David Attenborough’s new BBC documentary The Green Planet shows plants are stranger than they first appear.
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Articles on David Attenborough
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Wildlife television as we know it was constructed around Attenborough. Take him away and the whole thing needs to be reinvented.
A conservation scientist interviewed on the programme says Sir David tells it like it is.
To be clear, I’m not advocating compulsory population control, here or anywhere. But we do need to consider a future with billions more people, many of them aspiring to live as Australians do now.
Wildlife TV producers used to think that focus on environmental issues could only be structured around doom and gloom stories – scaring away large audiences.
In showing the natural world as untouched by human impacts and shying away from recommending action, Attenborough’s latest documentary falls short of its potential.
Researchers have tracked how viewers respond to nature documentaries – and the lasting digital impression they leave.
From the hippie heaven of the 1970s to the massive mainstream event it is now, Glastonbury has always found a way to fuse popular culture with a potent political message.
The BBC’s new documentary is a great opportunity to challenge our current economic system.
If animals are dying from a human-induced threat, then surely we have a responsibility to help them.
Planet Earth II Live fuses footage from the BBC series with live orchestration. Despite some narrative flaws, it’s a stirring call to look after our environment.
Scientists have been naming species after well-known people since the 18th century, often in a bid for publicity. But the issue deserves attention – 400,000 Australian species are yet to be described.
Yet plastic itself isn’t inherently evil as sometimes the environmental benefits outweigh the costs. So how to tell good plastic from bad?
The technology underlying Bitcoin is starting to spread its wings.
As a new David Attenborough documentary examines a remarkable fossil, a leading expert gives his verdict.
My holiday to Borneo in 2004 was more than just a chance to see incredible wildlife like orangutans and pygmy elephants. It helped crystallise for me the innate nature of scientific thinking.
Packed venues, rock star status. What makes some scientists so damned marketable?
Some animals love living in the urban jungle – but they are a small minority, compared to those we risk losing to urbanisation.
There are 6,000 named dragonfly species worldwide but recently 60 new species were found showing how much more we can learn.
If it weren’t for Sir David’s enchanting work, this wildlife professor would probably be an accountant.
Top contributors
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Associate professor in Science Communication, UCL
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Associate professor, University of Sydney
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Euan Ritchie is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Professor, The University of Queensland
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Professor of International Politics, The University of Western Australia
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Senior lecturer, Australian National University
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Associate Professor, North Carolina State University
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Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of Salford
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Adjunct Assoc. Professor, The University of Western Australia
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Senior Lecturer in Biology, The Open University
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Honorary Associate in the Department of Environment, Earth and Ecosystems, The Open University
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Professor of Environmental Governance, UCL
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Professor of Conservation Science, Bangor University
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Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent University
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Senior Lecturer in Popular and Contemporary Music, Newcastle University
