Earth_Eastern_HemisphereAbove is a composite image of our home planet as compiled by NASA from various satellite and International Space Station images. From orbit, Earth is anything but a “blue dot”. But the further you travel from the planet (as many mechanical probes have done over the last five decades) the smaller and more isolated our home becomes in the broader context of the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe itself.

That’s the message that renowned environmentalist David Suzuki will deliver Monday Oct. 27 when his cross-Canada tour stops at Conexus Arts Centre. The “Blue Dot” tour title references a 1994 book by astronomer Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future In Space) that was itself inspired by a photograph of Earth taken by the Voyager I spacecraft in 1990 when it was six billion kilometres away and nearing the boundary of our solar system.

The Voyager image provided a graphic reminder of how insignificant our reality on this planet is in comparison to the immensity of space and how precious Earth is as a refuge for us in an impossibly harsh and unforgiving universe.

Throughout his tour, which is designed to promote the idea of enshrining the right to a clean environment into the Canadian Constitution, Suzuki has been accompanied by assorted Canadian entertainers and other “friends”. In Regina, he’ll be joined by Greg Keelor and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo, along with singer-songwriter Royal Wood. The event will start at 7 p.m. on Monday, and tickets are $22-$127.