So, what do we do? Addeddate Uh The Human beings have overrun the world. [Attenborough on video] Climbing over the tightly-packed bodies is the only way across the crowd. Thank you. Rewilding the world is simpler than you might think. When it comes to the land, we must radically reduce the area we use to farm, so that we can make space for returning wilderness. Morocco generates 40% from renewable power plants and exports solar energy. Coral reefs don't like acid, and 90% of our reefs could die off in a few years. In such places, huge shoals of fish gather. Seasons blend into one another in these tropical conditions, with lush growth, abundant flowering, and seed production occurring in ongoing cycles. The world population sits at 7.8 billion, the carbon in the atmosphere is 415 parts per million, and shockingly the remaining wilderness is 35%. And suddenly, we realized, you know, we're there together, and we're alone. Back then, it seemed inconceivable that we, a single species, might one day have the power to threaten the very existence of the wilderness. We account for over one-third of the weight of mammals on earth. There are signs that this has started to happen across the globe. That is my witness statement. A Life on Our Planet is a masterpiece that explores the life and legacy of natural historian and national treasure David Attenborough. Many experts wrote off Pripyat, and many of us are apathetic about the future of the planet. We have overfished 30% of fish stocks to critical levels. Right now, were facing a manmade disaster of global scale. When you think about it, were completing a journey. Mangroves and coral reefs along thousands of miles of coast have harbored nurseries of fish species that, when mature, then range into open waters. Thank you for the feedback, the missing data has been added and incorrect year amended. Vast forests. Population growth peaked in about 1962. J.P. Morgan: How One Man Financed America is a fast-paced and informative portrait of Americas most prolific banker a man so powerful that when he died, the NYSE paused all trading for half a day out of respect. Amazingly the plants on Earth, together with their ocean counterparts of algae and phytoplankton, know all about solar power. And if you knock down the whole of the Amazon rainforest, the whole of the climatic systems of rainfall and other climatic factors will be - go off balance. SIMON: You project what the world might look like in 10 years and even a century. Its a creature called an ammonite. All that evolution undone. Attenborough's wildlife journey started at a young age. It had everything a community would needfor a comfortable life. As much now as I did when I was a boy. Ocean life was also unravelling in the shallows. And skeletal is precisely what these reefs were becoming. For much of its expanse, the ocean is largely empty. And the changes we have to make will only benefit ourselves and the generations that follow. Scientists call it the Holocene. We cant cut down rainforests forever, and anything that we cant do forever is by definition unsustainable. Then watch the video and do the exercises. Accuracy and availability may vary. A marked change in atmospheric carbon has always been incompatible with a stable earth. Extract | A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough And of course, if we increase our wilderness areas, we have a natural way of capturing carbon. Trailer: David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and naturalist. The very thing that gave birth to our civilization. Life cycles on, and if we make the right choices, ruin can become regrowth . And we've exterminated the great fisheries. And if there's a profit in it, we do that - worse than that, even when there's not a profit in it, when governments actually see fit to subsidize it. Sir David Attenborough Has A Dire Message About The Earth's Future Regenerative and urban farming are two options. Those forests and plains and seas were already emptying. And the songs have distinct themes and variations which evolve over time. The thing we rely upon for every element of the lives we lead. The cycle of destruction continues as the sea life is trapped by or ingests this waste. Videos David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. I first witnessed the destruction of an entire habitat in Southeast Asia. The herrings have disappeared from the North Sea. Weve managed to travel by boat to islands that were impossible to get to historically because they were permanently locked in the ice. Fortunately, Tanzania and Kenya took far-sighted action to safeguard the sacred paths of the Serengeti migration. Immense grasslands. Large carnivores are rare in nature because it takes a lot of prey to support each of them. On current projections, there will be 11 billion people on Earth by 2100. Our blind assault on the planet has finally come to alter the very fundamentals of the living world. Sample Page; ; Palau is a Pacific Island nation reliant on its coral reefs for fish and tourism. For. A 12-year-old boy learns he's the returned Jesus Christ, destined to save humankind. All rights reserved. Required fields are marked *. At 93, Sir David Attenborough has spent a lifetime studying the natural world, and been knighted for his efforts. The nearby nuclear power station of Chernobyl exploded. Rising sea levels could lead to cities like Rotterdam, Ho Chi Minh City, and Miami being evacuated. David Attenborough became a household name in 1979 with his ground-breaking BBC series, "Life On Earth," which was seen by an estimated 500 million people worldwide. Their solution is to climb higher up the cliffs, but with their poor eyesight, they often fall from the tops of cliffs as the smell of the sea lures them closer. The deforestation of Borneo has reduced the population of orangutan by two-thirds since I first saw one just over 60 years ago. web pages From Pripyat, an area deserted after a nuclear disaster, Attenborough gives an overview of his life. An amazing and delicate web of connected relationships exists everywhere, particularly in rainforests. Its crazy that our banks and our pensions are investing in fossil fuel when these are the very things that are jeopardizing the future that we are saving for. Its entirely possible for us to apply both low-tech and hi-tech solutions to produce much more food from much less land. We eat 50 billion chickens a year and feed them with soy planted on deforested land. Phytoplankton at the oceans surface and immense forests straddling the north have helped to balance the atmosphere by locking away carbon. Japans standard of living climbed rapidly in the latter half of the 20th century. I wasn't prepared for it. He and his son used a plane to follow the herds over the horizon. A speed of change that exceeds any in the last 10,000 years. Video zone: David Attenborough: A Life on Our . Wherever I went, there was wilderness. Um, so, the world is not as wild as it was. Polar bears need ice as the launching pads for hunting. People benefit from the timber and then benefit again from farming the land thats left behind. Large parts of the earth are uninhabitable. [chuckles] Because I wish the struggle wasnt there or necessary. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet | Stories | WWF Downloads sind nur bei werbefreien Abos verfgbar. We invented farming. A determined detective continues his search for the truth behind Asia's largest drug organization and its elusive boss he has unfinished business with. Uploaded by David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet - Transcript October 14, 2020 David Attenborough has seen more of the natural world than any other. Imagine if we phase out fossil fuels and run our world on the eternal energies of nature too. Then watch the video and do the exercises. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement. 1937 WORLD POPULATION: 2.3 BILLION CARBON IN ATMOSPHERE: 280 PARTS PER MILLION REMAINING WILDERNESS: 66%. Interspersed with footage of his career and of a wide variety of ecosystems, he narrates key moments in his career and indicators of how the planet has changed over his lifetime. 1978 WORLD POPULATION: 4.3 BILLION CARBON IN ATMOSPHERE: 335 PARTS PER MILLION REMAINING WILDERNESS: 55%. There are something like 4,000 million of us today, and weve reached this position with meteoric speed. Its finite. Otherwise, this is brilliant! SIMON: I - forgive me, but I feel the need to quote a movie in which your brother starred (laughter), "Jurassic Park," where the scientist says, nature finds a way. David Attenborough is a famous British naturalist. We all need to change our mindset, and we need to implement a new order right now. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. And ways to harvest our forests sustainably. In his more recent travels, Attenborough noticed fishers using mosquito nets in the hope of catching something to eat. Ive experienced the living world firsthand in all its variety and wonder. Honest, revealing and urgent, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet is a powerful first-hand account of humanity's impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations. The Happy Planet Index measures both an ecological footprint and human well-being component in a country. The tragedy is that despite powerful stories such as this, including Dian Fossey's work with gorilla populations, and the creation of tiger reserves in India, wildlife habitats are increasingly endangered. We now have the opportunity to create the perfect home for ourselves, and restore the rich, healthy, and wonderful world that we inherited. These people were hunter-gatherers, as all humankind had been before farming. Its happened in my lifetime. To establish a life on our planet in balance with nature. When you first see it, you think perhaps that its beautiful, and suddenly you realize its tragic. So, I had the privilege of being amongst the first to fully experience the bounty of life that had come about as a result of the Holocenes gentle climate. We had very little understanding of how the living world actually worked. Netflix's 'David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet' Is The Most No ecosystem, no matter how big, is secure. we would keep consuming the earth until we had used it up. It was a brutal and unpredictable world. This video guide includes 5 instructional resources for use with the Netflix video "Our Planet: Jungles".28 Question Worksheet w/ Answer Key43 Word Word Jumble w/ Answer Key43 Word Word Search w/ Answer Key43 Word Word ListWord-for-Word Transcript of the Entire EpisodeCheck out my "Our Planet: One Earth" set of resources for free.The questions are answered about every 2-3 minutes. Tonight, weve got a rather different program for you. We found humpbacks off Hawaii only by listening out for their calls. An imaginative young squirrel leads a musical revolution to save his parents from a tyrannical leader. It's estimated that three-quarters of our food crops could fail. [protester over megaphone] We are men and women, and we speak for children, and were all saying, Please stop killing the whales.. [Attenborough] It was a stark contrast to the world I knew. Tasks . Half of the fertile land on Earth is currently farmed, and it's often overgrazed, over-sprayed with pesticides, and denuded of topsoil. For example, the Costa Rican government offered farmers grants to replant indigenous trees twenty-five years ago. The various meetings that have been convened by the United Nations - setting out plans which need validation by national governments and which will cost national governments, and I think that we need to persuade our own government in this country - and maybe you in your country - that we as citizens recognize what's happening to the world. [Attenborough] I was in a television studio when the Apollo mission launched. In his latest book and film, "A Life on Our Planet," he offers a grave and alarming assessment about . They discovered that the Serengeti herds required an enormous area of healthy grassland to function. We will finally learn how to work with nature rather than against it. The living world cant operate without a healthy ocean and neither can we. Sir David,. Sir David, thanks so much for being with us. This devastation could happen quickly, with water and food shortages, and the displacement of about 30 million people. The history of all human civilization followed. Then you deal so with the land. Well, weve destroyed it. Our closest relatives. [Attenborough] By working hard to raise people out of poverty, giving all access to healthcare, and enabling girls in particular to stay in school as long as possible, we can make it peak sooner and at a lower level. The global air temperature had been relatively stable till the 90s. And we're on the danger of doing that. Indoors, within cities. Many of the millions of species in the forest exist in small numbers. I advocate that there should be zones, parts of the ocean where they should be absolutely sacrosanct, where, in fact, populations of fish can build up and actually from that, colonize the rest of the seas that we've stripped. The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel. They capture 3 trillion kilowatt-hours of solar energy every day. Nothing to stop us. Environmental issues have historically had low news value. My first visit to East Africa was in 1960. A few days after that and theyre gone over the horizon. The return of the trees would absorb as much as two thirds of the carbon emissions that have been pumped into the atmosphere by our activities to date. A thick belt of jungles around the equator has piled plant on plant to capture as much of the suns energy as possible, adding moisture and oxygen to the global air currents. And in that one shot, there was the whole of humanity with nothing else except the person that was in the spacecraft taking that picture. Leading lives that interlock in such a way that they sustain each other. But if you get in a helicopter, you see that that is a strip about half a mile wide. Landslides and floods would occur, but worse still, this thawing would release 1,400 gigatonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. Sir David Attenborough is 94 years old and has some stark, startling sentences in the first few pages of his new book. on the Internet. The 'why' behind this, points to global warming. SIMON: You advocate what you call no-fish zones. As Attenborough reflects on his life, he begins each chapter with three facts. That without such an immense space, the herds would diminish and the entire ecosystem would come crashing down. The Amazon Rainforest, cut down until it can no longer produce enough moisture, degrades into a dry savannah, bringing catastrophic species loss and altering the global water cycle. In 1950, a Japanese family was likely to have three or more children. This city in Ukraine was once home to almost 50,000 people. Throughout the north, frozen soils thaw, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, accelerating the rate of climate change dramatically. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. In the 1960s, families often had five children, but today the average is 2.5. I've seen it with my own eyes. As healthcare and education improved, peoples expectations and opportunities grew, and the birth rate fell. David Attenborough A Life On Our Planet 2020 An important documentary that everyone should watch. NPR's Scott Simon talks with British natural historian and broadcaster David Attenborough about his new book, Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and Vision for the Future. Based on a children's book by Paul McCartney. SIMON: You're 94, but I have to ask, for all you have seen - almost a century - in times that have been bleak, where does this moment rank? You can be forgiven for thinking that these plains are endless when they could swallow up such a herd. The more diverse it is, the better it does that job. Ten thousand years ago, as hunter-gatherers, we lived a sustainable life because that was the only option. In truth, I couldnt imagine living my life in any other way. Without the white ice cap, less of the suns energy is reflected back out to space. Furthermore, less ice means that the Arctic would be unable to cool the planet down. When fish stocks began to reduce, the Palauans responded by restricting fishing practices and banning fishing entirely from many areas. Nobody wanted animals to become extinct. No one wants this to happen. But its now becoming apparent that its not all doom and gloom. It was the first indication to me that the earth was beginning to lose its balance. Whales were being slaughtered by fleets of industrial whaling ships in the 1970s. As with the citizens of Pripyat, we carry on with our daily lives, unaware that our carelessness and lack of planning will ultimately destroy us, and our natural world, unless we alter our self-destructive trajectory. SIMON: Sir David Attenborough - his book, along with his co-author Jonnie Hughes, is "A Life On Our Planet." Its now time for our species to stop simply growing. 'Prehistoric Planet' Renewed For Season 2 At Apple TV+ watch for yourself. ATTENBOROUGH: That means that nothing is safe. David Attenborough, A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future 33 likes Like "We live our comfortable lives in the shadow of a disaster of our own making. And it relies on its biodiversity to run smoothly. Just imagine that. No plowing and no fertilizers are used. [1] Initially scheduled for cinematic release on 16 April 2020, the film was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. thank you soo much this script was very good, Your email address will not be published. attenborough a life on our planet transcript life on earth the greatest story ever told david . One of the greatest films ever made, The Sorrow and The Pity is a contribution to history, to social psychology, to anthropology, and to art. And they are centers of biodiversity. Starring: David Attenborough. The film's grand achievement is that it positions its subject as a mediator between humans and the natural world. Coral reefs were turning white. Governments need to offer financial incentives to create wilderness areas or involve local communities that can benefit from rewilding. The purpose of Boykoff's study was to examine environmental representations, to 'provide opportunities to interrogate how particular narratives are translated, and how they make (in)visible certain discourses.' It took a visionary scientist, Bernhard Grzimek, to explain that this wasnt true. And tree diversity is the key to a rainforest. It will lead to our destruction. Copyright 2020 NPR. In my time, Ive experienced the warming of Arctic summers. It seems possible for us to feed ourselves quite happily using half the land we currently use. The vast majority, chickens. By and large, its a story of slow, steady change. 2020 | Maturity rating: 7+ | 1h 23m | Nature & Ecology Documentaries. In this . A Life on Our Planet. They may have got time to actually - to pay more to sort things out. [whales singing] Their mournful songs were the key to transforming peoples opinions about them. The Masai in Kenya engages in projects to reduce their cattle herds and develop wildlife. He believes that we have The Planetary Boundaries model as our guide, and that we should be looking to it for inspiration. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. If we fast-forward to 2020, a mere 83 years later, the statistics are disheartening. Attenborough launched an official Instagram account on Thursday, Sept. 24, in support of the film. His book, "A Life On Our Planet: My Witness Statement And Vision For The Future" - and the highly honored broadcaster, historian of nature and best-selling author joins us now. It was called natural history because thats essentially what it was all about history. It has hidden its secrets well because of the difficulties of filming underwater. From Pripyat, a deserted area after the nuclear disaster, Attenborough gives an overview of his life. Ive always had a passion to explore, to have adventures, to learn about the wilds beyond. 1960 WORLD POPULATION: 3.0 BILLION CARBON IN ATMOSPHERE: 315 PARTS PER MILLION REMAINING WILDERNESS: 62%. What we see happening today is just the latest chapter in a global process spanning millennia. Since I started filming in the 1950s, on average, wild animal populations have more than halved. Our intelligence changed the way in which we evolved. Tired of the small-time grind, three Marseille cops get a chance to bust a major drug network. Levies and carbon taxes will go somewhere to shift this. Attenborough urges us to restore biodiversity. When I was a boy, I spent all my spare time searching through rocks in places like this for buried treasure. The white corals are ultimately smothered by seaweed. ATTENBOROUGH: Yes. Estimates suggest that no fish zones over a third of our coastal seas would be sufficient to provide us with all the fish we will ever need. As carbon release accelerates, the ocean will continue to absorb its share of this. If we do things that are unsustainable, the damage accumulates ultimately to a point where the whole system collapses. There's some good news though. I think the sudden sight that there were two people way out there, high up in the sky looking at the Earth from a distance where the whole globe was within one picture was an extraordinary realization, not only of the smallness of the planet but its isolation. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. Narrated by David Attenborough, the five-episode second season will premiere globally in a five-day week-long event beginning May 22 on Apple [] Sitting on the edge of the Sahara, and cabled directly into southern Europe, Morocco could be an exporter of solar energy by 2050. Im talking about the loss of our planets wild places, its biodiversity. Nature is our biggest ally and our greatest inspiration. Summer sea ice in the Arctic has reduced by 40% in 40 years. A broadcaster recounts his life, and the evolutionary history of life on Earth, to grieve the loss of wild places and offer a vision for the future. As much as 60% of farmland is devoted to beef production. If herds of animals couldn't travel to new grazing, they, along with predators, would starve. It had everything a community would need for a comfortable life. urgency ? It was a great place to come to as a boy, because this is, um, ironstone workings, but it was disused. You could fly for hours over the untouched wilderness. 1997 WORLD POPULATION: 5.9 BILLION CARBON IN ATMOSPHERE: 360 PARTS PER MILLION REMAINING WILDERNESS: 46%. The Maasai word Serengeti means endless plains. To those who live here, its an apt description. Nature, once again, had to start again. And in less than 48 hours, the city was evacuated. How do we reclaim farmland but also increase the food supply for a growing population? Our Planet Jungles Teaching Resources | TPT Without this training, they would not complete their role in dispersing seeds. And I remember very well that first shot. Yet the way we humans live on Earth now is sending biodiversity into a decline. A prequel to "Nanti Kita Cerita Tentang Hari Ini," this film follows the love story of young Narendra and Ajeng who come from different backgrounds. Orangutan mothers have to spend ten years with their young, teaching them which fruits are worth eating. Our planet becomes four degrees Celsius warmer. In Asia, the winds would create the monsoon on cue. Pollinating insects disappear. Protected fish populations soon became so healthy, they spilt over into the areas open to fishing. In the northern regions, the temperatures would lift in March, triggering spring, and stay high until they dipped in October and brought about autumn. These simple statistics speak as eloquently for our planet as our author does. ATTENBOROUGH: Well, I'm not sure if you can take an overall view like that. A century from now, our planet could be a wild place again. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement. David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet. Baitfish are driven into tight balls by tuna, before they attack, then sharks and dolphins join the hunt; they're followed by gannets, and even a whale. Sir David. In fact, in 2019, New Zealand dropped GDP as its formal measurement of progress and created its own index, taking into account people, profit, and the planet. He researched how the Earth had experienced massive eruptions at specific points, destroying many species. These mass extinctions have occurred five times during our planet's four billion-year lifespan. [birds chirping] Just imagine if we achieve this on a global scale. Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future. The 50,000 large dams in the world, change the water flow and temperature of rivers. It's a statement of his past experiences, what will happen if our current destructive path continues, and what we need to do to rehabilitate our remarkable planet. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement. For a long time, I and perhaps you have dreaded that future. If this is the case, surely it's up to us to treat our planet with kindness and respect. But, there are ways to change direction and alter the doom and gloom we've created. We must rewild the world!" David Attenborough If there is no corner of the oceans which is safe from fishing vessels of one kind or another, we are heading for total elimination of the edible fish from the sea. Attenborough's BBC production, The Blue Planet, changed this when its sophisticated camera equipment filmed a bait ball frenzy, a fantastic underwater hunt the likes of which no one had seen before. [groaning] Those beneath can get crushed to death. All rights reserved. And you see this curtain of green with occasionally birds in it, and you think its perhaps okay. Results of search for 'ccl=(su:{television programs.})' Marywood How did that change our view of the world? But we can make them the only source. The ocean has long since become unable to absorb all the excess heat caused by our activities. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Environmental economists are trying to address this. The earths plants capture three trillion kilowatt-hours of solar energy each day. I am David Attenborough, and I am 93. However, Attenborough points out that vested interests will hold us back. At some point in the future, the human population will peak for the very first time. Fewer trees and more carbon in the atmosphere would escalate global warming significantly. But, the moral of the story is indeed a positive one. Global food production enters a crisis as soils become exhausted by overuse. This truth defined the life we led in our pre-history, the time before farming and civilization. This too is happening as a result of bad planning and human error and it too will lead to what we see here. At first, they caught plenty of fish in their nets. In 1998, a Blue Planet film crew discovered that the beautiful colors of the coral reefs were turning to skeletal chalky white. David Attenborough is a famous British naturalist. Working together to benefit from the energy of the sun and the minerals of the earth. Nature will take any chance to reclaim some space. We cut down over 15 billion trees each year. This is a series of one-way doors bringing irreversible change. At times, our ancestors existed only in tiny numbers, but just over 10,000 years ago, that number suddenly stabilized and with it, Earth's climate. Its decision to do so has resulted in the human species pushing our planet towards a tipping point. The predators help to keep nutrients in the oceans sunlit waters, recycling them so that they can be used again and again by plankton.