A Life On Our Planet – David Attenborough
I’m reading this incredible biography of David Attenborough. It shows us just how much we have lost and how much more we are going to lose if we do not act.
For any deniers it should be compulsory reading.
| Year | World population | Carbon in the atmosphere in parts per million | Remaining wilderness |
| 1937 | 2.3 billion | 280 | 66% |
| 1954 | 2.7 billion | 310 | 64% |
| 1960 | 3 billion | 315 | 62% |
| 1968 | 3.5 billion | 323 | 59% |
| 1971 | 3.7 billion | 326 | 58% |
| 1978 | 4.3 billion | 335 | 55% |
| 1989 | 5.1 billion | 353 | 49% |
| 1997 | 5.9 billion | 360 | 46% |
| 2020 | 7.8 billion | 415 | 35% |
It is incredible to reflect back to times in the past and read records. Life on the planet was plentiful. What we now have are the vestiges of what was once around. We have destroyed the bulk of it.
The incredibly complex web of life is being systematically taken apart. Aspects are so interwoven and specialized, having taken millions of years to develop, that there comes a point where it all just fails.
When that happens soil becomes sterile, oceans stagnant, oxygen not replenished, climate changes and life on the planet is no longer possible – at least not as we would recognize it.
The bacteria would survive.
It would have to start all over again.
