The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has officially recognized the British television personality Sir David Attenborough as a champion of the Earth. The natural history icon is the fifth person to receive the award for lifetime achievement.
For decades, Attenborough has narrated nature documentaries using his signature soothing tones. Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Life on Earth and Our Planet are some of his most famous films. He has become a leading advocate for protecting the natural world and has criticized world leaders for their lack of action on climate change.
The UNEP's most prestigious honor, the Champions of the Earth Lifetime Achievement Award, was given to Attenborough in a video interview on April 21. The award has been won by environmental justice advocate Robert Bullard and Indigenous rights defender Joan Carling.
The love story between humans and nature has been documented by Sir David Attenborough, and he broadcasts it to the world.
Humans are destroying our perfect planet.
Attenborough has been in TV for almost 70 years. He is the only person to have won awards for black and white, color, high-definition, 3D and 4K. He has kept up an amazing pace of work despite being nearly 96 years old.
The British Antarctic Survey named its new state-of-the-art research vessel in his honor, though the top vote-getting name wasBoaty McBoatface.
In recent decades, Attenborough has used his unique and highly recognizable voice to speak up about a number of environmental issues, including climate change, and campaigning for renewable energy and climate action.
The collapse of our civilization and the extinction of a majority of the natural world if climate change continues is what David Attenborough warned of at the UN climate conference in Poland.
He asked world leaders at the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, "Is this how our story is due to end?". A tale of the smartest species doomed by that all-too-human characteristic of failing to see the bigger picture in pursuit of short-term goals?
The UN has a vital role to play in addressing environmental degradation and climate change, despite the lack of action from many world leaders.
The world needs to get together. The problems can't be solved by one nation, no matter how big that nation is, according to the video as he collected his new award. Unified action is all we lack.
Scientists warned in the latest report from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that it is either now or never to tackle climate change.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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