David Attenborough’s tragic new documentary urges people to cut down on meat consumption

A Life on Our Planet is Sir David Attenborough’s latest hard-hitting documentary, highlighting the growing climate emergency and reflecting on his seven decade long career.

The film begins with the soothing voice that we are all so familiar with, yet this time there is a sombre tone to Attenborough’s narration.

Marred with sadness and ernest, he introduces this personal and political film by stating: “I am David Attenborough and I’m 93. This is my witness statement.”

The documentary reflects on Attenborough’s extraordinary life whilst showing heartbreaking ‘before’ and ‘after’ clips of our dying planet. Orangutans are seen swinging through trees in the Borneo rainforest before the film cuts to a lonely orangutan struggling to climb up a branchless tree trunk.

Whilst the film hits us with a terrifying sense of bleakness, Attenborough reassures us that not all hope is lost so long as we commit to change. Halting population growth, refraining from eating meat and creating no-fishing zones can help to save the planet, and ourselves.

On moving away from meat consumption, he states: “We must change our diet. The true tragedy of our time is still unfolding – -the loss of biodiversity.

“Half of fertile land on Earth is now farmland, 70 per cent of birds are domestic, majority chickens. There’s little left for the world. We have completely destroyed it.”

“By 2080 global food production enters crisis, soils overused, weather more unpredictable…a sixth mass extinction is well under way. Our garden of Eden will be lost. I wish I wasn’t involved in this struggle. I wish I wasn’t there.”

Whilst Attenborough himself in not yet vegan or vegetarian, he has said that he no longer has the same taste for meat as he once had. The new documentary has also inspired many to become plant-based, including Journalist Claudia Tanner and actress Kat Dennings.

A Life On Our Planet is currently available to watch on Netflix.

Article written by Martha Moody- United Kingdom