“This is not playing games”: David Attenborough slams Australian government amid bushfire crisis
Sir David Attenborough has warned that “moment of crisis” had come, saying it is “palpable nonsense” to suggest the bushfire crisis has nothing to do with climate change.
In an interview with BBC on Thursday, the British naturalist said the Australian government’s support of coal mines suggested it does not care about the environment.
“The moment of crisis has come. We can no longer prevaricate,” said Attenborough.
“As I speak, south-east Australia is on fire. Why? Because the temperatures of the Earth are increasing. That is a major international catastrophe.
“And to say, oh, it has nothing to do with the climate is palpably nonsense.”
The current wave of Australian bushfires has burnt more than 10.7 million hectares of land, led to the deaths of over a billion animals, and is estimated to cost the country at least $4.5 billion by the end of the year in tourism losses.
The 93-year-old called for immediate action to address the urgent matter.
“We have to realise that this is not playing games. This is not just having nice little debates and arguments and then coming away with a compromise. This is an urgent problem that has to be solved,” he said.
“And what is more is that we know how to do it, that’s the paradoxical thing, that we are refusing to take steps that we know have to be taken.
“And every year that passes makes those steps more and more difficult to achieve.”
Attenborough also urged China to reduce its carbon emissions, saying he believed other countries would “fall in line”.
“We have been putting things off year after year, raising targets and saying ‘Oh well if we do it within the next 20 years...’” he said. “People can see the problem, particularly young people can see the problem, and that must force governments to take action.”
Attenborough also warned that “human beings have overrun the world” in a trailer for his new documentary David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet.
“The living world is a unique and spectacular marvel, yet the way we humans live on earth is sending it into a decline,” he said.
“Human beings have overrun the world. We’re replacing the wild with the tame.
“We need to learn how to work with nature rather than against it.”