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David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

thetimes.com

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Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#11

Post by create-username »

malux85 wrote: post #4

Nobody sees how the story ends

Our generations of the last 10,000 years are seeing how the story decays.

When the food supply was abundant, families would jog every day doing BBQ every night hunting down mammoths

We have become red in tooth and claw. At the summit of civilisation, we are alienated with our screens, licking frozen TV dinners in our shared flat while we work hard to support our landlords

Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#14

Post by antithesizer »

abbadadda wrote: post #9
bayarearefugee wrote: post #2

I think that not seeing how the story ends will be a blessing in disguise. (I do not share his optimism that we fix this, the forces of Line Must Go Up are going to win... at least until we all rapidly lose)

“No one cares about the bomb that didn’t go off.” - Tenet Preventing “bombs” from going off is not rewarded. And indeed the Line Must Go Up Crowd is reliant upon someone else fixing the problem while they get theirs. But when the majority think that way we’re f**ed.

The bombs not dropped here today remain available to be dropped elsewhere tomorrow, so perhaps we shouldn't pat ourselves on the back just yet.

Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#16

Post by Silhouette »

None of us see the end of the story but I do fear that the story could change when we inevitably lose a passionate advocate in Sir David whose credibility on this issue has been unchallengeable.

I take some comfort from the younger generations who are now growing up with a much greater awareness of the natural environment and the damage we humans can do to it and a much lower tolerance for political sophistry and capitalist all-about-the-money "ethics". With the selfishness of politics in much of the world today I think things will probably get worse before they get better. I still hope that we won't cross any points of no return as those younger people gain influence and those of older generations who are not always as enlightened and concerned as Sir David also leave us.

I think those younger generations will have better chances if there is a highly visible advocate for protecting the natural world for ordinary people to coalesce around. I don't know who the next David Attenborough could be. Perhaps one of his final gifts to humanity can be helping to find and establish the profile(s) of natural successor(s) who can carry on his work.

Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#18

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

bayarearefugee wrote: post #2

I think that not seeing how the story ends will be a blessing in disguise. (I do not share his optimism that we fix this, the forces of Line Must Go Up are going to win... at least until we all rapidly lose)

My theory: The forces of Line Must Go Up are going to keep winning. Mitigating the impact of climate change will be part of Line Goes Up. Whether it will be cheaper or more expensive than avoiding it in the first place will remain to be seen (but won't really matter in the end), but we will be facing whatever impacts we will be facing, and we will face them, and we will deal with them.

If you have any doubt, look at how the Netherlands dealt with storm surge.

Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#19

Post by placatedmayhem »

hammock wrote: post #17

I’m confused. We are beyond the point of no return when it comes to global warming. Hasnt he already seen how the story ends?

The narrative climax to the human story around climate change has yet to happen. Assuming we continue on the current trajectory, expect riots and wars over food and clean water, possibly more.

Re: David Attenborough at 99: 'I will not see how the story ends'

#20

Post by hermitcrab »

I watched David Attenborough's recent film 'Ocean' on a big screen. The footage of bottom trawling was really shocking. I don't understand how that has been allowed to continue in UK coastal waters, let alone to be subsidised in marine protected areas. Madness. It's like napalming a forest to get a few deer. Thankfully things may be changing:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-proposes-to-ex...

Don't know how much of that was due to the film.

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