A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

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A Life on Our Planet is one of the best books I’ve read this year and one of the best on sustainability. I can't imagine the changes he has seen up close, the senseless destruction of our planet becoming ever more clear with each documentary series.

This book is his “sum up” or “witness statement” of all that he has experienced and learned over his 90+ years. So this is Sir David Attenborough's account of the change he has witnessed in the natural world since he was born. Then in 1952 he joined the BBC as a trainee producer, and it was while working on the Zoo Quest series (1954-64) that he had his first opportunity to undertake expeditions to remote parts of the globe, to capture intimate footage of rare wildlife in its natural habitat.For someone new to the environmental sciences, ‘A Life on our Plant’ would, I believe offer a gentle start in getting to grips with a complex topic. To quote an extraordinary and morally consistent environmental activist "it's time to start panicking" because there is still hope that we can change this. He has all the facts, and my dislike comes down to one strong and clear point: David Attenborough is not a vegan.

The series includes Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005) and Life in Cold Blood (2008).Part Two presents his view of the main environmental issues we now face, and Part Three discusses his emphasis on ‘re-wilding’ as a necessary approach to building a sustainable future. What I liked about his witness statement is that he outlined solutions, which were quite comprehensive in scope, to deal with our unsustainable lifestyles and the damage we've done to our planet. Over the last 25 years he has established himself as the world's leading natural history programme maker with several landmark BBC series, including Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984), The Trials of Life (1990), The Private Life of Plants (1995), Life of Birds (1998), Life of Mammals (2002) and Life in the Undergrowth (2005).