This week I watched A Life on Our Planet which shows David Attenborough’s past explorations and experiences of the wilderness. During his explorations, Attenborough has seen first-hand the monumental scale of humanity's impact on the environment. In his documentary, Attenborough states there is nothing to restrict our growth and unless we restrict ourselves, we will consume the whole planet. We have already overfished 30% of fish stocks to critical levels, cut down over 15 billion trees each year, reduced freshwater populations by over 80% and replaced half of the world’s fertile land with farmland. What I found alarming about these statistics is that they are all linked to agricultural activity and increased food consumption.
Attenborough gives many solutions to restore biodiversity by improving our agricultural procedures and changing our consumption patterns. This included creating no-fishing zones to restore fish stocks, radically reducing the area needed for farming by adopting the sustainable Dutch farming model, halting further deforestation for farmland and reducing meat consumption.
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