"Attenborough: Climate is changing"

BBC News Online
24 May 2006
11:51 GMT 12:51 UK Wednesday

Naturalist Sir David Attenborough has said climate change is the biggest challenge facing the world. The veteran broadcaster said scientific data clearly showed that climate change was now beyond doubt. Sir David, 80, added that everyone had a responsibility to change their behaviour, including being less wasteful and more energy efficient. It is the first time Sir David has voiced his concerns in public about the impacts of global warming. His comments come ahead of a two-part BBC series in which he examines the impacts of global warming on the Earth.

 


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"If we do care about our grandchildren then we have to do something"
Sir David Attenborough

"If you take one moment in time, you can't be sure what the trend is," he told the BBC.

"Now... when we look at the graphs of rising ocean temperatures, rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and so on, we know that they are climbing far more steeply than can be accounted for by the natural oscillation of the weather."

Sir David, whose distinguished broadcasting career spans more than half a century, says everyone has a responsibility to act: "What people (must) do is to change their behaviour and their attitudes.

"If we do care about our grandchildren then we have to do something, and we have to demand that our governments do something.

His comments came as a UK parliamentary body, the All-Party Environment Group, issued a report labelling the government a "climate laggard" for its record on reducing emissions.