05-11-2020, 15:24
Now 94 years of age, David Attenborough has released what he calls his ‘witness statement’ in David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet. It should be compulsory viewing, IMHO – especially for those who casually and temporarily stroll through the corridors of power trailing mayhem in their wake.
Even the title is telling – this man is not having a rant, he epitomizes grace – it’s ‘our’ planet, and he’s spent pretty much his entire life exploring its natural facets. It's not a message of unmitigated doom, although that outcome is inevitable if our priorities don’t change in a major hurry! He gets straight to the point which is that we need to re-wild our planet or basically, by 2080, we won’t have one, and the time we do have left on it will become increasingly unpleasant.
As the movie progresses, it becomes blindingly evident how unimportant all the chittering political preeners are, and those hellbent on acquiring so-called assets and huge wealth at the expense of everything else - ridiculous really, if not downright criminal in some instances. And despite everything he knows and has experienced firsthand, or perhaps because he understands the nature of human beings, he’s kinder than most activists, and much, much wiser. What a gentleman! We need to listen to him.
I wonder if he and Edward Abbey ever crossed paths. Abbey said - “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.” He also said “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
I’m sure everyone who has Netflix will have seen the trailer. Worth a watch …
Even the title is telling – this man is not having a rant, he epitomizes grace – it’s ‘our’ planet, and he’s spent pretty much his entire life exploring its natural facets. It's not a message of unmitigated doom, although that outcome is inevitable if our priorities don’t change in a major hurry! He gets straight to the point which is that we need to re-wild our planet or basically, by 2080, we won’t have one, and the time we do have left on it will become increasingly unpleasant.
As the movie progresses, it becomes blindingly evident how unimportant all the chittering political preeners are, and those hellbent on acquiring so-called assets and huge wealth at the expense of everything else - ridiculous really, if not downright criminal in some instances. And despite everything he knows and has experienced firsthand, or perhaps because he understands the nature of human beings, he’s kinder than most activists, and much, much wiser. What a gentleman! We need to listen to him.
I wonder if he and Edward Abbey ever crossed paths. Abbey said - “Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit, and as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilization which destroys what little remains of the wild, the spare, the original, is cutting itself off from its origins and betraying the principle of civilization itself.” He also said “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.”
I’m sure everyone who has Netflix will have seen the trailer. Worth a watch …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson