A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

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It also serves to show us how important it is that we indeed do something because the eco system is a fragile thing and we need food and water from it so it is in our own best interest to get a move on. With just three statistical numbers - world population, carbon in atmosphere, and remaining wilderness - he was able to portray such a shockingly drastic deterioration of life on our planet that occurred just within the span of a human life. I'm not one to listen to hysterical people and despise how so many only want attention or money while being entirely hypocritical. Attenborough is a naturalist, and he sees the climate crisis as, first and foremost, a crisis of biodiversity loss. Katherine May thoughtfully shows us how to come through these times with the wisdom of knowing that, like the seasons, our winters and summers are the ebb and flow of life.

Extinctions and huge changes have happened in the history of the planet before, but this one is not due to natural forces. In the first part of the book he takes us on a journey to revisit some important moments of his life, starting in 1937 when as a young boy he developed a fascination with fossils. Some of the scientific solutions he proposes need further development, but a lot of the technology already exists. We all know about the ongoing climate debate and, like the author, some of us are willing to accept the indisputable evidence that climate change is seriously affecting our planet.

Sir David Frederick Attenborough is a naturalist and broadcaster, who is most well-known for writing and presenting the nine "Life" series, produced in conjunction with BBC's Natural History Unit. It gives a good overview of the things that can be done to make the world a better place again, is highly readable, informative, inspiring, and comes from the heart. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, and stands at the forefront of issues concerning the planet's declining species and conservation.

From Boltzmann to quantum theory, from Einstein to loop quantum gravity, our understanding of time has been undergoing radical transformations. The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005) and Life in Cold Blood (2008). I have come to rely on Attenborough for his insights into nature and his identification of factors that are critical to our planet’s health and diversity. Hopefully his vision for the future becomes a reality, but that would mean that all humans must work together to save our planet, and unfortunately at the moment, we can't.

And he is very good at explaining his point so convisely and accessibly, and with such hope that even the cynics among us start wondering that maybe, just maybe, we have a chance after all.

Each chapter begins with three statistics about the period which it covers: world population, atmospheric carbon dioxide and remaining wilderness. Delightful autobiographical section to open this interesting book – 4 StarsA well-presented book that’s very easy to read, and I particularly enjoyed the opening section in which Sir David Attenborough gives us a potted autobiography covering several of his most notable broadcasts. Given that a safe level for humans would be 350 parts per million (ppm), we're now easily in the danger zone. Sir David Attenborough points out that the end of life on our planet might be near, but that there are still possibilities to put a halt to it and continues to inform us how. He had created documentaries for the BBC about a subject dear to his heart - the natural world - thus giving him a front row seat to witness how much the life on earth has changed.A starred review for Kirkus Reviews praised the book as "excellent", finding Attenborough "refreshingly optimistic" and the book useful for "anyone concerned with the planet's ecological future". Attenborough is uniquely well-positioned—by his age, reputation, and experience—to be making this warning.

With a new afterword, Why You Are Here: A speech on the opening of the COP26 climate summitAs a young man, I felt I was out there in the wild, experiencing the untouched natural world – but it was an illusion.We learn of conservation efforts for pangolins, whales and gorillas; we see the success such efforts have already wielded in the recent past (such as wolves being reintroduced to Yellowstone, the European bison being brought back from the brink, storks re-appearing in Great Britain etc). It was written by Attenborough and Hughes, who was assisted by the World Wide Fund for Nature's science team. There were times when I felt the science became dense, but I imagined the sound of the author’s distinctive voice. His earlier work focused mainly on the wonders of the natural world, including wildlife and habitats.