Sir David Attenborough Condemns Climate Change
by Bonnie Alter, London 
on 05.25.06
Sir David Attenborough, Britain’s esteemed presenter of nature documentaries, has spoken out on climate change. Voted the most trusted celebrity in the country, he has so far not publicly acknowledged the dangers of global warming in any of his popular documentaries. Even Planet Earth, done in 2006, (see Treehugger) on the extinction of the polar bears did not mention rising global temperatures as a cause. Now Sir David has spoken out: “I'm no longer sceptical. Now I do not have any doubt at all. I think climate change is the major challenge facing the world. The thing that really convinced me was the graphs connecting the increase of carbon dioxide in the environment and the rise in temperature, with the growth of human population and industrialisation. The coincidence of the curves made it perfectly clear we have left the period of natural climatic oscillation behind and have begun on a steep curve, in terms of temperature rise, beyond anything in terms of increases that we have seen over many thousands of years.” He goes on to say “I'm 80 now. It's not that I think, like any old man, that change is wrong. I recognise that the world has always changed. I know that. But the point is, it's changing more extremely and swiftly than at any time in the past several million years. And one of the things I don't want to do is to look at my grandchildren and hear them say: "Grandfather, you knew it was happening - and you did nothing." ::Independent
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About 10 years ago, I was at the inauguration of David Attenborough's honorary doctorate (hope this is the correct term) at the Ghent university (Gent, Belgium). At that time, Attenborough gave an incredible speech on nature, on nature awareness and on how humans influence the biotopes around them. I was (a lot younger then :-) and really impressed by this man's discourse. Also, by producing the extraordinary nature documentaries he has influenced nature awareness on a great schale (ah, yes, through television). In any case, I guess my comment just praises the efforts on behalf on Mr Attenborough. Quite something to have a granddad like him (sniff, I'm moved)!!!
In 2000, he created a bold series called "State of the Planet", which addressed every major way we are destroying the environment, bringing to light the current species mass-extinction we are experiencing.
He DID bring up global warming, and demonstrated the effect it can have on the ecosystem.
He stated clearly that humanity was clearly to blame for this 'global crisis'. He Interviewed the world's most prominent nature scientists, most of them American.
I think he intended the series to reach American audiences, and I believe he felt that blaming everything on global warming to American viewers would only lead to him being marked as a radical by critics. He showed us that Global Warming isn't the only crisis we're responsible for.
PBS only screened it once, and then they chose not to show it again.
Where can this series be found today? Is there a place to buy them on DVD or VHS? Do they have subtitles or captioning?
Sam,
"State of the Planet" is three episodes, about 50 min each. It comes on one dvd, and I had to buy it from BBC UK. No one in the States or Canada seems to have it. If you are in North America, you will have to use a zone-free player to view it. I downloaded a freeware player online: www.videolan.org/
I didn't bother to see if there are subtitles, but I'll bet it does, but maybe only English and French.
I watched his program on the BBC last night.....it was very interesting to see him compare/contrast the then and now. I LOVE YOU DAVID!!!!
take a look at google video' the great global warming swindle' all of it, dont switch off after 5 minuets.
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editor note: I suggest you also read this.