David Attenborough

[dementedma]

If you do one thing, watch the new David Attenborough film on Netflix - his witness statement. Make your DCs watch it. And then decide what changes you are going to make to the way you live.
It makes you ashamed to be human. But there is hope if our next generation can bring about the change we need. It’s not too late.

yes, it was excellent and I'm surprised there hasn't been more reaction to it on here, I thought it was real 'water cooler' TV
maybe because it was on Netflix?
But yes, I urge everyone to watch it and - especially- watch it to the end, it's very upsetting for about 5/6 of it but he definitely gives us reason to be hopeful at the end.
Such an amazing man, we are so lucky to have had him.

I watched it last night and found it so depressing and actually a bit terrifying. Not ideal when I have not long had a baby! Have spent today looking at electric cars and working out how big my family's carbon footprint is and how we can reduce it.

@StillWeRise
yes, it was excellent and I'm surprised there hasn't been more reaction to it on here, I thought it was real 'water cooler' TV
maybe because it was on Netflix?

O/T but this is the problem I have with online services like Netflix - they take away what could have been ‘water cooler’ TV moments because people watch at their own pace and in their own time. Compared to something like Game of Thrones or even the soaps, where everyone is watching at the same pace. If this had been on the BBC I think a lot more people would be talking about it. (Case in point - I didn’t even know there was a DA film out until I clicked on this thread).

@JumpingJamboree I watched a similar documentary when ds was 6 weeks' old and also remember feeling sad / scared. He's 2 now and I just wanted to reassure u that while I still have the odd wobble, I'm generally very happy and have learned to appreciate the good in life. Spent 18 months overhauling everything gradually so that our environmental footprint is much smaller than it was which helped me mentally. Hope you're ok

I want to watch it but are there any animal deaths/starving animals in it?

I watched it last night with my dds. We found it upsetting and inspiring at the same time.
We agreed to make a few changes to our lives which wouldn’t impact us hugely and would only make minuscule differences but every little helps.
It takes all of us making one or two changes, not one person doing everything.
The part about girls being able to stay in education being a key part to helping our overpopulated planet’s ability at stabilising itself really resonated with me too.
Another eye opener.
We are all responsible for this.
We love Attenborough ❤️

@LaurieFairyCake some really sad footage of an orangutan up one lonely tree, made dd1 cry. And near the end some sad animal deaths too.

@LaurieFairyCake there is a very disturbing scene of the walruses falling off a cliff to their deaths which is awful. But mostly its about how the world will largely be uninhabitable by 2100 if things don't drastically change now. It does perk up a bit towards the end but it has sent me (a normally very upbeat and happy person) into a complete tail spin and I haven't been able to stop crying since I watched it.

Thanks you two

I don't watch dying animals , sounds so awful

He is amazing

We all need to do more. The key to this is also overpopulation, hopefully as this is a website aimed at parents, it will make people think outside of their little bubble and preferences when it comes to make decisions about the number of children they wish to put on this planet.

@Pancakeorcrepe

We all need to do more. The key to this is also overpopulation, hopefully as this is a website aimed at parents, it will make people think outside of their little bubble and preferences when it comes to make decisions about the number of children they wish to put on this planet.

This times 100 having a child is the biggest carbon source you can make. Someone who owns a gas guzzler car and never recycles will create less co2 than a newborn baby.

What changes have you all made? Apart from not having any more babies?

I can't watch it, not right now, life is too depressing as it is. I also wonder how all our little changes will really matter when shutting most of the world down for 6 months hasn't actually impacted warming or co2 levels one jot.

We saw it yesterday and while they used some footage I had seen before, it is upsetting but also it hits home.

People do have to wake up more but also more needs to be done to make renewable energy more accessible.

@paintmywholehousepink we are a vegetarian household on the way of becoming vegan, have an electric car and are generally minimalistic in our approach. We try not to buy loads of stuff and research well before making purchases - for example, an environmentally friendly electricity supplier. Slowly stop buying things we don’t need and replacing things we do need by more environmentally friendly options. We are childfree mainly for environmental reasons. However I do not advocate people who want children to not have children of course, but to maybe have as few as they can instead of as many as they can.
There are lots of websites with little tips and information, it will be quite different depending on each person’s circumstances but every little helps.

but the shut down from covid has affected CO2 levels,
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/09/climate-crisis-amid-coronavirus-lockdown-nature-bounces-back-but-for-how-long
the question is can this improvement be sustained? and the answer is yes it can but only if the will is there
please don't think there's nothing you can do, governments and corporations respond to our votes and our spending- if you opt for carbon free energy it will become cheaper and more easily available, likewise plastic free packaging etc etc
tell your MPs and local council that you want better options for healthy non polluting travel (bike lanes, traffic free pedestrian zones, walk to school schemes)- if you don't tell them you want them they have the perfect excuse not to create them
remember, no one was ever so wrong as the person who did nothing because they could only do a little

@paintmywholehousepink we are going to have 3 meat/fish free dinners a week rather than the 1 we usually have and have made a pledge to only use the car (big diesel guzzling beast) for journeys over a mile - I usually drive to our local little sainsburys which is just under a mile for a quick top up or a last minute dinner item, now I’ll walk.
We use reusable cups, beeswax wraps, shop as much as possible at the refill shop to avoid plastic packaging, get a (low plastic) veg box, use an eco washing ball, don’t shop aimlessly and bring more ‘stuff’ into the house, shop the palm oil free versions of things as much as I can, take my lunch daily because I was going out and buying lunches in shit loads of packaging...
Probably more, nothing is a huge inconvenience and we as a family are all on board. We aren’t perfect, there’s lots more we could be doing and are always open to change but we see it as our contribution.

It was so sad. Such a eye opener. I already have children but instead of saying we cant afford anymore when people ask I am just going to say about not wanting to make the carbon footprint any bigger. I think that I am so horrified by it already and I dont even have a large family!

You scared the shit out of me with that thread title I thought he’d died

We watched it too, and I wasnt shocked, but it did remind me that this world isnt just covid. We need to think beyond, to the long term future. I have already made some changes, especially around my use of plastic, but I have let things slack over lockdown. It was when he talked about 2100, beyond my lifetime, but within the lifetime of my DD and my baby that is due in 3 weeks, that I really felt that jolt of shock. It needs to be a collective effort; individual, government and business. We cant let it get to the point he referenced.

I watched it last night. I cried a lot. I'm going to make the dc watch it at the weekend.

Is DA as famous in the rest of the world as he is in the UK? Do people all over the world get to see his documentaries?

I would love to watch, I really would.
I love educating my DS, but right now, I just find everything so hopeless.
I am huge on trying to be environmentally friendly. Making changes etc, but I find the changes to be made are so expensive, having hit finically hard times, it meant things like the milkman, and being plastic free, were the first to go - the next, things like compostiable dog poo bags, and beauty products that are naked, buying unpackaged fruit and veg etc, is often more expensive than buying packaged.
Such a huge sense of hopelessness right now, I feel like I'm failing having a good environmental impact so much - because its not cheap or easy to live life this way.

Its actaully adding another element of stress into my life, and the guilt of watching another documentary is almost too much if you're already knowledgeable in this area.
Even seeing threads on here with others talking about the gifts they are getting thier LO for Xmas (LOL dolls, plastic items, buying many toys for kids under 1, items posters want for thierselves) I regularly read them and wonder about all the environmental impact and where all these toys will end up - and what happened to all the school clothes, bags, toys I had and millions of other children had, when we were young? Where are all these items now.
I can go shopping and see everything on the shelves in a supermarket and think about the amount of waste going in bins daily, all around the world.
The programme being shocking is great for people who have never bothered to watch and educate thierselves, but im guessing there are people out there, like me, who are really struggling with the 'doomsday' aspect of it all....

But yes, DA is absolutely wonderful and incredible, and im so thankful for his documentaries.

Apologies for all the spelling mistakes! Im actaully really tired too!!

Saw this thread this morning and just watched the documentary. Was very good and really pulls it all together just how bad the situation is. I've been watching his series since I was a child and they were what got me interested in nature then.

As for simple steps. Using my garden for native plants, keeping areas wilder/overgrown, putting in some small native trees might be a way of giving local native creatures a place to flourish. I have a garden big enough to do this and already do to a certain extent but could do it with more thought.

I'm not a massive consumer of 'stuff' but could change my eating habits to decrease meat consumption and make sure I choose more local resources where practicable. I've already had my children so I can't help much in that regards now, except to educate them.

I work with nursery age children so I already try to encourage/develop a curiosity in plants and animals with them. I make sure they don't harm them and respect the environment creatures are living in. Also simply to touch things like mud, trees, plants, minibeasts so they have real knowledge of them, not just on screens and in books.