A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

Attenborough expands on the tipping point (see Index of Terms) that appears to be on the horizon. If humankind does not come up with an actionable plan of global reach, the consequences will be disastrous. The last wild places might be overrun or uninhabitable due to climate change. He attributes this to what is called the Great Acceleration (see Index of Terms), the unprecedented growth of material wealth, human populations, and technological advancements that has marked the period from after World War II until the present day. Clearly, he argues, this continuing explosion of human populations and of accumulation of wealth is unsustainable. Instead, an equilibrium must be reached; a recognition of the planet’s boundaries—how much human life and development it can sustain—is necessary if the worst results of the Anthropocene are to be counteracted.

He discusses the work of Earth system scientists Johan Rockstrom and Will Steffen in showing the nine planetary boundaries that provide critical thresholds for human development. That is, humanity must keep the planet within these boundaries in order to ensure that life can continue to flourish. He writes: “We have already pushed through four of the nine boundaries,” including increasing levels of pollution; turning wildlands into farmlands; warming the earth; and triggering massive losses in biodiversity (111).