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David Attenborough urges action on plastics after filming Blue Planet II David Attenborough urges action on plastics after filming Blue Planet II
(35 minutes later)
Sir David Attenborough has urged the world to cut down on the use of plastics by “tomorrow” to curb increasing dangers to the ocean. Sir David Attenborough has called for the world to cut back on its use of plastic in order to protect oceans. His news series, Blue Planet II, is to demonstrate the damage the material is causing to marine life.
The TV naturalist told how his experience filming the second Blue Planet series demonstrated to him the threat that plastic poses to the underwater environment. Speaking at the launch of Blue Planet II, which will be broadcast 16 years after the original series, Attenborough said action on plastics should be taken immediately and that humanity held the future of the planet “in the palm of its hands”.
His comments came as he attended a question and answer session about the show ahead of its broadcast on BBC One later this month, 15 years after the original series. His comments come amid growing global calls for cutbacks in the use of plastic. Last week, the former boss of Asda, Andy Clarke, said supermarkets should stop using plastic packaging.
Asked what concerned him the most about the crew’s findings, the 91-year-old said: “Two things. One of course is the rising temperature, and particularly in the last programme it is illustrated what happens if the temperature goes up by 1.5 degrees. A Guardian investigation established that consumers around the world buy a million plastic bottles a minute. Plastic production is set to double in the next 20 years and quadruple by 2050. Around the world, more than 8m tonnes of plastic leaks into the oceans, and a recent study found that billions of people globally are drinking water contaminated by plastic.
“The second thing is plastic. Plastic in the ocean. Now, what we’re going to do about 1.5 degrees rise in the temperature of the ocean over the next 10 years, I don’t know, but we could actually do something about plastic right now. And I just wish we would. Blue Planet II will include evidence that plastic has flowed into ocean waters thousands of miles from land, and will show albatrosses unwittingly feeding their chicks plastic.
“There are so many sequences that every single one of us have been involved in, even in the most peripheral way, where we have seen tragedies happen because of the plastic in the ocean. We’ve seen albatross come back with their belly full of food for their young and nothing in it. The new series of Blue Planet has seven episodes and is expected to be a global hit for the BBC. The programme has already been sold to more than 30 countries and the first episode will air on BBC One on Sunday 29 October.
“The albatross parent has been away for three weeks gathering stuff for her young and what comes out? What does she give her chick? You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic. And the chick is going to starve and die. Attenborough said rising global temperatures and plastic were the biggest concerns for the ocean. “What we’re going to do about 1.5 degrees rise in the temperature of the ocean over the next 10 years, I don’t know, but we could actually do something about plastic right now,” he said.
“I just wish we would. There are so many sequences that every single one of us have been involved in – even in the most peripheral way – where we have seen tragedies happen because of the plastic in the ocean.
“We’ve seen albatrosses come back with their belly full of food for their young and nothing in it. The albatross parent has been away for three weeks gathering stuff for her young and what comes out? What does she give her chick? You think it’s going to be squid, but it’s plastic. The chick is going to starve and die.
“There are more examples of that. But we could do things about plastic internationally tomorrow.”“There are more examples of that. But we could do things about plastic internationally tomorrow.”
Explaining how he hoped the programme would encourage viewers to think about our impact on the environment, he continued: “We have a responsibility. Every one of us. We may think we live a long way from the oceans but we don’t. Attenborough, 91, did not specify what could be done, but cutting back on plastic packaging and plastic bags in supermarkets would be a major step.
“What we actually do here, and in the middle of Asia and wherever has a direct effect on the oceans and what the oceans do, then reflects back on us. The broadcaster and naturalist said everyone’s actions had an impact on the ocean. “We have a responsibility, every one of us,” he said. “We may think we live a long way from the oceans, but we don’t. What we actually do here, and in the middle of Asia and wherever, has a direct effect on the oceans – and what the oceans do then reflects back on us.”
“It is one world. And it’s in our care. For the first time in the history of humanity, for the first time in 500m years, one species has the future in the palm of its hands. I just hope he realises that that is the case.”
Attenborough, who presents Blue Planet II, appeared on the Q&A panel with composer Hans Zimmer, executive producer James Honeyborne, series producer Mark Brownlow and producer Orla Doherty.
The programme is a a BBC Studios Natural History Unit production and filming took place all over the world, in locations including South Africa, Egypt, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Norway. It will air on 29 October.