Attenborough: Meat is putting too much strain on the planet

‘This is the only world we’ve got’

EATING meat is ‘ no longer practical’ due to the strain it puts on the planet, Sir David Attenborough has declared.

The TV naturalist, 92, said the way we currently consume food is not sustainable and slowing the growth of the world’s population is the key to saving ecosystems.

The Blue Planet presenter, who has reduced his meat-eating, said it is helpful for the environment for humans to consume less.

He insisted: ‘We are omnivores so biologically, if you could have a biological morality, you can say “Yes, we evolved to eat pretty well everything”.

‘But now we’ve got to a stage in our own social evolution in which that is no longer practical. I think actually that as you get older, you eat less meat, I certainly do. And it’s not for ideological reasons, I just don’t eat as much meat as I did.

‘And I’m bolstered in making that move by the knowledge that actually that is helpful.’

Speaking about pressures on the planet, he told BBC’s Newsnight: ‘In the long run, population growth has to come to an end. There are some reasons for thinking that will happen almost inevitably. One of the reasons that the population has increased as fast as it has is that people like me are living longer than we did.

‘But it is very alarming at the rate we’re going. It’s going to stabilise at a rather higher level than the Earth can really accommodate.’ He said he was reassured by a change in attitudes towards the planet, symbolised by the signing of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change in 2015. A total of 195 nations signed up to the UN deal committed to keeping the increase in global average temperature to below 2C compared to pre-industrial levels.

He said: ‘I suppose actually that up to five years ago I was really very, very pessimistic. The Paris Agreement seemed at the time to be at last nations coming to their senses.’

Donald Trump has pledged to withdraw from the agreement, but Sir David was doubtful whether the US would do so.

He said: ‘It is true that President Trump doesn’t go along with it. To what extent the United States is going to withdraw from it, we’ll see.’

Sir David added: ‘My suspicion is that people will realise that actually the United States’ attitude is outdated – it doesn’t apply any more – and I think that will be overcome.

‘There’s a groundswell internationally of recognising what we are doing to the planet and the disaster that awaits unless we do something. But this is the only world we’ve got.’

He also hit back after BBC4 editor Cassian Harrison said the corporation needs less ‘ white men on TV explaining things.’

Sir David said: ‘ There is a place for that sort of thing.’ He added: ‘There are some things that you do require somebody who knows about something to tell you in terms which don’t have bogus illustrations.’