Sunday Times Green

I recently watched a couple of episodes of Our Planet, the Net­flix nature documentary series presented by that most eminent of narrators, Sir David Attenborough, and I was struck by two things. Firstly, it’s impossible not to be gobsmacked by the scenes these documentary wizards manage to create – every shot that captures an impossible moment is both the triumph of planning and patience and a work of art.

Secondly, I ‑ find myself reflecting on the changing tone of Attenborough’s narration over the many years I’ve listened to his voice, both comforting and full of authority. Where once such documentaries were simply full of astonishment at the natural wonders existing around us – increasingly pushed to the fringes of our lives – now every excerpt carries a sober warning about the dangers these wonders face. Our comfort food now comes with a health warning: we have consumed too much and continue to consume too much of this world and the plants and animals that ‑ ll it with life and balance its delicate ecosystems are paying the price.

For so long that price was abstract, something that befell those species below us on the food chain (in other words, everything), but now humans are feeling it too, and the consequences are multiplying at terrifying pace.

Producing a magazine such as this one thus feels necessary, but also like holding up a dam wall with a matchstick. Sustainability cannot be an ancillary consideration in our lives; every one of us needs to rethink the assumptions upon which our lives are built – and change them.

Because, ultimately, it’s not just our planet after all.

Anthony Sharpe, EDITOR