A Life on Our Planet summary

By the end of the 1970s, Attenborough’s career as a television naturalist had taken off. Life on Earth, the first series he produced after leaving his executive post at the BBC, was viewed by an estimated half a billion people around the world. The 1978 series filmed over 200 animal species in over 30 countries. It gave Attenborough an unparalleled opportunity to tell the history of life as it had never been told before – as well as to witness firsthand what was happening to the natural world. 

The key message here is: As Attenborough traversed the globe, his concern for the natural world turned to alarm.

David Attenborough is now 94 years old. He was 19 when the Second World War ended, and he began his career during the 1950s. This was a time of great optimism and technological innovation. People believed that there was no limit to what we could achieve. 

Little did we know that the seeds of our current discontent were already sprouting. The 1950s is known as the Great Acceleration. Everything we did increased exponentially – from having children to producing carbon emissions to overfishing. But there is only so much our planet can take, and any biologist will tell you how this story ends: once all the available resources are used up, there is a precipitous population decline. The next 90 years will be known as the Great Decline.

Let’s reiterate: the horrorscape described in the previous blink is an outcome nobody wants to see happen. It would spell death for many and a drastically reduced quality of life for many, many more. 

But if we continue on the path we’re currently on, the worst outcome is inevitable. Scientists have identified nine planetary boundaries – critical thresholds in Earth’s environment that allow us to lead a sustainable existence. These are: climate change, ozone layer depletion, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, fertilizer use, freshwater withdrawals, land conversion, biodiversity loss, and air pollution. 

It’s no coincidence that as the world’s biodiversity took a nosedive, the planet became increasingly unstable. Over the last decades, we’ve learned that Earth’s biodiversity and our ability to live here comfortably are inextricable. Therefore, in order to restore stability, we need to create the conditions necessary for biodiversity to return. We must rewild Earth!

The fact that no one owns international waters has meant that fishing crews have fished with reckless abandon, using destructive techniques like trawling that have obliterated habitats and caused fish populations to plummet. To stop this, we must designate all international waters as no-fish zones. This would restore the high seas to a flourishing wilderness that would seed coastal waters with more fish than they’ve had in decades.

In order to slow – and hopefully stop – the damage we’ve already done to the planet, we have to return to an older way of doing things. Rather than being apart from nature, we must return to being a part of nature. 

That doesn’t mean we have to abandon technology and live off the grid. Technology actually has a very important role to play in creating a more sustainable world.