Sir David Attenborough has issued a statement about the inherent risks from climate change ahead of his new television series Climate Change – The Facts. In the program the biologist will discuss the scale of the crisis facing Earth due to human-made climate change.
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In the new program, Attenborough states that humanity faces: “irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies”. However, he is not with optimism and says there is still hope, but only if significant collective action is taken to limit the effects is taken over the next decade.
The program is science based, outlining the scientific facts that support changes to the planet’s climate. For this the naturalist draws on his years of broadcasting and making wildlife series, noting that he has witnessed a shift across the past twenty years, with changing landscapes and losses to habitats and species.
Attenborough has taken to different stages ahead of his new series. This includes appearing with IMF chief Christine Lagarde, addressing the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. In this talk, the broadcaster, who helped to found the BBC’s second television channel back in 1968, said that over consumption of the world’s natural resources was affecting the ecological “capital” of the planet, drawing on a monetarist analogy in front of the audience of financiers.
Attenborough told the bankers: “Financial systems have a lot in common with natural world systems. Both are economies. If you deal with your investment… it’s fine if you can take the profit, you take the investment, but you wouldn’t be so silly as to eat into the capital. But that is what we’re doing with the natural world all the time.”
This followed on from Attenborough’s attendance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as Digital Journal’s Karen Graham reported.
Climate Change – The Facts: “After one of the hottest years on record, Sir David Attenborough looks at the science of climate change and potential solutions to this global threat”. The program was broadcast by the BBC on April 18, 2019 and it is available to view on BBC channels and online.
