David Attenborough’s radical new documentary - Extinction: The Facts

In a new BBC film, David Attenborough lays out just how perilous the state of nature really is, why this matters for everyone who shares this planet, and what needs to change. It takes a different tone to previous documentaries, in that it shows the honest truth of habitat loss and the destruction that humans are causing across the planet and calls for major changes in the way our economies work with a greater focus on both planetary boundaries and addressing global inequality. The film makes clear the negative impact that species loss has on humans.

“Everything is joined up, from a single pond to a whole tropical rainforest” says Kathy Willis professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford. “We tend to think we are somehow outside of that system. But we are part of it; and totally reliant upon on it”.

The potential link between the drivers of biodiversity loss and emerging diseases is explored in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

So what does this mean for local authorities? Well, as many councils have declared climate emergencies and some, such as Bristol have also declared ecological emergencies, having such a powerful and poignant documentary broadcast on the BBC helps to steer and drive public opinion and action towards the agenda. David Attenborough is a well know figure and is widely considered to be a national treasure. In this agenda, having powerful figures to communicate the message to the public is vital, therefore local authorities can use the messages in the documentary within their own comms, to relate to the actions in their climate and/or ecological emergency action plans.

It is, of course, important to retain a positive and optimistic approach to instil hope. However, the severity of the situation is also an important and powerful message to drive action. This documentary is impressively radical in this regard and helps to get the message across to the public that we need major changes in the way our economies work.