David Attenborough says for the first time in the history of humanity, one species has the future of the world in the palm of its hands.
Francesca Gosling, Press Association news.com.au 15 Oct 17;
David Attenborough has urged the world to cut down on the use of plastic by "tomorrow" to curb the danger it poses to the world's oceans.
The much-loved TV nature expert told how filming the second Blue Planet series showed him the threat that plastic causes to the underwater environment.
His comments came as he attended a Q&A about the show ahead of its broadcast on the BBC later this month, 15 years after the original series.
Asked what concerned him the most about the crew's findings, the 91-year old said rising sea temperatures and plastic in the ocean.
"Now what we're going to do about 1.5 degrees rise in the temperature of the ocean over the next 10 years, I don't know, but we could actually do something about plastic right now. And I just wish we would," he said on Saturday.
"The albatross parent has been away for three weeks gathering stuff for her young and what comes out? What does she give her chick? You think it's going to be squid, but it's plastic. And the chick is going to starve and die.
"But we could do things about plastic internationally tomorrow. We have a responsibility. Every one of us."
"It is one world. And it's in our care. For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands. I just hope he realises that that is the case."
The program was filmed all over the world, in locations such as Australia, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, Japan and Norway.
Sir David Attenborough on the problem that concerns him the most
AHEAD of the release of his new series, Sir David Attenborough has revealed the environmental issue that concerns him most — and it’s not climate change.
News.com.au 15 Oct 17;
SIR DAVID Attenborough has urged the world to cut down on the use of plastic by “tomorrow” to curb the danger it poses to the world’s oceans.
The much-loved TV nature expert told how filming the second Blue Planet series showed him the threat that plastic causes to the underwater environment.
His comments came as he attended a Q & A about the show ahead of its broadcast on the BBC later this month, 15 years after the original series.
Asked what concerned him the most about the crew’s findings, the 91-year old said rising sea temperatures and plastic in the ocean.
“Now what we’re going to do about 1.5 degrees rise in the temperature of the ocean over the next 10 years, I don’t know, but we could actually do something about plastic right now. And I just wish we would,” he said on Saturday.
“The albatross parent has been away for three weeks gathering stuff for her young and what comes out? What does she give her chick? You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic. And the chick is going to starve and die.
“But we could do things about plastic internationally tomorrow. We have a responsibility. Every one of us.”
“It is one world. And it’s in our care. For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500 million years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands. I just hope he realises that that is the case.”
The program was filmed all over the world, in locations such as Australia, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, Japan and Norway.
David Attenborough urges action on plastics after filming Blue Planet II
Naturalist says experience making second series of BBC show revealed devastating threat posed to oceans by plastic
Graham Ruddick The Guardian 15 Oct 17;
Sir David Attenborough has called for the world to cut back on its use of plastic in order to protect oceans. His new BBC TV series, Blue Planet II, is to demonstrate the damage the material is causing to marine life.
Speaking at the launch of Blue Planet II, which will be broadcast 16 years after the original series, the broadcaster and naturalist said action on plastics should be taken immediately and that humanity held the future of the planet “in the palm of its hands”.
His comments come amid growing global calls for cutbacks in the use of plastic. Last week, the former boss of Asda, Andy Clarke, said supermarkets should stop using plastic packaging.
A Guardian investigation established that consumers around the world buy a million plastic bottles a minute. Plastic production is set to double in the next 20 years and quadruple by 2050. Around the world, more than 8m tonnes of plastic leaks into the oceans, and a recent study found that billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic.
Blue Planet II will include evidence that plastic has flowed into ocean waters thousands of miles from land, and will show albatrosses unwittingly feeding their chicks plastic.
The new series of Blue Planet has seven episodes and is expected to be a global hit for the BBC. The programme has already been sold to more than 30 countries and the first episode will air on BBC One on Sunday 29 October.
Attenborough said rising global temperatures and plastic were the biggest concerns for the ocean. “What we’re going to do about 1.5 degrees rise in the temperature of the ocean over the next 10 years, I don’t know, but we could actually do something about plastic right now,” he said.
“I just wish we would. There are so many sequences that every single one of us have been involved in – even in the most peripheral way – where we have seen tragedies happen because of the plastic in the ocean.
“We’ve seen albatrosses come back with their belly full of food for their young and nothing in it. The albatross parent has been away for three weeks gathering stuff for her young and what comes out? What does she give her chick? You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic. The chick is going to starve and die.
“There are more examples of that. But we could do things about plastic internationally tomorrow.”
Attenborough, 91, did not specify what could be done, but cutting back on plastic packaging and plastic bags in supermarkets would be a major step.
He said everyone’s actions had an impact on the ocean. “We have a responsibility, every one of us,” he said. “We may think we live a long way from the oceans, but we don’t. What we actually do here, and in the middle of Asia and wherever, has a direct effect on the oceans – and what the oceans do then reflects back on us.”
