20111211_AM
Source: BBC1: The Andrew Marr Show
URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16130045
Date: 11/12/2011
Event: Sir David Attenborough talks about Frozen Planet and global warming with Andrew Marr
Attribution: BBC1: The Andrew Marr Show
People:
- Sir David Attenborough: British broadcaster and naturalist
- Andrew Marr: Journalist and political commentator
Andrew Marr: Let me turn, if I could, to the controversy about the global warming, um, point made. Not a phrase you use, I notice, in the script that you deliver for the final film, but nonetheless you show some pretty vivid scenes of pack ice breaking up. And there are plenty of people, as you know, out there, Christopher Booker and Nigel Lawson, others, who say "this is untrue", "this is BBC propaganda", "it's not really happening".
David Attenborough: Um, I'm - I think they mostly say "it's not man's fault". There are very few people who say it's not happening. If you go and ask people who're living up there whether it's happening or not, they don't have any doubt. There isn't any question but that the poles are warming - the North Pole is warming, the South Pole is a different thing. The South Pole is a huge icecap, miles thick, and to some extent it creates its own weather. But the North Pole... I mean, it really is quite possible that within the next 20, 30 years the North Pole in winter will remain open. And so you'll be able to sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Andrew Marr: What does that mean for the polar bears?
David Attenborough: It means extinction for - well, yes, it means extinction for the polar bears, really. But what does it - you might equally say, what does it mean for world trade? What does it mean for killer whales? Killer whales can now - will be able to go from one ocean to another.
Andrew Marr: Good news for the killer whales. At the end, you pose the question - you point out that, through the history of the planet, animals have evolved to deal with different conditions, and adapted, and you ask whether mankind can adapt to what's happening to the planet. And you leave that open.
David Attenborough: Yes, the last programme was a very, very careful statement of what we see, and what the evidence is, and the conclusions are political, to some degree.
Andrew Marr: But what - can I ask, what, therefore, you think should be done?
David Attenborough: Well, what should be done, and doing is to try and reduce the rate at which the planet warms. We aren't going to be able to stop it, that's for sure. And all we can do is to slow it down. And that's what's been going on, down in South Africa, in Durban, I mean, talking about that.
Andrew Marr: And do you think we should be looking at all the options? I mean -
David Attenborough: Every single - every single option, yes.
Andrew Marr: The geo-engineering and nuclear power stations and all the rest of it.
David Attenborough: Geo-engineering is a very difficult thing. Because what that means is that you allow one nation, or indeed one small group within that nation, to determine what's going to happen to the whole globe. That - and they may say "yes, well we are absolutely confident about the science". But what about all those other people down there who don't know about that, and then having it imposed upon them. I mean, it's a very -
Andrew Marr: Anti-democratic -
David Attenborough: - dare I use the word "fascist"?
Andrew Marr: Yeah... Yeah. What about the actual size of the earth's population? Because you're involved in the - in an organisation - the population -
David Attenborough: That's one of the basic problems. One of the reasons we are increasing so fast, is that there are so many of us. There are three times many more people on Earth than when I started making television programmes.
Andrew Marr: Mmm.