One of my personal heroes is natural historian, BBC broadcaster, and planet Earth champion Sir David Frederick Attenborough. If you’re unfamiliar with the mind altering and innovative documentaries that Mr. Attenborough has brought us beginning in 1979, be sure to binge them all. Some highlights include: Life on Earth, The Living Planet, The Trials of Life, Life in the Freezer, The Private Life of Plants, The Life of Birds, The Life of Mammals, Life in the Undergrowth, Life in Cold Blood, Life on Land, Life on Earth, Planet Earth, Planet Earth II, Blue Planet, Blue Planet II, and many more.
At 93 years young, David Attenborough’s recently released and extremely compelling call to action is presented in documentary form on Netflix “A Life On Our Planet.” This film moved me to tears. After 45 minutes presenting the context of how we’ve arrived at this critical moment throughout his life, he presents his witness statement, as authentic as it comes. His visceral on-screen disappointment in humanity’s trajectory should be seen and felt by all of us — the human race living together on planet Earth.
I felt compelled to write out each word from Mr. Attenborough’s witness statement as I rewatched and paused this powerful segment presented midway through the documentary.
Thank you for reading his words below. I hope you watch the film as well (link at the bottom).
David Attenborough’s Witness Statement. ‘A story of global decline during a single lifetime.’
Our imprint is now truly global.
Our impact truly profound.
Our blind assault on the planet has finally come to alter the very fundamentals of the living world.
We have overfished 30% of fish stocks to critical levels.
We cut down over 15 billion trees each year.
By damming, polluting, and over-extracting rivers and lakes, we’ve reduced the size of freshwater populations by over 80%
We’re replacing the wild with the tame.
Half of the fertile land on earth is now farm land.
70% of the mass of bird on this planet are domestic birds. The vast majority chickens.
We account for over one-third of the weight of mammals on earth. A further 60% are the animals we raise to eat. The rest, from mice to whales, make up just 4%.
This is now our planet, run by humankind for humankind.
There is little left for the rest of the living world.
Since I started filming in the 1950s, on average, wild animal populations have more than halved.
I look at these images now and I realize that, although as a young man I thought I was out there in the wild experiencing the untouched natural world, it was an illusion.
Those forest and plains and seas were already emptying.
Um, so, the world is not as wild as it was.
Well, we’ve destroyed it. Not just ruined it. I mean, we have completely… destroyed that world….
… But it doesn’t end there.
If we continue on our current course the damage that has been the defining feature of my lifetime will be eclipsed by the damage coming in the next.
- Sir David Attenborough
