Sir David Attenborough Answers
Do you like Sir David Attenborough? I think he’s fabulous. I grew up watching his various programmes on TV – “Life on Earth
One of the things I liked about his style was that his programmes were totally un-sensational. His focus was on the animal, bird or plant in its natural habitat, and he let them take centre stage. Yet his material was amazing – I remember being enraptured by the mating behaviours of some Birds of Paradise, the family and social life of orang-utangs, and the astonishing Komodo Dragon.
As an expert on natural history, Attenborough is often asked about environmental issues. Some of his quotes are forthright:
“In the past, we didn’t understand the effect of our actions. […] But we no longer have that excuse: now we do recognise the consequences of our behaviour. Now surely, we must act to reform it — individually and collectively, nationally and internationally — or we doom future generations to catastrophe”.
What worries him most about the future of the natural world is that people are out of touch with it. Over half the world is urbanised, so people don’t see nature (except perhaps a rat or a pigeon).
“Ecosystems are incredibly complex and you fiddle with them at your peril. If people lose knowledge, sympathy and understanding of the natural world, they’re going to mistreat it and will not ask their politicians to care for it”.
So today I’m recommending a video for you to watch. It’s just 4 minutes, and Attenborough is his usual frank self. He says climate change is even worse that we thought – that scientists have been down-playing the scale of the problem. He answers 5 questions.
One of the answers surprised me. He was asked if he has seen habitat destruction over the years in the places he has visited. I was expecting him to give examples. His answer was most interesting.
In the video he also makes a very valid point about something we’re trying to do now, that has never ever happened before, in the whole history of the human race.
He has an interesting point about climate change not being discussed in the current Presidential Debates in the US, despite a summer of record temperatures and historic drought. Both candidates are shying away from it because of the costs involved in solving it, he says. I think he’s correct. Unfortunately though, ignoring the problem won’t make it go away.
Click the link to watch this short video with Sir David Attenborough.
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Photo Credit: The Guardian UK
Excellent comments by Sir David Attenborough. I wonder just what size of natural disaster it will take to waken up the influential people who control the decision-making in regard to actually making a difference. Perhaps the earthquake of the coast of Canada at the weekend or the Hurricane currently on the east coast of the US which is for once actually making politicians change their schedules. Not one single mention of Climate Change in the Presidential Debates. Scandalous.
Yes, unfortunately I suspect that Attenborough is correct – that it will take a massive disaster for people to accept that change is necessary. And you’re right, there was no mention of Climate Change in the debates – solving pollution and damage is expensive, as is switching to cleaner fuels. Presumably both participants feel the electorate don’t want to hear about increased costs just to save the planet! 🙂
Thanks for your comment!
Excellent article & video … I adore Sir David Attenborough … he has such a calm, down-to-earth approach and I think people listen to him. For some reason, perhaps because of Hurricane Sandy, I’m reading all kinds of climate change posts (and concerns) today. CelloMom said something interesting in her post (which you can find @ Meet & Greet) … she said that perhaps politicians haven’t talked about it because it’s too late and they don’t want to be the bearers of bad news. It’s a scary thought! Thank you for sharing the video … it was excellent!