Crisis could make world see sense, says Attenborough
THE pandemic has swept the problem of climate change from the front pages and made the issue feel as if it is in “the distant future”, Sir David Attenborough has said.
Appearing on the So Hot Right Now podcast, Sir David, 94, suggested the virus could make the world see that “survival depends on cooperation”.
He said: “The trouble is that right now the climate issue is also seen as being rather in the distant future because we’ve got the virus to think about.
“And so what are the papers full of? The virus. Quite right, that’s what I want to know about, too.
“But we have to make sure that this issue, which was coming to the boil with the next COP meeting in Glasgow, has suddenly been swept off the front pages. We’ve got to get it back there.”
Sir David was referring to the COP26 international climate talks, due to take place in Glasgow in November but postponed due to the pandemic.
Asked whether he saw a solution to the decreased awareness of climate change, he said: “No, if I knew that, I would be a dictator but I’m not.
“I don’t know, we – you and me and lots of others like us – have got to keep going on about it but the clock is ticking. The danger of the Arctic and the Antarctic warming is becoming greater day by day.”
Sir David told podcast hosts journalist Lucy Siegle and film-maker Tom Mustill: “What the result of coronavirus is going to be, I don’t know. But I’m beginning to get a feeling that for the first time the nations of the world are beginning to see that survival depends on cooperation.
“If that happens, that’s going to be a first in human history.”
Sir David also praised climate activist Greta Thunberg, 17, for galvanising youth and following the science, saying: “I think she’s very remarkable [and] extremely well informed.”
Sir David is the first guest to appear on the So Hot Right Now podcast, about communication and climate change.
His episode will be available from tomorrow on all podcast platforms.