The Holocene was our Garden of Eden. Each generation able to develop and progress only because the living world could be relied upon to deliver us the conditions we needed. But scientists started to discover that in many cases where bleaching occurred, the ocean was warming. Im crying while typing this by the way. He is the only person to have won BAFTAs for programmes in each of black and white, colour, HD, 3D and 4K.Attenborough is widely considered a national treasure in Britain, although he himself does not like the term. Our past impacts on the species we share this planet with are reprehensible, and the future on this trajectory will be bleak. Sir David Attenborough Answers . Large parts of the earth are uninhabitable. In 2002 he was named among the 100 Greatest Britons following a UK-wide poll for the BBC. Banner image: Sir David Attenborough, image courtesy of the BBC. [Attenborough] At the turn of the century, Morocco relied on imported oil and gas for almost all of its energy. Life had no option but to rebuild. And because we would be then dedicated to raising plants, we could increase the yield of this land substantially. This is a challenge that we should try to solve in a quick way, but with a long term vision. A moment ago, we made this recording with an underwater microphone here in the Pacific near Hawaii. The very thing that gave birth to our civilization. The nation's favourite broadcaster, Sir David Attenborough, returned to our screens recently with the launch of Planet Earth II.To celebrate Attenborough and the amazing work he has done over . David Attenborough's breathtaking journey through Africa. Leading lives that interlock in such a way that they sustain each other. For more details, review our .chakra .wef-12jlgmc{-webkit-transition:all 0.15s ease-out;transition:all 0.15s ease-out;cursor:pointer;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;outline:none;color:inherit;font-weight:700;}.chakra .wef-12jlgmc:hover,.chakra .wef-12jlgmc[data-hover]{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.chakra .wef-12jlgmc:focus,.chakra .wef-12jlgmc[data-focus]{box-shadow:0 0 0 3px rgba(168,203,251,0.5);}privacy policy. We are after all, the greatest problem solvers to have ever existed on Earth. We know how to stop the number rising and put it in reverse. Every other species on Earth reaches a maximum population after a time. A mass extinction has happened five times in lifes four-billion-year history. He is the younger brother of the director, producer and actor Richard Attenborough, and older brother of the motor executive John Attenborough. We invented farming. Discover why Rev is the #1 speech-to-text service in the world. David Attenborough's breathtaking journey through Africa. Apparently stung by criticism about the false impressions his documentaries have provided on the state of our natural world, Attenborough has produced a witness statement outlining the changes to the environment over his 94-year existence and solutions to the biodiversity crisis he has lived through. POOL/AFP via Getty Images. It scares me. Make your content more accessible to people with disabilities. Thank you for the feedback, the missing data has been added and incorrect year amended. If we dont take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon. Mistakes. That without such an immense space, the herds would diminish and the entire ecosystem would come crashing down. Baby gorillas were at a premium, and poachers would kill a dozen adults to get one. Just listen to this. Its happened in my lifetime. The natural world is fading. But in certain places, there are hot spots where currents bring nutrients to the surface and trigger an explosion of life. Episode 6 of 6. And you could happily retire. And they are centers of biodiversity. Ive seen it with my own eyes. We must immediately halt deforestation everywhere and grow crops like oil palm and soya only on land that was deforested long ago. All we need is the will to do so. David Attenborough: (03:16) Read about our approach to external linking. David Attenborough Still Has Hope for Our Future At 94, the beloved British naturalist remains curious and optimistic. And this is what they saw what we all saw. We discover what it takes to save a species, hold back a desert and even resurrect an entire wilderness - revealing what the world was like before modern man. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement. It was a brutal and unpredictable world. In my time, Ive experienced the warming of Arctic summers. A world that demanded more every day. We are already in trouble. And the idea could be passed from one generation to the next. The return of the trees would absorb as much as two thirds of the carbon emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by our activities to date. When they do, theyre able to gather the concentrated shoals with ease. The pace of change was getting faster and faster. Thank you. Its rhythm of seasons was so reliable that it gave our own species a unique opportunity. There was nothing left to restrict us. Your story put me in the shoes of the gorillas whose life got shortened. But its now becoming apparent that its not all doom and gloom. [Attenborough] We are facing nothing less than the collapse of the living world. They discovered that the Serengeti herds required an enormous area of healthy grassland to function. The Amazon Rainforest, cut down until it can no longer produce enough moisture, degrades into a dry savannah, bringing catastrophic species loss and altering the global water cycle. On the fifth day of this year, I found myself sitting in the living room of the legendary Sir David Attenborough, drinking coffee and . Our planet becomes four degrees Celsius warmer. Half of the worlds rainforests have already been cleared. Ocean life was also unravelling in the shallows. Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale. It was an astonishing vision of a completely unknown world, a world that had existed since the beginning of time. While some countries recognize the crisis we are facing, other recalcitrant nations prefer short-term profit over long-term calamity. For a long time, I and perhaps you have dreaded that future. Today, those whove done the least to cause this problem, are being the hardest hit. David Attenborough has seen more of the natural world than any other. Focusing on a specific period, from the birth of Black Wall Street to its catastrophic downfall over the course of two bloody days, and finally the fallout and reconstruction. It was a rediscovery of a fundamental truth. And it lived about 180 million years ago. The wilder and more diverse forests are, the more effective they are at absorbing carbon from the atmosphere. [thunder rumbling] And the weather is more and more unpredictable. Our predators were eliminated, our diseases cured or treated. The film traces his 60-year career, outlining how steeply the health of the planet has declined in his lifetime. A century from now, our planet could be a wild place again. In just 25 years, the forest has returned to cover half of Costa Rica once again. Although the rhinoceros is referred to as black, its colour varies from brown to grey. Episode guide 1. 0 likes. [Attenborough] We had broken loose. People benefit from the timber and then benefit again from farming the land thats left behind. Whenever we restore the wild, it will recapture carbon and help us bring back balance to our planet. The green sea turtle is one of the largest and most widespread of all the marine turtles. Phytoplankton at the oceans surface and immense forests straddling the north have helped to balance the atmosphere by locking away carbon. At first, the cause of the bleaching was a mystery. [Attenborough] It was a stark contrast to the world I knew. The best time of our lives. This truth defined the life we led in our pre-history, the time before farming and civilization. People were coming to care for the natural world. Streaming on Netflix, Jon Clays film presents a variety of credible talking heads to explain such matters as the history of the Anthropocene and the importance of the biosphere, with an emphasis on the dangers facing our planet beyond global warming. Humpbacks living in the same area learn their songs from each other. Transcribe your audio files to find high-impact insights in minutes. Kirsty and David discuss a memorable moment from the 1979 production, Life on Earth. All available episodes (9 total) Supporting Content. One of the gorillas gives his opinion of the famous broadcaster. It was shot in 39 countries. The truth is, with or without us, the natural world will rebuild. Often described as the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceans, this multiple award-winning series features jaw-droppingly beautiful underwater . An hour-long episode will actually only take him about two hours to record. David Attenborough: (06:09) If working apart, we are force powerful enough to destabilize our planet, surely, working together, we are powerful enough to save it. A meteorite impact triggered a catastrophic change in the earths conditions. David Attenborough takes a stark look at the facts surrounding climate change in today's world, detailing the dangers we are already having to deal with and future threats, but also the possibilities for prevention and radical political, social and cultural change. So who should watch A Life on our Planet? If theres any justice in the world, Marcel Ophls monumental labor will be studied and debated for years. Calculate how much it costs to transcribe, caption, or subtitle your content. The number of children being born worldwide every year is about to level off. Try Rev and save time transcribing, captioning, and subtitling. There was an edge to our existence. With nothing to restrict us, our population has been growing dramatically throughout my lifetime. In this future, we discover ways to benefit from our land that help, rather than hinder, wilderness. David Attenborough meets a particularly talented lyrebird. There are many differences between humans and the rest of the species on earth, but one that has been expressed is that we alone are able to imagine the future. Ive visited the polar regions over many decades. In the past, animals had to develop some physical ability to change their lives. No ecosystem, no matter how big, is secure. David Attenborough has the honour of a dragonfly being named after him. [groaning] Those beneath can get crushed to death. Mongabay is a U.S.-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform. We must rewild the world. Build with the best speech-to-text APIs around. The only way to keep them alive was for rangers to be with them every day. The living world is essentially solar-powered. There is little left for the rest of the living world. In the northern regions, the temperatures would lift in March, triggering spring, and stay high until they dipped in October and brought about autumn. Transcripts & captions for a better media workflow. It was a brutal and unpredictable world. Skeletons of dead creatures. He is a former senior manager at the BBC, having served as controller of BBC Two and director of programming for BBC Television in the 1960s and 1970s. Every one has a critical role to play. Our intelligence changed the way in which we evolved. So, I had the privilege of being amongst the first to fully experience the bounty of life that had come about as a result of the Holocenes gentle climate. In international waters, the UN is attempting to create the biggest no fish zone of all. With all these things, there is one overriding principle. By Ed Yong. A line in the rock layers. Its quite straightforward. Attenborough launched an official Instagram account on Thursday, Sept. 24, in support of the film. The orangutan. [over megaphone] Please stop killing the whales. Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a naturalist and broadcaster, who is most well-known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, produced in conjunction with BBC's Natural History Unit. David Attenborough comes face to face with a baby rhino and asks what the future holds for this little one. If we all had a largely plant-based diet, we would need only half the land we use at the moment. When you think about it, were completing a journey. The Big Picture. The Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee (KESCOM). My first visit to East Africa was in 1960. J.P. Morgan: How One Man Financed America is a fast-paced and informative portrait of Americas most prolific banker a man so powerful that when he died, the NYSE paused all trading for half a day out of respect. Im talking about the loss of our planets wild places, its biodiversity. Required fields are marked *. This is a fundamentally important documentary by a man trusted around the world, so ideally, this documentary should be seen by everyone, but the brevity of the biodiversity crisis, the potential impacts and the solutions would be educational to politicians worldwide. And we now had the means to make people across the world aware. As much now as I did when I was a boy. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, the perennial voice of the British nature doc, Breaking Boundaries is brimming with grim scientific insight and urgent cautionary pronouncements, but its style feels fussy and belabored as if the end of the world were not dramatic enough. When Bernard Grzimek illustrated to the world in 1960 that wildlife needed huge areas, like the Serengeti, to persist, the planets wilderness had dropped to 62%. The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about . Millions of people rendered homeless. See related: Biologists warn extinction denial is the latest anti-science conspiracy theory. A documentary series on the wildlife found on Earth. Nobody wanted animals to become extinct. I am David Attenborough, and I am 93. Thats almost 20 times the energy we need just from sunlight. We actually have no control. Nature is resilient, if humanitys foot is removed from its throat. As we improve our approach to farming, well start to reverse the land-grab that weve been pursuing ever since we began to farm, which is essential because we have an urgent need for all that free land. Uh The Human beings have overrun the world. A habitat that is dead in comparison. Watch clips from the programmes being broadcast to celebrate David Attenborough's 90th. In the 30 years since the evacuation of Chernobyl, the wild has reclaimed the space. Our EIN or tax ID is 45-3714703. But to continue, we require more than intelligence. David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockstrm examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted. Christopher Hooton. Read the transcript of the speech here. View all of Mongabays coverage of conservation solutions here. If we do things that are unsustainable, the damage accumulates ultimately to a point where the whole system collapses. We now understand this problem. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet is a documentary about the end of the world. [whales singing] [whales continue singing]. By burning millions of years worth of living organisms all at once as coal and oil, we had managed to do so in less than 200. And that completely changed the mindset of the population, the human population of the world. [imperceptible] Theyve always been a place beyond imagination with scenery unlike anything else on earth and unique species adapted to a life in the extreme. When I filmed with the mountain gorillas, there were only 300 left in a remote jungle in Central Africa. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in our emails. [birds chirping] Just imagine if we achieve this on a global scale. The result is that the population has now stabilized and has hardly changed since the millennium. [whales singing] Their mournful songs were the key to transforming peoples opinions about them. David Attenborough: (00:01) They are the best technology nature has for locking away carbon. The rest, from mice to whales, make up just 4%. If we continue on our current course, the damage that has been the defining feature of my lifetime will be eclipsed by the damage coming in the next. A monoculture of oil palm. Whole habitats would soon start to disappear. 2030s. We learnt how to exploit the seasons to produce food crops. And there I was, actually being asked to explore these places and record the wonders of the natural world for people back home. We found humpbacks off Hawaii only by listening out for their calls. We see Sir David enjoying a good rapport with the sound recordists, joking with them as they put together episodes that will be watched by millions. The worlds greatest wildlife reserve. Nothing to stop us. David Attenborough, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future. Ive had the most extraordinary life. No one wants this to happen. Ways to fish our seas that enable them to come quickly back to life. Create a better, more engaging experience for every student. And the songs have distinct themes and variations which evolve over time. Even when people are telling that now is the time to make a change, it was still time to do that many years ago. Japans standard of living climbed rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century. Lions are the second largest of the'big cats' after the tiger and arethe most social, with related females living together in prides and males forming coalitions. Back then, it seemed inconceivable that we, a single species, might one day have the power to threaten the very existence of the wilderness. Add English on-screen subtitles for videos. More than half of the species on land live here. But the longer we leave it, the more difficult itll be to do something about it. The white color is caused by corals expelling algae that lives symbiotically within their body. We need to not just to talk about what we can do, but to do what we can. Within the span of the next lifetime, the security and stability of the Holocene, our Garden of Eden will be lost. Explore and monitor how Future of the Environment is affecting economies, industries and global issues. David Attenborough climbs up a tree to capture a 12 Burmese python. The African elephant is the largest living terrestrial mammal, with the largest recorded individual reaching four metres at the shoulder and weighing 10 tonnes! Your email address will not be published. But Chernobyl was a single event. In the 1950s, Borneo was three-quarters covered with rainforest. Pollinating insects disappear. Your email address will not be published. We waste the majority of stuff we consume, be it food, electricity, or space so Attenborough implores us to reduce waste if we do nothing else. [chuckles] Because I wish the struggle wasnt there or necessary. A boundary that marks a profound, rapid, global change. We have pursued animals to extinction many times in our history, but now that it was visible, it was no longer acceptable. Speaker 7: (05:55) It was a feature of all five mass extinctions. It is time for us to change our ways. All rights reserved. Estimates suggest that no fish zones over a third of our coastal seas would be sufficient to provide us with all the fish we will ever need. This was a world of stability humanitys Garden of Eden that led to the Agricultural Revolution and our ability to expand our populations and distribution. And you see this curtain of green with occasionally birds in it, and you think its perhaps okay. This city in Ukraine was once home to almost 50,000 people. Planet Earth: With Sigourney Weaver, David Attenborough, Nikolay Drozdov, Thomas Anguti Johnston. Um, and I certainly would feel very guilty if I saw what the problems are and decided to ignore them. This is not about saving our planet its about saving ourselves. For much of humanitys ancient history, that number bounced wildly between 180 and 300, and so too did global temperatures. To establish a life on our planet in balance with nature. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet: Directed by Jonathan Clay. David Attenborough narrates a natural history of the oceans. The Green Planet. The predators help to keep nutrients in the oceans sunlit waters, recycling them so that they can be used again and again by plankton. Rewilding the world is simpler than you might think. My answer would be, yes, we have to. Speaker 8: (06:03) Speaker 3: (03:09) And in less than 48 hours, the city was evacuated. Affordable, clean energy, healthy air and enough food to sustain us all. Like "For life to truly thrive on this planet, there must be immense biodiversity. And the changes we have to make will only benefit ourselves and the generations that follow. What we see happening today is just the latest chapter in a global process spanning millennia. Its a sanctuary for wild animals that are very rare elsewhere. About the Show. Well, weve destroyed it. Wherever I went, there was wilderness. World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use. You saw a blue marble, a blue sphere in the blackness, and you realized that that was the earth. All these years later, its once again the only option. Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and naturalist. We urgently need society (and the politicians we elect) to recognize the broader destruction of our natural world by a thousand cuts, and refuse to accept this any longer. Each episode covers a different habitat: deserts, mountains, deep oceans, shallow seas, forests, caves, polar regions, fresh water, plains and jungles. In such places, huge shoals of fish gather. All this was absolutely clear, it was only just stopped being a working quarry. That desperate hope, ladies and gentlemen, delegates, excellencies, is why the world is looking to you and why you are here. [Attenborough] If we can change the way we live on Earth, an alternative future comes into view. [thunder rumbling] [lowing] On the tropical plains, the dry and rainy seasons would switch every year like clockwork. Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features. Is this how our story is due to end? Theres every reason to believe that the answer can be yes. David Attenborough and cameraman Charles Lagus describe their near miss take off. Within 20 years, renewables are predicted to be the worlds main source of power. The white corals are ultimately smothered by seaweed. And if we do it right, it can continue because theres a win-win at play. In 1971, I set out to find an uncontacted tribe in New Guinea. After all, theres plenty of it. The thing we rely upon for every element of the lives we lead. Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses. By the time Attenborough had reached his 50s, the human population had doubled from its size when he was born. So, Dutch farmers have become expert at getting the most out of every hectare. To start to thrive. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Natural History Unit, the nine natural history documentary series that form the Life collection, which form a comprehensive survey of animal and plant life on Earth. With David Attenborough, Elena Bennett, Jason Box, Terry Hughes. There just isnt the space. Theres a chance for us to make amends, to complete our journey of development, manage our impact, and once again become a species in balance with nature. Running time: 1 hour 13 minutes. All have a journey still to complete so that all nations have a good standard of living and a modest footprint. We humans cannot presume the same. David Attenborough learns about the athletic ability of the tyrannosaurus rex. It worked out the secret of life long ago. Which is why weve cut down three trillion trees across the world. When Attenborough showed the world how similar we are to some of our closest relatives, mountain gorillas, in his Life on Earth series in 1978, wilderness had dropped to 55% of the planet. We must recapture billions of tons of carbon from the air. It was the first time that any human had moved away far enough from the earth to see the whole planet. Working with their traditional technology, they were living sustainably, a lifestyle that could continue effectively forever. Anyone can read what you share. Sir David Attenborough explains how humans can take charge of our future and save our planet. None of us can afford for it to happen. In previous events, it had taken volcanic activity up to one million years to dredge up enough carbon from within the earth to trigger a catastrophe. At the same time, the Arctic becomes ice-free in the summer. The veteran naturalist and filmmaker Sir David Attenborough has told world leaders at the COP26 climate summit to "rewrite our story," and that future generations . Crowdsource Innovation. We were apart from the rest of life on earth, living a different kind of life. The problem is that our fishing fleets are just as good at finding those hot spots as are the fish. However, this future does not need to eventuate we can avert this disaster if we want to, and Attenborough implores us to. He talked about his new docu-series, "A Perfect Planet," and why the. STANDS4 LLC, 2023. [Attenborough] Ive been lucky enough to spend my life exploring the wild places of our planet. Over time, I began to learn something about the earths evolutionary history. Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and naturalist. [Attenborough] It felt that nothing would limit our progress. The vast majority, chickens. Working together to benefit from the energy of the sun and the minerals of the earth. To restore stability to our planet, we must restore its biodiversity. The black rhinoceros, also known as the hook-lipped rhinoceros,is the best known of the five living rhinoceros species, with its aggressive reputation and highly publicised international conservation drive. Scientists call it the Holocene. One of the extraordinary things about it was that the world could actually watch it as it happened. But if you get in a helicopter, you see that that is a strip about half a mile wide. Global food production enters a crisis as soils become exhausted by overuse. We need to rediscover how to be sustainable. One of the greatest films ever made, The Sorrow and The Pity is a contribution to history, to social psychology, to anthropology, and to art. Speech-to-Text API for pre-recorded audio, powered by the worlds leading speech recognition engine. Complete biography of David Attenborough . Because what youre looking at is skeletons. David, that was inspiring, it taught me a lesson of life. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, An hour-long episode will actually only take him about two hours to record, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. It was extraordinary that you could see what a man out in space could see as he saw it at the same time. Its now time for our species to stop simply growing. Coral reefs were turning white. At some point in the future, the human population will peak for the very first time. As healthcare and education improved, peoples expectations and opportunities grew, and the birth rate fell. Gorillas are the world'slargest primates andare gentle giants that have strong family ties. Old people are much better than young people at recognizing the loss of biodiversity the world has seen over the past few decades, so communication between the generations could reinforce the impact of this intergenerational inequity. Update this biography But it was noticeable that some of these animals were becoming harder to find. Giving people a greater opportunity of life is what we would want to do anyway. Wild Isles. As hydropower dams quell the Mekongs life force, what are the costs. At first, they caught plenty of fish in their nets. A new industrial revolution, powered by millions of sustainable innovations, is essential, and is indeed already beginning. 2. It had everything a community would need for a comfortable life. They charted them as they moved across rivers, through woodlands, and over national borders. The great man has spoken. We will finally learn how to work with nature rather than against it. The BBC celebrates Sir David Attenborough on his 90th birthday. The government decided to act, offering grants to land owners to replant native trees. 2021 Scraps from the Loft. Fish populations crash. David Attenborough returns in this breathtaking documentary showcasing life on Planet Earth. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet Review: A Dire Warning, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/movies/breaking-boundaries-the-science-of-our-planet-review.html, A scene from the documentary Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet..