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Dial C for climate crisis – but unless we answer the call, even Sir David can’t save us

The latest advice on climate change – like the many warnings before it – says humanity is on a suicidal path to self-destruction. But nobody seems to hear the bells, writes Rebecca Levingston

Aug 11, 2021, updated Aug 11, 2021
Sir David Attenborough's many warnings about the destruction of our planet have fallen on deaf ears. (Image: BBC)

Sir David Attenborough's many warnings about the destruction of our planet have fallen on deaf ears. (Image: BBC)

I have Sir David Attenborough’s home phone number.

I remember the first time I called him years ago, he answered the phone repeating back the digits of his home number. Old school landline response. I loved it.

I was calling to record an interview with him about a show he was touring around Australia. He sounded, well, exactly like David Attenborough. Crisp and considered with his unique documentarian pauses between sentences.

I dared not interrupt his raspy voice and judicious word choice, so I could soak up his emphasis on certain syllables. It was like he was narrating the conversation. What a thrill.

I recall him saying he was happy to be coming back to Australia and sadly I’ve forgotten much of the rest of the interview but I always remember how he answered the phone repeating those digits.

As a kid, I liked the way different families would answer their landline. This generation of children probably won’t be taught a particular greeting for the family phone because it won’t exist. Much like some of the animals Sir David has studied.

“Hello Rebecca speaking!” That’s what I was taught.
“Levingston residence!” Some families would say their surname when they picked up.
And some households would answer by repeating the phone number in full like the Attenboroughs.

These days you’re lucky if someone answers a landline call. The world used to be a bit more phone friendly. Times have changed. Bit like the climate.

A few years after that first phonecall, I dialled again to ask if Mr Attenborough might comment on the imminent approval of a large thermal coal mine in Queensland, given his concerns about the Great Barrier Reef and climate change.

Considering I cold called him, he was exceedingly polite and listened as I outlined the situation. He hesitated, then thought for a moment, but decided against speaking on the record.

He was only home briefly between trips to South America or some other exotic destination. He was so polite, verging on apologetic, very British. The mine got approved.

Again this week, I considered dialling the world’s greatest natural historian to ask what he thinks of the behaviour of a certain group of animals. Humans. Unique in their intelligence and apparent civilisation but unable to stop heating up the planet.

The world’s most rigorous scientific minds have concluded that within 10 years, global warming will regularly wreak havoc on humanity. So now what?

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Could most Australians be bothered glancing at the IPCC report? What’s that acronym stand for? Something to do with climate change. Isn’t it extraordinary how as a species humans have evolved to virtually ignore life-threatening evidence?

The latest report is a “code red for humanity”, according to the secretary-general of the United Nations. “The alarm bells are deafening and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet.”

Fires, floods, droughts… blah blah blah.
Sea level rises, heat waves yada yada.

You know the lingo. Death, carnage, devastation and a perilous future for our children.
We’ve been hearing it for years. It washes over like a Queensland beach being slowly eroded. Why doesn’t the world respond with urgency? Isn’t it disturbingly, dangerously odd?

What a peculiar beast the human being; the more clever we become, we still choose money or convenience or perhaps it’s just apathy brought on by a sense of powerlessness.

What does Sir David Attenborough think? He’s been studying baffling animal behaviour for most of his 95 years. He’ll never come to Australia again. He’s all but given up flying, noting the conflict between his emissions and his environmental message. So a phone interview might be the only option to get his view.

Perhaps I’ll give him a call.

Why though? What’s the point? I know what he’s going to say. You know what he’s going to say. Every leader in the world knows he’s going to agree with the experts. The scientists who’ve been gathering evidence, warning about more extreme weather and pointing directly to the cause. They’ve been sounding the alarm for years. It’s getting louder. Who hears it?

It’s like a phone ringing that gets ignored. Eventually the person on the other line just hangs up.

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