how death is beneficial to all organisms, how we are all related

through our molecular blueprint with all organisms, and why endangered species are more likely

to become extinct. From Suzuki’s efforts new perspectives on how people will look at the

environment might arise.

The structure of all texts is an essential part of creating a great reader’s experience and a

great way to ingrain information in a very systematic way. Suzuki’s structure of the chapter

“Protected By Our Kin” exemplifies the importance of it and ensures that the audience can

follow all the important information which he states throughout the chapter. He structures the

chapter as follows: how humans are connected with the environment, how humans are destroying

the environment, and how humans can save the environment Although not each part is not

evenly split among the chapter, readers may notice changes in human environmental

relationships as they read.

The chapter starts with explaining how the early thinkers saw air, water, earth, and fire as

the four main elements necessary for life. When talking about these elements, Suzuki states “Life
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is not a passive recipient of these elemental gifts but an active participant in creating and

replenishing them.” (184) All life forms and living organisms collectively work together to form

and create these elements which include humans. All organisms have their own roles in

sustaining life on Earth which is achieved through the power of diversity. Suzuki defines

diversity as “ [the ability] to adapt to opportunities as they present themselves and to create new

opportunities in the process.” (185) In this constantly changing world, organisms also need to

constantly change to survive and thrive. For example, the finches that Darwin observed on the

Galapagos islands adapted to each island with different shaped beaks which varied in size,

length, and curvature. Just like those birds on the Galapagos, humans adapted by going from

making stone tools and adobe houses to huge factories and towering skyscrapers. Humanity is no

different to any other organism which exists today as we all evolved and adapted to the changes

of the world.

Additionally, another topic which Suzuki brought up which shows how humans are

connected to the environment was about life and death. When thinking about life and death,

would you think life as a good and death as a bad? Would you even consider death as a good?

Suzuki, in the section “Life and Death: Conjoined Twins,” turns the erie idea of death into one

that is beneficial and essential to the survival of all species. Within the chapter, he states,

“Humanity’s age-old dream of eternal life, if ever realized, would lock any species into an

evolutionary straitjacket, eliminating the flexibility required to adapt to the planet’s

ever-changing conditions.” (185) The gift of living forever is damaging to the evolutionary

process as it stops the ability to allow species to adapt to the constantly changing climate of the

planet. The ability to live forever should never exist as it stops organisms from evolving and
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adapting to the new changes in the world. Nevertheless, death must also be counteracted by the

process of life. In order for a species to survive, offspring must be produced. All organisms are

programmed to create offspring and that includes humans. Humans produce about 360,000

babies in a day compared to the estimated 151,600 that die in a day. The repopulation rate should

be higher than the death rate to ensure the survival of the species. Also to make sure the

preferred gene variations stay intact while a species is repopulating at the same time, eliminating

all the gene variations within a species which are not suited for survival. Every organism must do

the same in order to have a long existence.

Another way in which Suzuki says humans are connected to the environment is through

the use of the word “kin.” Your family and relatives are your kin. Through the many years of

DNA molecular study, molecular biologists has discovered that all living and past organisms are

all related through our genetics. In the section, “The Molecular Blueprint,” Suzuki states,

“Through our evolutionary history, we are related to all other beings present and past - they are

our genetic kin.” (197) It is true that every organism started as a single celled organism but then

evolved to become the creatures we see today. That in turn might establish a new perspective of

our relations with all organisms which is thinking that every living organism is part of their

family. Suzuki included this section to influence people to care more about the environment.

Harming or putting a family member into danger is very taboo and frowned upon. This should be

the same notion when thinking about living organisms. Like stated previously, every organism is

part of our kin. Suzuki aims to drill this idea into the reader’s mind as it is a new way of looking

at every organism which exists today.

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The next part of the structure of the chapter focuses on how humans are destroying the

environment. Suzuki explains in the section titled, “Why Biodiversity is Important” how

important diversity can be within a species; yet, he ends it by explaining how humans are

destroying that diversity. From the forest loggings to the pollution we excrete from our factories,

humanity is slowly, with increasing speed, destroying the habitat. Habitats which species reside

in are getting ruined. Therefore cutting the population decreasing the variation among the

species. With this constantly changing world, variation is key to the survival of all species. It is

crucial that variation stays abundant and to make sure it does the population of a species must be

stable. Through humanity's actions destroying the environment, populations of species will start

or already have started declining. Thus reducing the variation needed for survival. This idea is

carried to the section titled “The Importance of Variation.” Suzuki, again expresses the

importance of biodiversity and connects it to endangered animals by stating, “When a species

such as the whooping crane or Siberian tiger is reduced to a handful of survivors, its long-term

future is in doubt because the range of its genetic variability has been radically diminished.”

(199) This reinforces the idea that population and variation are of equal importance as both need

to be stable in order for a species to thrive. Suzuki makes it clear that humans are killing off

populations of species with the actions they perform for beneficial purposes showing how

humans are destroying the environment.

The final part of Suzuki’s structure, how humanity can save the environment, can be

​ his section talks about how we humans

noticed in the section, “Preserving the Web of Life”​. T

can change to better the environmental situation we are currently in. Suzuki goes into depth

about how we humans are “capable of heroic acts of courage and sacrifice in times of crisis.”
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(225) For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out for what he believed in even though he was

faced with danger and adversity. Humans like him exist in the world and that is exactly what

Suzuki is trying to convey. Moreover, he talks about the good in human nature and how we

could always solve or fix problems if we really cared about the problem at hand. Thus, delivering

the message to care more about the environment. Ending the chapter with this way, creates hope

for humanity and may cause people to rethink their actions that cause unnecessary damage to the

environment.

There are few books which focus on the subject at hand with such structure as Suzuki

portrayed in the chapter, “Protect by our Kin”. In fact, most if not all of the chapters in the book

are formatted in similar fashion. Through this straightforward approach of the chapter and the

interesting ideas which are placed within each part. He creates new and different perspectives of

looking at our relationship with the environment and all living organisms.
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Work Cited:

● Suzuki, David, et al. ​The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature.​ Allen &
Unwin, 2008.

● “Birth & Death Rates.” Ecology Global Network, 2019,

www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/​.