Play Book Tag discussion

A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future by David Attenborough - 4* - My Review

This book is David Attenborough’s memoir of his life as a documentarian and naturalist who helped put natural history on the roadmap of popular culture. He also presents a great many options for increasing biodiversity, which he concludes is the key to ameliorating the pending climate disaster. He presents evidence for his conclusions, and it is compelling. He also explains actions already taken in some countries that are proving effective.

At age 94, he has seen many changes in his lifetime. He cites statistics on population growth, concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and percentage of remaining wilderness. It will be evident to the reader that population and greenhouse gases have increased, and wilderness areas have decreased significantly. These stats are quoted from 1937 to 2020. It is easy to see the trends when examined in discreet measurements, which is an effective method of proving his points.

He discusses reasons for our current situation, such as overfishing, deforestation, receding coral reefs, and extinctions of species. We are now in the Anthropocene, where our world is primarily influenced by the actions of humankind. He projects (decade by decade) what will happen in the future if we do not act and offers suggestions about what we can do.

He believes we must restore its biodiversity and “re-wild” the world. He explains that we must return to the philosophy of being part of nature, not apart from nature, and provides a plan for achieving a sustainable future. The earth’s flora and fauna have an innate ability to regenerate, when provided the opportunity. He recognizes the economic factors that tend to drive the plundering of Earth’s resources and proposes ideas for taking the value of increasing biodiversity into the equation.

The narrative is clearly and insightfully written. The first half is mostly his memoir, and the second provides a list of actions. He suggests that we can avoid a sixth extinction if we have vision and discipline, along with international cooperation. Attenborough has experienced many changes in his nine decades, and it is wonderful to see a book that does not dwell entirely on the negatives but offers real solutions.

PBT Steeplechase Earth Day - tagged "climate"x63
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

and tagged "earth" x9:
https://www.goodreads.com/work/shelve...

BWF April Extra A - fits letter, not tag