David Attenborough Gives Stark Warning in New BBC Climate
Change Special
Olivia Rosane Apr. 19, 2019 06:41AM EST CLIMATE
Beloved nature broadcaster Sir David Attenborough narrated a
BBC documentary on climate change Thursday that Guardian reviewer Rebecca
Nicholson said aimed to encourage action around climate the way that
Attenborough's Blue Planet II galvanized the world against single-use plastic.
The hour-long program, called Climate Change—The Facts,
marked Attenborough's strongest warning to date on the dangers posed by global
warming, BBC News reported.
"In the 20 years since I first started talking about
the impact of climate change on our world, conditions have changed far faster
than I ever imagined," Attenborough said in the film. "It may sound
frightening, but the scientific evidence is that if we have not taken dramatic
action within the next decade, we could face irreversible damage to the natural
world and the collapse of our societies."
The program looked at the impacts of climate change, showing
footage of people fleeing wildfires in the U.S. and highlighting how sea level
rise is forcing the residents of Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana to leave
their homes. It also spoke to scientists studying ice melt in Greenland and
Antarctica.
"In the last year we've had a global assessment of ice
losses from Antarctica and Greenland and they tell us that things are worse
than we'd expected," University of Leeds Prof. Andrew Shepherd said.
The documentary was also upfront about the role of the
fossil fuel industry, Nicholson wrote, explaining that it was the most
profitable business in human history and that its companies consulted with the
same people who advised the tobacco industry in order to develop PR campaigns
that spread doubt and slow down action.
The program also proposed solutions, such as renewable
energy, carbon capture technologies and political action.
The documentary featured 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta
Thunberg, whose one-person school strikes for climate action sparked a global
youth movement, Newsweek reported.
"My future and everyone else's future is at risk and
nothing is being done, no one is doing anything, so then I have to do
something," Thunberg said.
The program aired in the UK as the fourth day of Extinction
Rebellion protests blocked busy streets in central London. The combination of
the headlines generated by the protesters, who want the UK government to reach
net-zero emissions by 2025, and the Attenborough program, worked to increase
media coverage of climate change in the UK, The Guardian reported.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário