Natural world can provide ‘joy and solace’ in times of crisis, says David Attenborough
Nature can be a source of “comfort” and “solace” in times of crisis, said Sir David Attenborough.
In an interview with Big Issue magazine about the climate, the 93-year-old naturalist said the world is experiencing an “unprecedented situation”.
He said: “In times of crisis, the natural world is a source of both joy and solace. The natural world produces the comfort that can come from nothing else. And we are part of the natural world.
“If we damage the natural world, we damage ourselves.”
Humans are the only species with “anything like the power” they have over the natural world, he said, and added: “There is nothing remotely like the situation we’re in at the moment.
“There’s no moral to be taken from what happened in the past. We’ve got a completely blank sheet of paper in front of us.
“The plain fact is that every mouthful of food you eat comes from the natural world. There’s no food that nourishes you that doesn’t come from the natural world. Every lungful of air that you take is refined by the natural world, oxygen breathed out by plants,” Mr Attenborough added.
“If you can’t breathe and you can’t eat, you don’t exist.”
But there was cause for hope in children, he said.
“Kids these days are knowledgeable, aware of what’s happening, and are concerned. They are vocal. I haven’t know a generation of children that could be placed alongside these today.”
Mr Attenborough was interviewed by Big Issue before the UK went into lockdown earlier this month.
He said: “Problems are short-term and long-term… the short-term we deal with and the long-term ‘we’ll do tomorrow’. But tomorrow never comes. And then suddenly we discover it’s too late.
The full interview is in the current edition of Big Issue, which can be accessed via subscription as vendors are unable to sell on the streets due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Reporting by PA
