David Attenborough has been teaching us all, across the world, for almost 70 years! This is a record-breaking achievement for any presenter or (online) teacher, and there is no sign of stopping him, even in his 100th year!
In his 2011 ‘Life Stories’ book and series, he took us on a journey back almost 600 million years to the discovery of Charnia, one of the oldest animal fossils, resembling a giant frond. Then in 2026, he brought us to the present day, right in our own back gardens, to reveal the secret lives of small mammals, birds and insects desperately surviving in our hectic and dangerous world. His time-travelling through natural history is better than any ‘Dr Who’ series, and he doesn’t even need a telephone box! š
His programmes have brought all sizes of creatures into our living rooms too, from Leafcutter Ants to Blue Whales. For these and so many more achievements, he is so deserving of the global birthday celebration that culminated in the Royal Albert Hall on the 8th May.
We, along with other groups, including the Plymouth Climate Choir, were involved in a song video, as part of the birthday celebrations. For our part, we embarked on a chalking design 80 feet wide on Plymouth’s iconic Hoe Promenade. We had 3 hours to complete it, before a filmmaker arrived with a drone to record the event – phew! Made it!
However, in celebrating these 100 years, we need also contemplate what drives him to continue presenting with hisĀ amazing team of filmmakers to bring us, and teach us, the wonder of the natural world. We should not just sit, watch and wonder, we really need to be acting upon the facts he is presenting us with, if we are to save this precious, now fragile, planet.
When David Attenborough was born there were approximately 2 billion people in the world; today, there are 8.2 billion! The population has more than quadrupled in his lifetime and with that huge increase has come mass consumerism and, subsequent, mass waste! Our seas are full of plastic, our soils are drenched in toxic pesticides and the air we breathe is becoming more contaminated with carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane gas. In David Attenborough’s lifetime, the levels of carbon dioxide in the air we breathe have risen from 280ppm to 430ppm (parts per million), and the world’s wilderness has reduced by half!
“The devastating scale of the catastrophe now forecast…is a direct result of the way we are currently treating the planet.”
However, from the top down (governments, corporates, the world’s richest people) to the bottom up (that’s us!) we can ALL make change. Government change is slow, but we have buying power and that can force change at the top.
Buy for need, not greed.Ā Greed wastes YOUR money and creates waste.
We can stop buying pesticides. Learn to garden for nature, not against it. You’ll SAVE money and nature by not poisoning it.
Turn off/down unnecessary energy usage – computers, heaters, lighting and SAVE money.
Reduce/stop car use and flight travel. Walking and cycling is healthier and free.Ā Use buses, trains and ferries – relax and ENJOY your journeys.
By cutting down what we spend, with big global businesses, like Amazon, prevents the rich becoming richer; and by making our needed purchases with our small local businesses, that improves YOUR local economy.
We all need to be more thoughtful about our spending, our wasting and improving our wellbeing by working and being in nature. Our philosophy moving forward must be “sustainability in all things…and… radically reduce our impact on the world.”
For us, we continue to make our mark on the urban pavements, using them as a canvas to highlight the wildflowers popping up between the cracks and crevices. By naming these plants, we hope you learn to love and respect them too, and reconnect with nature. “To restore stability to our planet … we must restore its biodiversity.”
So, let’s “rewild the world!” š¼šš¼šš
(All quotes and data taken from: D. Attenborough, 2020. A Life on our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future. Witness Books: London.)
#RebelBotanists 