Sir David Attenborough has told how he leapt from his chair and punched the air in delight after climate change-denier Donald Trump lost the US Presidential election.
The 94-year-old naturalist says hearing Joe Biden immediately vow to sign America back up to the international agreement to limit global warming left him feeling hugely heartened.
Sir David says: “America is the most powerful country in the world, economically, and has huge influence on what happens.
“That someone should be coming into power who recognises the importance of the ecological problems that face us – whose first statement after it became clear he was going to become the President Elect was to reinstate America’s backing of the Paris agreement… I can’t remember getting out of my seat and cheering all by myself until that moment.
(Image: Nick Shoolingin-Jordan/Silverback Films 2020)
“I have never done it before, even for our own elections.
“But when I heard that I actually said…” At this point in our Zoom call, Sir David re-enacts jumping up, arms aloft, mouthing the word “yes”. It is quite a sight to behold.
His thoughts on climate change and the immediate action needed will become even clearer when BBC1’s landmark series A Perfect Planet airs next month.
Combining earth science and natural history, the series explores how weather, ocean currents, solar energy and volcanoes drive, shape and support biodiversity.
The fifth and final episode takes a sharp change of tone as it examines the dramatic impact of humans on the planet – and what needs to be done to correct the damage.
(Image: Nick Shoolingin-Jordan/Silverback Films)
(Image: Alain Lusignan/ Silverback Films)
Sir David and executive producer Alastair Fothergill state the Covid pandemic has given them hope that climate change is a problem that can be solved.
Mr Fothergill says: “We’ve seen how, in the search for the vaccine, humanity has united and put so much energy into solving that problem. To be honest, Covid is a relatively small problem compared with the planetary crisis facing us. So if humanity can unite to solve Covid surely we can to solve climate change?”
Like the presenter, he feels America getting a new, greener President is a crucial development.
“Thank goodness Biden has got in,” he sighs.
(Image: Photography Tui De Roy copyright Silverback Films)
(Image: Toby Nowlan/Silverback Films 2018)
With the international conference on global warming due in Glasgow next year, Sir David says this is a timely moment to emphasise that climate change is real.
He adds: “This is not just talk. This is not just a little fantasy. If we warm the Earth to such a degree that the Arctic melts, every city in the world will be under water.
“A high proportion of the big cities in the world are built around the coast, because of their ports. And if the ice melts, the seas are going to rise and flood those cities.
“That’s not… science fiction. It’s going to happen. And we have still got a chance to stop it happening. What do we have to do to persuade people that that’s the case?” But he knows that he’s got his work cut out – speaking to the pilot of a helicopter who was flying him over Miami during filming made him realise how big the task was.
(Image: Huw Cordey/Silverback Films 2018)
(Image: Alain Lusignan/ Silverback Films)
Sir David recalls: “I said to the pilot, ‘Look at all these huge, great hotels, if we go on like this they’ll all be under water’. ‘Rubbish,’ he said (well, he actually said something else) but he didn’t believe it. He sees no reason why anybody should take any action. There is a very strong element in the United States that does not believe it, including the past President.”
Fothergill says of the scientists on the upcoming series: “They talk about the home truths, the facts, that we’re producing 100 times more carbon dioxide than all the volcanoes on the planet.
“That the ocean currents are no longer flowing as they did, that hurricanes hitting the east coast of America are more frequent and more powerful – but also they talk about the solutions. You need to empower them with the solutions and the good news is nature is unbelievably resilient and mankind already has the technology to solve these problems. We just need the political will.”
The first episode deals with volcanoes, and looks at the wildlife that thrives amid the toxic effects of eruptions.
(Image: Huw Cordey/Silverback Films 2018)
(Image: Silverback Films 2018)
Series producer Huw Cordey says: “Even the most hostile of volcanic landscapes can support life, like Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is the most corrosive body of water.” He adds that the lake is home to tens of thousands of flamingos – though viewers should brace themselves for scenes of their chicks being picked off by marabou storks as they race across the corrosive salt plains to get to fresh water.
Also featured in the series are Aldabra giant tortoises, whose habitat in the Indian Ocean is threatened by flooding, lions in Kenya whose roaming patterns are affected by the weather and otters who hunt year-round in the heated waters of Yellowstone National Park.
(Image: Huw Cordey/Silverback Films)
Brown bears are shown at Kurile Lake, Russia, where the fertile volcanic waters lead to high numbers of salmon.
Sir David says the series will show we are at a crossroads for reversing the damage we’ve wreaked since the industrial revolution.
He adds: “We, our planet, is poised close to big disasters. We can stop them. But if we’re going to stop them, we’ve got to understand what they are and how they work.
“And that’s what this series does.”
A Perfect Planet, BBC1, January.
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/sir-david-attenborough-punched-air-23190793