Words: Patrick
The national treasure, David Attenborough, turned 90 last weekend, to similar acclamation as Her Majesty the Queen, who reached the same milestone a few weeks before. Both individuals boast a lifetime of incredible feats.
David Attenborough is one of the most travelled men of all time, despite being told his “teeth were too big” to be on camera by his boss when he started at the BBC in 1952. He is now one of, if not the most recognisable face on our television screens. His voice as soothing as song. He is the man that we all want to be our grand-father.
But over his glittering 60-year career as the front man of natural history, the world has drastically changed; sliced and diced by the ruthlessly ravaging ways of human greed. We have caused ecological trauma and ecocide; we scythe forests, pollute the air, poison the oceans and decimate the wildlife. In the space of a few centuries, humans have unravelled the natural forces that have evolved over billions of years.
Progression comes at a cruel cost – as we kick on in industry, the world withers.
In the past 50 years, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has suffered a 50% decline. 17% of the Amazon forest has been lost to deforestation – currently, some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year, the equivalent to 48 football fields every minute. Glacier retreat is becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous, contracting some 600ft per year in some places.
(Image: Imgur)
Climate change is leading to extremities. Droughts, floods, fires, storms – death and destruction, of both people and countries. And the population shows little sign of slowing, projected to reach 10 billion by 2060.
When Attenborough was born, the world’s population was less than 2 billion, commercial jet travel was still only a pipe dream – now 3.5 billion people fly every year, meaning that there are few untouched places left on Earth. The planet was once the stage for adventurers and explorers, now opportunities to discover are few and far between.
Animals are becoming extinct faster than they were discovered. In the Amazon alone, only 767 of 3,528 mammals still exist. Attenborough spent the early part of his career educating viewers about new species, he now spends most of his airtime reminiscing on the past and pondering on the impending issues that threaten our future. In the early days of Attenborough’s career there were around 850,000 West African black rhino. Widespread poaching between 1970 and 1992 resulted in a 96% decline in numbers, and ultimately the species was declared extinct in 2006. Many other iconic species are on the brink.
But from this has blossomed innovative scientific capabilities; wizardry that was unimagined 90 years ago. Research and information available on how to reverse the declines has never been more readily available. But the scale of the challenge is enormous, both directly from humans – deforestation, oil spills, poaching, etc. – and indirectly from the forces out of our immediate control, namely global warming.
David Attenborough will leave an immortal legacy on this Earth, but it is a far different place to the world he was born into.
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