Thursday 23-01-2020 - 16:35

On Wednesday 22 January 2020 five representatives from UKSCN and SOS-UK were invited to the House of Lords for an evening with Sir David Attenborough on the topic of Hopes and Fears for the Planet.

 

The event was held as part of Peers for the Planet, a new cross-party initiative to bring together members of the House of Lords to put the climate emergency at the top of the political agenda.

 

Sir David has inspired a huge number of people across the world to connect with nature over the last 50 years through his documentaries and broadcasting on the natural world. More recently, his documentaries have shown viewers the devastating effects of the climate and ecological crisis on our planet, and many of you will remember how Blue Planet II galvanised the nation to take action on single-use plastic in 2017.

 

In the lecture Sir David expressed his gratitude for young climate activists like Greta Thunberg for triggering a ‘tipping point’ in changing opinions on the climate. He also highlighted that the time to talk about the issues is now over, and that the COP26 climate change negotiations in Glasgow this year will be crucial to our future. Sir David also highlighted the huge human and societal costs to ecological disasters like the current Australian bushfires, as well as touching on other issues relating to climate justice with the need for countries like the UK to lead by example and recognise our position in a global solution.

 

Both SOS-UK (and NUS) President Zamzam Ibrahim and UKSCN activist Joe Brindle were able to ask Sir David questions as part of the audience Q&A, and we were lucky to able to meet Sir David after the lecture to introduce ourselves and let him know all about our Teach the Future campaign goals.

 

We hope that this lecture with Sir David, as well as the continued work of Peers for the Planet, will inspire the Peers to consider helping us make our parliamentary reception on 26 February 2020 a success, and support us in getting our Teach the Future bill focused on educational reform to reflect the climate crisis on the statute book.