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2018 UN Climate Change Conference - Climate change is humanity's greatest threat in thousands of years. This stark warning was voiced by Sir David Attenborough at the 2018 UN Climate Change Conference.

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The People's Seat -

The world-renowned naturalist and veteran broadcaster was delivering The People’s Seat address during the opening of the conference in Katowice, Poland on December 3, 2018.

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"Disaster" - "Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale. Our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate change," he said.

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Representing the world's people - Attenborough was chosen to represent the world's people, effectively acting as link between the public and delegates at the meeting.

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Call to action - "If we don’t take action, the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon," he emphasized.

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"Act now" - "The world's people have spoken," he added. "Their message is clear. Time is running out. They want you, the decision makers, to act now."

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Climate change is happening - This wasn't the first time the naturalist has spoken up in defense of the environment. He has previously urged countries to sign up to a global scheme to make clean energy cheaper than fossil fuels, and has warned the Earth is in danger from climate change.

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An animal lover - "I'm not a propagandist, I'm not a polemicist; my primary interest is just looking at and trying to understand how animals work."

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The Attenborough childen - David Attenborough was born May 8, 1926, one of three sons. He is pictured, center, in 1937 with older brother Richard (right) and younger brother John. Richard would later become a famed actor-director, and John a car executive.

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Clare College, Cambridge - Fascinated at an early age by wildlife, David Attenborough would go on to study geology and zoology at Clare College, Cambridge. He is pictured in 1956 introducing an audience of schoolchildren to a capybara at the Royal Geographical Society.

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Teaching royalty - Attenborough joined the BBC in 1952 and by 1954 was presenting 'Zoo Quest.' Here he is with a young Prince Charles and his sister, Princess Anne, meeting Cocky the cockatoo during an episode of the program.

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BBC Two - 'Zoo Quest' was a great success and ran from 1954 to 1963. Between broadcasts, Attenborough produced other documentaries and also lectured. In March 1965, David Attenborough became the new controller of BBC Two.

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'Civilisation' - Throughout the 1960s, he commissioned a varied portfolio of programs. These included the groundbreaking documentary series 'Civilisation,' and Alistair Cooke's 'America.'

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'Life on Earth' -

Resigning from the BBC, Attenborough became a freelance broadcaster and began to plan the natural history epic 'Life on Earth.' The wildlife series was broadcast in 1979 and became a major international success.

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'The Living Planet' and 'Trials of Life' -

Five years later, a follow up series, 'The Living Planet,' was aired. 'Trials of Life,' screened in 1990, completed the original 'Life' trilogy.

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'Life on Land' -

In 2008, 'Life' documentaries filmed between 1987 and 2008 were released together in the box set 'Life on Land.'

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Author - Attenborough is pictured attending a signing session for his book 'Life on Earth' in London. The book was originally published in 1979 to accompany the documentary series of the same name.

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Writer and narrator - As a writer and narrator, Attenborough collaborated on numerous BBC wildlife documentaries throughout the 1970s, '80s, and '90s. He later narrated 'The Blue Planet' (2001) and the HD-shot 'Planet Earth' (2006).

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Environmentalist - By the turn of the millennium, Attenborough, a conservationist by nature, began to adopt a more overtly environmentalist stance.

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Scientific evidence -

He drew on scientific evidence and conducted interviews with leading academics for 'State of the Planet' (2002). Similarly, 'Are We Changing Planet Earth?' and 'Can We Save Planet Earth?' (both from 2006) addressed the issues of climate change. "There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it," he said at the time.

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'How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?' - The documentary 'How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth?' (2009) highlighted alarming population growth. "All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people and harder—and ultimately impossible to solve—with ever more people," commented the naturalist.

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What about the children? - "The question is, are we happy to suppose that our grandchildren may never be able to see an elephant except in a picture book?"

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"Change" - "Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics."

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The natural world - "Either we limit our population growth or the natural world will do it for us, and the natural world is doing it for us right now."

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Opinionated - "I'm against this huge globalization on the basis of economic advantage."

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In touch - "Being in touch with the natural world is crucial."

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Social comment - In a 2013 Daily Telegraph interview, Attenborough said: "What are all these famines in Ethiopia? What are they about? ... They're about too many people for too little land. That's what it's about. And we are blinding ourselves. We say, get the United Nations to send them bags of flour. That's barmy."

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A moral question - "It's a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species."

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A world treasure -

"If I can make programs when I'm 95, that would be fine. But I would think I'll have had enough by then."

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Recent work -

The last few years have been great professionally for Sir David Attenborough. He picked up Primetime Emmys in 2018 and 2019 for Outstanding Narrator, 'A Life on Our Planet' the book and documentary (Netflix) were released in 2020, and he's marked his presence at several important events, including the UN Climate Change Conference UK 2020.

See also: Celebs who champion environmentalism

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