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He's entered "The Death Zone" - CBC reports that Suzuki calls this phase of his life "The Death Zone," and claims that it's the most important phase because, as an elder, he doesn't have to worry about getting a job or getting fired, so he can speak the truth from his heart. He makes getting old sound amazing!

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The fifth-greatest Canadian of all time - CBC ran a television program called 'The Greatest Canadian' that had viewers rank who they thought were the greatest Canadians of all time, and Suzuki came in fifth.

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In the rank of prime ministers - Suzuki is ahead of Lester B. Pearson, Don Cherry, Sir John A. Macdonald, Alexander Graham Bell, and Wayne Gretzky, and behind only Sir Frederick Banting, Pierre Trudeau, Terry Fox, and Tommy Douglas.

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Technically, he's the greatest living Canadian - Everyone else on that list has already passed away, so Suzuki is the only one who's still able to climb the list!

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His heaven is essentially just British Columbia - Suzuki told CBC that his idea of perfect happiness is "Camping in the mountains beside a stream filled with trout," and his entire love of nature began with camping with his dad at the age of four.

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He wants to be a bird - Suzuki told The Globe and Mail that if he could die and come back as any person or thing, he would choose an eagle, because soaring like a bird is his greatest fantasy.

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He's like the friend who always organizes your group's get-togethers - Suzuki launched the 'Leap Manifesto: A Call for a Canada Based on Caring for the Earth and One Another' in 2015, which is a group of activists, artists, and celebrities who band together for strong environmental policy changes and initiatives.

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He's friends with Neil Young - The legendary Canadian folk-rock artist had a concert series in 2014 called 'Honour the Treaties.' The events raised funds for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation group, which is trying to prevent the expansion of tar sands, and Young had Suzuki address the media before performing.

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He has a twin - He has a twin sister named Marcia, as well as two other siblings. He also has five children and six grandchildren.

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He's a publicly-declared atheist - Suzuki isn't afraid to express his secular beliefs, preferring to highlight humans' collective conscience and our interconnectedness with nature over a divine attachment.

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He's had nude photos taken - Suzuki has posed twice sporting nothing but a strategically placed leaf. The iconic photo, which was taken to promote a penis documentary, was re-used to mark the 40th anniversary of his show 'The Nature of Things.'

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We trust him—just look at that face! - Suzuki has consistently been at the top of the Reader's Digest poll for the Most Trusted Canadian for the past decade, and in 2011 he was number one.

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He went to high school in London, Ontario - Though he was born in Vancouver, and lives there now, his family was forced to move east for a time after the World War II and he attended London Central Secondary School.

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He takes the world seriously - The Suzuki Foundation blacked out their website for the day to protest the federal government's omnibus bill C-38. Although Suzuki has an incredibly warm smile, he saves this intense expression especially for federal ministers who act without regard to the environment.

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That said, don't ask him for an autograph - The only thing Suzuki hates more than climate change is people approaching him as if he were a celebrity, and his friends advise that fans keep their distance in public.

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He has enough lifetime achievement awards for many, many lifetimes - Among them is the Honorary Right Livelihood Award, commonly known as the 'Alternative Nobel Prize.' It which recognizes his lifetime advocacy of the socially responsible use of science and his massive contribution to raising awareness about climate change and rallying public support for policy change.

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He's so smart that universities just throw degrees at him - Here he is receiving an honourary degree from President Stephen J. Toope at the University of British Columbia fall congregation in 2011.

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He's got his own degrees - Suzuki earned a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and he taught in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until retiring in 2001. He obviously uses the term "retiring" lightly.

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He's been appointed to the Order of Canada twice - It's only the country's highest honour, no biggie. The first time was as an Officer in 1976, then he was upgraded to Companion in 2006. He's also been appointed to the order of British Columbia, and he's the recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for the Popularization of Science.

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He's lost count - By 2012, Suzuki had received 16 academic awards and more than 100 other awards that are impossible to remember. Good thing he (and we) can just check his Wikipedia page.

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Champion of love - According to CBC, Suzuki doesn't care about any of his awards, but rather claims his greatest achievement in life is convincing his (second) wife, Tara Cullis, to marry him.

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A simple man of simple means - Though he's achieved celebrity status, living through the Great Depression taught Suzuki to be thrifty, to value long-term purchases, to live within his means, and to save his money. He maintains the lifestyle he preaches!

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He has body image issues, just like everyone - Suzuki confessed in his biography that he considered eye-enlargement surgery, succumbing momentarily to the racist aesthetic pressures in the years after the war.

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His family is continuing his legacy - Suzuki and his youngest daughter, Sarika, launched 'The Suzuki Diaries' together in 2008, and followed it up with 'Suzuki Diaries: Coastal Canada' and 'Suzuki Diaries: Future Cities.'

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Movie star - Suzuki starred in 'Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie,' a documentary portrait that won the Best Film award at the 2011 Byron Bay Film Festival.

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The best thing he's ever said was just repeated from his father - When The Globe and Mail asked him what the best line he's ever written is, Suzuki repeated the line his father taught him, "You are what you do, not what you say."

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Honourary Indigenous member - Suzuki's work has consistently been modelled after Indigenous beliefs and customs towards the land, and he has fought for fair treatment of First Nations. He's been formally adopted by two tribes, as well as given six honourary names, which translate as: Big Mountain, Man Who Knows Much, My Own, Sacred Mountain, Mountain Man, and Eagle Child.

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Better than Bill Nye - Suzuki has been the host of the documentary series 'The Nature of Things' for over three decades, and CBC reports that he is the only network TV science host who was a practising scientist—Bill Nye was a mechanical engineer, gasp!

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He's not always an optimist - Though he's made real, tangible differences in thousands of peoples' actions towards the environment, Suzuki is still pessimistic about the success of environmentalism.

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He's trying to give you more rights - The right to live in a healthy environment is not yet recognized in Canadian legislation—we're behind over 110 countries that have already acknowledged this right! This is why Suzuki started the Blue Dot movement

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The motto he lives by: - "Whatever you do, do it with gusto because you only get out of it what you put in," he told The Globe and Mail.

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Happy Birthday, David Suzuki! - At age 82, the man has a lot to be proud of.

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