Sir David Attenborough: humans become a "plague on the Earth"

[mark at tlio.org.uk]

Sir David Attenborough warns that humans are 'a plague on the Earth'
The 86-year-old broadcaster said the negative effects of climate 
change and population growth would cause disaster within next 50 
years.

22/01/2013
Ref: 
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/sir-david-attenborough-warns-that-humans-are--a-plague-on-the-earth---110250496.html


Sir David Attenborough has warned that the human race has become a 
"plague on the Earth".

The 86-year-old broadcaster said the negative effects of climate 
change and population growth would cause disaster within next 50 
years.

He told the Radio Times: "It's coming home to roost over the next 50 
years or so. It's not just climate change. It's sheer space, places to 
grow food for this enormous horde. Either we limit our population 
growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world 
is doing it for us right now.

"We keep putting on programmes about famine in Ethiopia - that's 
what's happening. Too many people there. They can't support themselves 
- and it's not an inhuman thing to say. It's the case.

"Until humanity manages to sort itself out and get a co-ordinated view 
about the planet, it's going to get worse and worse."

Sir David is a patron of the charity Population Matters, which aims to 
limit population growth through programmes such as contraception 
drives.


Sir David, whose landmark series are being repeated on BBC2, also said 
that his style of presenting would soon be extinct.

He told the magazine: "I'm not sure there's any need for a new 
Attenborough. The more you go on, the less you need people standing 
between you and the animal and the camera waving their arms about.

"It's much cheaper to get someone in front of a camera describing 
animal behaviour than actually showing you (the behaviour). That takes 
a much longer time.

"But the kind of carefully tailored programmes in which you really 
work at the commentary, you really match pictures to words, is a bit 
out of fashion now... regarded as old hat."