David Attenborough’s greatest achievement – Population Matters

8 Might 2024

Inhabitants Issues Patron Sir David Attenborough turns a formidable 98 years previous on 8 Might. The beloved broadcaster has a lot to be pleased with and it’s in all probability no exaggeration to say that no one has impressed as many individuals to care in regards to the setting as he has. But it surely’s not simply love for issues furry, feathered and scaled that he’s helped unfold. In 2022, our Communications Supervisor on the time, Olivia Nater, mirrored on his affect.  

Inspiring generations

David Attenborough’s repeated warnings about our affect on the planet and pressing want to remodel our relationship with nature stirred numerous individuals to motion. I’m one in every of them. Having had the privilege of watching Sir David’s pure historical past documentaries as a toddler had an enormous affect on my profession selections. I’ve all the time been an animal lover however Attenborough’s partaking revelation of the jaw-dropping range of life world wide and the fascinating day-to-day struggles of fellow species cemented my ardour. I already knew at school that I needed to review zoology after which work in environmental advocacy.

On the College of Bristol, I used to be amused however unsurprised to search out that a lot of my fellow college students’ undergraduate diploma alternative had additionally been impressed by Sir David. When he got here to Blackwell’s bookstore to signal copies of his autobiography ‘Life on Air’, the queue prolonged all the best way down Park Avenue. He was imagined to be there for an hour however ended up staying for over three. (And sure, I waited that lengthy and was one of many final individuals to get her ebook signed – thanks, Sir David). We used to joke about how all of us needed to be “the subsequent Attenborough” and it was a widely known proven fact that competitors for internships on the BBC’s Pure Historical past Unit was fierce.

Telling the reality

This was 15 years in the past, but there’s nonetheless no Attenborough alternative, and there in all probability by no means can be. Sir David doesn’t solely inform partaking tales with a uniquely soothing voice, he’s additionally refreshingly sincere in regards to the scale and drivers of our environmental crises, and his pleas are clearly heartfelt.

As PM Director Robin Maynard wrote in his evaluation of A Life on our Planet (which chronicles the surprising environmental deterioration throughout Sir David’s lifetime):

“Essentially the most highly effective sequence is when the digital camera holds its focus for an uncomfortably lengthy interval on his face and visual anguish at this emptying of Eden – much more eloquent than his phrases.”

His love and compassion for different species is infectious, and many individuals have been moved to tears by his documentaries (keep in mind that walrus scene in Our Planet?). Most significantly, he is among the few public figures who’s outspoken in regards to the root causes of our environmental crises:

“As I see it, humanity wants to scale back its affect on the Earth urgently and there are 3 ways to attain this: we are able to cease consuming so many sources, we are able to change our expertise and we are able to cut back the expansion of our inhabitants.”

As mirrored within the ‘IPAT’ equation and related scientific formulation, our affect on the planet is a product of our consumption habits and our numbers, and relying on the expertise in query, this could both have an amplifying impact (e.g. mass manufacturing, industrial agriculture), or a lowering impact (e.g. renewable power).

Whereas the necessity to finish overconsumption and enhance applied sciences is uncontested by most environmentalists, many nonetheless draw back from addressing the inhabitants issue. Nonetheless, as Sir David places it, we merely can’t ignore it:

“All our environmental issues grow to be simpler to unravel with fewer individuals, and tougher – and in the end inconceivable – to unravel with ever extra individuals.”

Eco vs Ego

He devoted a complete documentary to the problem in 2009 with the BBC Horizon episode ‘How Many Individuals Can Reside On Planet Earth?’ (through which he voiced his assist for Inhabitants Issues which gave our profile an incredible increase), and his 2011 presidential speech for the Royal Society for Arts (RSA) targeted closely on inhabitants (you’ll find a transcript right here):

“Fifty years in the past, when the WWF was based, there have been about three billion individuals on earth. Now there are virtually seven billion. Over twice as many – and each one in every of them needing area. Area for his or her houses, area to develop their meals (or to get others to develop it for them), area to construct colleges and roads and airfields. The place may that come from? Slightly is likely to be taken from land occupied by different individuals however most of it may solely come from the land which, for thousands and thousands of years, animals and crops had needed to themselves – the pure world.”

It’s extremely apparent that ever extra of us means ever much less wildlife. David Attenborough made this clear in most of his documentaries – I keep in mind being significantly struck by this quote from Lifetime of Mammals (2002):

“As a substitute of controlling the setting for the good thing about the inhabitants, maybe it’s time we managed the inhabitants to permit the survival of the setting.”

Lastly, somebody who isn’t blinded by anthropocentrism and doesn’t consider that people have some God-given proper to dominate and annihilate all different species, I believed to myself! In fact, his alternative of phrases could not have been perfect (to many, ‘inhabitants management’ implies coercion), however he’s completely proper that there’s an pressing want to alter the best way we view nature.

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Sir David has repeatedly used his platform to name for empowering inhabitants options, together with in his RSA speech and on this 2012 interview with the Wellcome Belief:

“Wherever you empower ladies, wherever they’ve the vote, wherever they’ve the schooling, wherever they’ve the free will and are accountable for their lives and never dictated to by males, the beginning charge falls.”

This name was repeated in 2020’s A Life on our Planet, and he rightly added:

“Why wouldn’t we need to do these items? Giving individuals a larger alternative of life is what we need to do anyway. The trick is to lift the usual of residing world wide, with out rising our affect on that world.”

We’re grateful and honoured to have Sir David as a Patron. As we have fun his birthday on Sunday and hopefully yearly after that (his legacy can be immortal), let’s attempt to honour his want for a greater world for each individuals and wild species. Within the meantime, please get pleasure from this clip: