David Suzuki gets naked

David Suzuki, who courted controversy by appearing nude on the cover of TV Guide in 1999, has taken it all off again.

David Suzuki wraps himself in only the Maple Leaf to help launch the 47th season of The Nature of Things. (CBC)

This time the environmental activist and CBC broadcaster appears in a promotional photo clad only in a maple leaf to advertise the new season of his show The Nature of Things.

Suzuki, 70, poses like Atlas with the world on his shoulders to launch the 47th season of his internationally respected science series, first launched in 1960.

In 1999, Suzuki showed off his newly fit body on the magazine cover to promote a show in The Nature of Things series.

He also appeared on the Royal Canadian Air Farce, covered only with a briefcase, and invited the host to inspect his "genetically altered banana."

While some viewers saw the nudity as a stunt, one newspaper reader at the time wrote: "Just think, Suzuki, up until now I was only interested in your mind!"

Suzuki, who received an Order of Canada earlier this year, also runs an environmental group, The David Suzuki Foundation.

The Nature of Things season begins Sunday, June 18 on CBC TV, with an episode called Everyday Einstein.