David Attenborough in the New Scientist

"When I was at school in Leicester, I remember very well in the sixth form, the chemistry master coming in and saying “boys, the most marvellous advance has been made! Everybody thinks that you’re living in the age of steam and electricity, but you’re not. The next age has come. The age of plastic! Isn’t it wonderful! Thanks to the cleverness of the scientists who produced it, this marvellous material is indestructible.” And neither I nor the chemistry master – nor many other people, I guess – said, what happens when it wears out?

The earth sciences are the basic sciences from which we start and unless we know the processes that control Earth we aren’t going to be able to handle them.

I was educated in geology, to an extent, but when I was 16 I didn’t think about the consequences for the economy, I just wanted to know about fossils. But economically earth sciences are extremely important. We get so much from Earth, raw materials.

But having said what I just said, part of the joy of life is to know and appreciate the world in which we live in, which is full of wonder. "

The situation is becoming more and more dreadful and still our population continues to increase. It’s about time that the human population of the world came to its senses and saw what we are doing – and did something about it.

David Attenborough in 'New Scientist'

Climate Change - the Facts

David Attenborough narrated an important documentary on BBC earlier this week.
I was away and missed it, but caught up on my return.



It is available to watch for a month after the date it was first shown, as usual on iPlayer, but it would be great if it could be made available indefinitely, as many programmes are on iPlayer already. Perhaps us Geographers should politely lobby the BBC and suggest this.

Half of consumers are apparently willing to pay more to help reduce plastic waste, for example. There are plenty of recent stories.

Leo Hickman posted an image of a piece by Jeremy Clarkson in 'The Sun', which would be useful as a counterpoint to this programme, describing his thoughts on being told what to do. I grabbed it and made it into a word document.
Here's the basics from the programme:

Our Planet

"There can be no greater legacy than giving young people the tools they need to save our planet.” 

Sir David Attenborough

The new Netflix series narrated by Sir David Attenborough has been getting a lot of attention at the moment. It's superb, and I watched the first episode earlier - stunning footage as always. You can also see stories and clips from the premiere at the Natural History Museum last week, in front of the statue of Charles Darwin.

Our Planet is a reminder of what we are doing to the planet, and other plant and animal species which share it with us. The first episode starts with the sea bird colonies which depend on the Humboldt Current - which is affected by El Niño, and the sediment lost from deserts. A reminder of the importance of teleconnections.

I ordered the book, and it was delivered today, and looks excellent as well as a resource to use.
I also referenced David Attenborough in the blurb to one of my sessions at the GA Conference, which starts tomorrow evening.

The series comes with a whole range of additional materials for teachers and educators to use the series with students.
Here are the episodes and additional resources.

The People's Seat video

Do you remember David Attenborough saying this?
The People's Seat (Facebook + instagram) from Grey London on Vimeo.
Today, we saw the results The People's Seat address video from Grey London on Vimeo.