Attenborough: I’m more hopeful about the planet

SIR David Attenborough often appears despairing about the future of the planet – but yesterday he said he feels ‘more encouraged’ than he has for a long time about our attitude to the natural world.

The 91-year-old broadcaster said he has witnessed a ‘worldwide shift’, particularly in China and the US.

‘I spend a lot of time wringing my hands and saying how dreadful it is, that this forest has been obliterated and that sea has been polluted and whatever,’ he said at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

‘But there are signs of hope ... certainly in Europe, certainly in China, which we never thought was concerned before, and there are people … who care about the wilderness in the United States.’

Sir David will return for another BBC series later this year, Blue Planet II, and his comments suggest the tone might be more positive. ‘We’ve also got to remember that there is joy and delight, and beauty and pleasure, and excitement about the natural world,’ he said.