A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

While Attenborough’s arguments are backed by scientific evidence and convincing examples, and his solutions to the environmental problems the planet confronts are reasonable, they face the fundamental challenge of myriad competing interests. Human societies compete for space with animal habitats, and, moreover, humans compete among themselves for a share in dwindling and inequitably allocated resources. A growing human population demands more food production, for one, which diminishes natural habitats, while the human desire for ever-increasing economic growth sacrifices both the health of ecosystems and the ethical distribution of resources among human beings themselves. Attenborough does not shy away from the moral implications of these challenges. Instead, he suggests how these competing interests can be reconciled through the understanding that the sustainability of human existence is dependent on the sustainability of the natural world. An alternative to emphasizing eternal economic growth as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the more humane—and eco-friendly—“green growth” model of development that emphasizes the dignity of people and the health of the planet over sheer profit.

Attenborough provides numerous examples throughout the book of how humanity’s needs (or desires) encroach upon the natural world and other species’ ability to flourish. For example, he cites the whaling industry as an unsustainable slaughter of whales—mostly for oil and other industrial products, but also for food—almost solely for human profit (ambergris, a byproduct of whale waste used in perfume, is extravagantly expensive, as well). “In the twentieth century,” he writes, “men killed close to three million of them,” and they “were unable to give birth fast enough to replace their dead” (63). The industry was largely stopped, however, by the efforts of conservationists, who ironically showcased the humanity of the largest mammals on Earth. Recordings of whale songs released commercially became surprising hits, unleashing “a powerful, shared conscience” among humans (64). These whales, with their “musical culture,” became potent symbols of how the human desire for profit was gutting natural resources (65). Attenborough takes pains to point out how crucial whales are to the ocean’s ecosystem as a whole: through whaling, humans were inadvertently impacting a habitat that ultimately provided many people with food and livelihoods in the fishing industry.

Attenborough also uses the example of the rainforest numerous times throughout his book. He draws the reader’s attention to the fact that rainforests are being destroyed because of humanity’s growing demand for animal protein. Deforestation occurs to clear farmland for soy and other plants that are used as livestock feed. This disrupts the ecosystem and leads to biodiversity loss. Attenborough became aware of this clash of interests early in his career. While traveling in Borneo, he witnessed a local man try to shoot an orangutan: “I turned around, outraged. Why had he done that? Apes like that, he replied, raided the crops that he grew to feed his family. Who was I to tell him that he should not do so?” (69). This addresses two challenging issues. First, when human farmland encroaches on wild habitats, there is an inevitable confrontation between the animals who depend on those habitats to survive and the farmers whose livelihoods (and/or food supplies) are threatened by those animals. Whose interest should be prioritized? Second, in the debate over whose interest should be prioritized, there is the problem of inequality among human societies: the wealthy industrialized nations often take precedence over developing, subsistence civilizations, thus replicating colonial patterns of domination.

In the first issue, Attenborough provides a couple of compelling (if controversial) solutions. Instead of relying on nature to provide all of humanity’s needs for protein, a turn toward new forms of technology and engineering can help. For example, other forms of farming like urban farming, hydroponics, and vertical farming (see Index of Terms) can alleviate the need to cultivate new farmland in the rainforest, or other wildland areas. For another solution, humanity can embrace “alt-proteins” and “clean meats” (171-72). These are meats that are either plant-based alternatives (like the Impossible Burger) or grown from cultured cells rather than raised as livestock. Both raise their own problems—the output of energy needed to convert plant materials into meat imitations; the ethical and potential health impacts of cultivating “meat” products—but they are potential solutions to a thorny, and growing, problem. He also admits that the bigger—but ultimately necessary—challenge here is to change attitudes and expectations: “To my mind, this is the second great social change that we will have to undertake over the next few decades. Along with removing fossil fuels from our lives, we will also reduce our dependence on meat and dairy” (171). Though this attitude shift might be difficult, it is the only sustainable alternative. As Attenborough makes clear, humans are just one among many, equally important animal species; thus, it also becomes clear that humanity has a moral responsibility toward curbing its own consumption—of land, of meat, of natural resources in general—for the sake of those other species.

The other challenge is to address the inequality among human societies themselves. While Attenborough does not spend as much time with this issue as he does with the environmental problems facing the planet, he does acknowledge that the inequitable distribution of resources, along with social inequality, is a problem. He recognizes that “almost 50 per cent of humanity’s impact on the living world is attributable to the richest 16 per cent of the human population” (126). Without addressing this fact, the “Earth’s finite resources” will be cause for ever-escalating conflicts among humans (128). He highlights the work of economist Kate Raworth in the construction of the Doughnut Model of society (see Index of Terms): this model emphasizes social equality and opportunity in conjunction with “an ecological ceiling” wherein everyone is entitled to equitable resources (128). This includes access to education and social services, freedom from discrimination, and an independent political voice. Thus, the goals of profit-driven GDPs are sublimated to the need for sustainable, equitable green growth—growth that does not privilege humans over the environment, or particular groups of humans over other groups.