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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDavid Attenborough on the scourge of the oceans
David Attenborough on the scourge of the oceans: 'I remember being told plastic doesn't decay, it's wonderful'
His sequel to The Blue Planet will focus not only on the marvels of sea life but also the threats to it. The naturalist explains why plastic pollution, climate change and overpopulation are problems too urgent to be left to ecologists
David Attenborough vividly remembers, nearly 80 years on, his first encounter with one of the worst scourges of the planet. He was a schoolboy. I remember my headmaster, who was also my science master, saying: Boys, weve entered a new era! Weve entered, well be proud to say, the plastic era. And what is so wonderful about this is weve used all our scientific ingenuity to make sure that its virtually indestructible. It doesnt decay, you know, its wonderful.
Attenborough lets the last word hang in the air, eyebrows and hands raised. Then the hands fall. Now we dump thousands of tonnes of it, every year, into the sea, and it has catastrophic effects.
As he has felt more free to speak out, one of the more controversial areas Attenborough has addressed is population growth. Of all the worlds problems, this is the one he sees as central and most difficult to solve, although it is a tricky and unpopular cause to take up. Many high-profile environmentalists will privately agree that the rapid growth in the worlds population now at more than 7 billion, a tripling since Attenborough was born creates further problems, because feeding 9 billion by 2050 will be hard, and raising people out of poverty even harder, and it makes a real conundrum of giving people decent lives, opportunities and governance, while protecting dwindling natural resources and halting climate change.
spanone
(135,823 posts)malaise
(268,930 posts)Get thee to the greatest page
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)The man is incredible and dedicated to the environment. One of my heroes.
malaise
(268,930 posts)bettyellen
(47,209 posts)people like us, who are drowning the rest of the world in plastics and pollution. We each have the negative impact of many more people in Africa or India.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)And the environmental impact of the population growth in Africa and India is still staggering.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)We have the obligation to rethink our oil and plastic consumption. As they come out of poverty we need to set a better example to follow. The poor didn't create this mess, we did.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)This is problem for the entire planet. We need to get our total numbers down voluntarily, or our numbers will come down painfully and fast involuntarily.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)There are too many humans on the planet. Not too many of us; Not too many of them. Too many humans in total.
bettyellen
(47,209 posts)People who create as much pollution as ten others can't point fingers. It's really in developed nations to get shit under control.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,306 posts)lpbk2713
(42,753 posts)Another wonder of modern chemistry.