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David Attenborough’s delayed new documentary urges action to redress global harm

‘“We’ve not just ruined the planet, we’ve destroyed it,” says David Attenborough, who has spent his days recording the wonders of the natural world, only to realise that his life’s work has, in fact, been to document its demise,’ reads Timothy Revell’s recent New Scientist story on David Attenborough. 

The story’s focus is on Attenborough’s most recent documentary, David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, which the writer describes as part memoir, part ‘powerful plea to humanity to turn things around, for the sake of every living thing on the planet’ – and which has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Interviewed by Revell, the acclaimed filmmaker is calm in the face of the coronavirus pandemic but expresses dismay at the state of the Earth – and offers a roadmap for redressing the balance – with directions including:

  • stabilising the global population asap – achievable by raising living standards worldwide, ensuring access to healthcare for the world’s poor, and implementing strategies to keep more girls in school for longer;
  • phasing out fossil fuels and replacing them with renewables – solar, wind and geothermal power;
  • keeping our oceans alive and giving depleted fish stocks a shot by creating large ‘no-fishing’ zones, while continuing to supply our needs; and
  • halving our agricultural acreage to make room for wildlife – if possible, by changing human diets en masse and asap: “The planet simply can’t support millions of meat-eaters,” Attenborough says.

The film is scheduled to open in cinemas and on Netflix later in 2020.

Read the full story here.

Source: David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet is a powerful call to action I New Scientist