Interview With British Naturalist David Attenborough

    • tnn
    • Publish Date: Oct 16 2017 11:38AM
    • |
    • Updated Date: Oct 16 2017 11:38AM
Interview With British Naturalist David Attenborough

If there's one thing that troubles British naturalist David Attenborough, it is the growing mountain of plastic waste, and sights like an albatross feeding its chick not food, but scraps of plastic. The scourge of plastic is a leitmotif through his latest docu-series, Blue Planet II. The 91-year-old wildlife legend spoke to Mohua Das about the threats blighting the deep seas Blue Planet II, which will air on Sony BBC Earth early next year, is a sequel to the 2001 series that explored the world's oceans.

Sir David, what worries you about the state of our oceans?
Well, there are two very obvious things.The first is the rise in temperature. We know that if it goes up by two degrees, the corals will disappear.The little polyps will shrink and get rid of their green cells and the corals will become white. When you lose the coral reef it's not just that you lose animals that live on coral, you also severely damage populations of big fish. Fish is a very important part of the human diet worldwide, and we're losing an important element in the sea which affects us directly. The other thing we're doing is polluting the sea. When I was at school, I remember the science master saying, `Boys, we used to live in the steam age, then the electricity age, but now the age you'll be living in is the age of plastics. We've gone through a lot of trouble to invent plastics that are indestructible, that won't rot or wear out. Isn't that wonderful?' And nobody said, `Yes, but what happens to the waste?' Of course, what we do now is throw thousands of tons of plastic a day into the sea where it doesn't rot. Worse, it breaks up into little fragments that are so small that they selectively absorb chemicals and poisons. So, poisons in the sea that might perhaps be harmless are selectively absorbed by these particles which fish then eat. The fish are being poisoned by plastic. Birds like the alba tross travel around the world collecting squid or fish from the surface of the sea, and then come back after three weeks to feed their nestlings and out of the beak of the mother comes not food but plastic.

Sea levels in the Indian Ocean are reportedly rising twice the global average due to thermal expansion. How can a country like India prioritise ocean conservation?
I know India has a million problems like any government has. But everyone, be it businesses or individuals, should be aware of what's happening with the environment. As a biologist I think environment should be right on top of the scale.

How can plastic waste be checked?
If science invented that thing called plastic, it ought surely to be able to destroy it in a way that is not damaging. You might say, why don't you burn all the plastic? If you burn it, it produces toxic fumes. So you have to have a device or a system, not too expensive, which could neutralise plastic and somehow destroy it. I can't believe that if you can put a man on the moon, you can't do this.

What about problems like oil spillage?
I believe we're getting towards the end of dominance of oil and into renewable power. The sooner we do the better because it's not about oil spillage but what we're doing to our heavens with carbonbased fuels.  Given a chance, nature looks after itself very well. What we can do is stop interfering with it and that's what biosphere reserves do. It's very valuable to have marine reserves but what we have to do is bring the human population to recognise the responsibility they have. The oceans are connected both at the deep and atmospheric levels. Of course you can find small gaps where you can have no shipping, hunting or fishing, but ultimately you have to care for the whole ocean.

What is the one sentiment that you wish people would have for life beneath the waves?
That we have a responsibility , every one of us. What we do here or in the middle of Asia 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 -in 500 billion years -one species has the future in the palm of their hands. I just hope they realise that.The seas are very vulnerable and essential to our future. I get a lot of letters, between 20 to 30 a day , from those who watch my nature shows and the overriding thing that people say is -with Brexit, North Korea, Trump -just to be able to look at something where human beings aren't the prime players, where there's beauty, wonder, history, biology and above all truth, that's what they want to watch when they come home at night.


More From TOP NEWS...


VRINDA P MGM Model School, Varkala, Trivandrum

good information

Prathamesh Kandale Fergusson College

Nice information!

Pandu Sree Narayana Vidya Bhavan

Good information to us




* *
* *
  • About Us








To join Times NIE please contact ……….

  • Times NIE World Awards








Why You Think India Is Great....