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The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in what is now Ukraine experienced an explosion on April 26, 1986, in one of its four reactors. Europe received more than 400 times the amount of radioactive material that was dispersed by the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It accumulated in the soil when raindrops and snowflakes dropped to the ground. It made its way into the food chain. Numerous estimates place the number of premature deaths in the hundreds of thousands. While the Chernobyl disaster was undoubtedly one of the worst environmental disasters ever perpetrated by humans, we are currently experiencing one that is considerably worse. And it is taking place in front of our eyes. The wonderful biodiversity of our earth is falling as a result of how carelessly we have taken our environment for granted. Although we are all responsible, it is not our fault. The earlier generations who established the harmful systems that we now take advantage of were unaware of the actual cost of their actions. The truth is, however, that we are aware. And we need to adapt. The good news is that there is still time—just a little time—to take action. In these chapters, you'll discover How recording whale songs resulted in anti-whaling legislation What the state of the world will be in 2100 if we don't take action; and Why using sustainable energy instead of fossil fuels is the most crucial thing we can do to save the environment Chapter 1 - As Attenborough aged, his enthusiasm for nature progressively gave way to worry. David Attenborough, the author, used to spend entire days riding through the countryside of Leicester, United Kingdom, in search of ammonites, which are small fossilized sea creatures that date back millions of years. The young boy's fascination with the natural world and the laws that govern it was aroused by their spirally small shells, which were preserved in time in the limestone. He eventually discovered that the ammonites had perished during the last mass extinction, which occurs when a cataclysmic event brought on by climate change causes a mass extinction of species. The 175 million-year era of the dinosaurs came to an end with the last global extinction. Since then, life has restarted into a long period of stability where people can finally grow. We were able to develop something unique—culture—unlike any other species before us. We created ever-more complex methods to make the natural environment simpler to live in thanks to culture and our developing capacity to preserve and transmit knowledge from generation to generation. A great deal of responsibility came along with this new power. In what is now the Middle East, people began growing grains and domesticating wild animals around 10,000 years ago. In the end, there was enough surplus that some individuals could exchange their crafts for food rather than spend the time to grow them. This marked the start of civilization. Every improvement these sophisticated cultures made, however, was dependent on one factor: environmental security. Attenborough realized that this stability was in danger for the first time in human history as his career at the BBC, which he had joined in 1952, advanced from presenter to executive. As he traveled the globe doing natural history programs, he observed growing evidence that humans were not only affecting the planet's precious biodiversity but also causing places to completely vanish. Attenborough had the opportunity to visit Rwanda in 1978 to film mountain gorillas. What he discovered there profoundly altered his perspective. One unexpected and incredibly private meeting stands out in his memory when a large female gorilla emerged from a bush behind him and started playing with his face. When something landed on his feet, he saw that her two infants were playing with his shoelaces. These animals that resembled humans were in terrible condition. There were less than 300 people left. People have seriously damaged their habitat by removing forests to make cultivated areas. In addition, poachers were killing the gorillas and selling their severed body parts as souvenirs. This was Attenborough's first awareness that we were harming the most precious of the planet's wonders irreversibly. It was unfortunate that it wasn't his last. ​​Chapter 2 - As Attenborough traveled the world, his worry for the environment evolved into alarm. Attenborough's career as a television naturalist had flourished by the end of the 1970s. An estimated half a billion people worldwide watched the first series he produced after quitting his managerial position at the BBC, entitled Life on Earth. In more than 30 nations, the 1978 television series featured footage of more than 200 different animal species. It provided Attenborough with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell the narrative of life in a way that had never been done before and to see firsthand what was happening to the natural world. When he discovered the blue whales, the largest mammals in the world, were in danger, one of Attenborough's worst shocks occurred. One of the biodiverse places on the earth is a rainforest. More than half of the land-living species on Earth reside there, where the moderate environment of the rainforests is ideal for their survival. However, we are destroying the rainforests at an incredible rate. Two million hectares of rainforest, nearly the size of Colombia, had already been replaced by oil palm plantations by the time Attenborough traveled to Southeast Asia in 1989. Half of the world's rainforests are now extinct. The situation is not any better at the poles of our globe. The earth was one-degree centigrade warmer when Attenborough started filming Frozen Planet in 2011 than it had been when he was born. In the last 10,000 years, that is the fastest change to have occurred. The extension of summers at the poles has serious implications for the future of our planet. By burning fossil fuels, we have also contaminated the oceans. Huge volumes of carbon dioxide stored by ancient plants are released into the atmosphere when humans burn coal and natural gas. The waters get more acidic and warmer as a result, which has caused a major coral reef die-off. These reefs are essential refuges for biodiversity when they're in good health, but they're disappearing at an alarming rate right now. However, Attenborough's broadcasts have had some effect. While making Life on Earth, his crew made the first recording of a whale song. These recordings captured the attention of the general public and motivated anti-whaling activists to persuade governments to outlaw whaling. As a result, whale populations are currently recovering. But unless we take immediate, serious action, life on Earth will start to deteriorate to the point where it is irreversible. Chapter 3: Our standard of living on Earth will drastically decline if we do nothing. The age of David Attenborough is currently 94. He started his career in the 1950s when he was 19 years old, during the end of the Second World War. There was a lot of technological development and optimism during this time. There was a mindset that said there was no ceiling on our potential. We didn't realize that the seeds of our current discontent were already beginning to sprout. The Great Acceleration occurred throughout the 1950s. From having children to releasing carbon emissions to overfishing, everything we did expand enormously. However, there is a limit to how much our world can bear, and any biologist will tell you how the narrative ends: there is a sharp fall in population after all the resources are used up. The Great Decline will span the following 90 years. Just ten years from now, in the 2030s, the Amazon rainforest will be destroyed because it can no longer produce sufficient moisture in its canopy to nourish the rain clouds. The destruction of the enormous rainforest would cause unexpected flooding, water contamination, and wildfires throughout South America, and there will be a catastrophic loss of biodiversity. Reduced natural carbon capture due to fewer trees will exacerbate the rate of global warming. In the Arctic, where global warming will accelerate, the first summer without ice will occur in the 2030s. The white ice typically bounces the sun's light back into space. The natural air conditioner of the globe is shut off when there is no ice. The Arctic permafrost will melt in the 2040s, resulting in enormous landslides and floods. Permafrost also holds large amounts of carbon gas, which is another substance that is kept hidden away along with the water. Up to 1,400 gigatons of carbon will be released into the atmosphere when the permafrost thaws, starting a carbon leakage that will never stop. By 2050, 90 percent of all coral reefs will be destroyed because of ocean acidification. Additionally, fish populations will decline, which would finally spell the end for the fishing sector. However, there will be a danger to food production on land as well as in the ocean. Due to depleted soil and insect die-offs, food production on land will be in danger by the 2080s. Things will be so horrible by the year 2100 that a significant portion of the global population will be required to emigrate. The world's average temperature will have risen by 4°C, and many of our cities will have become unlivable as a result of rising sea levels. With a mean temperature of 29°C (heat found today only in the Sahara), more than 25% of the population will have to endure this. Nobody desires this to occur. Therefore, how do we stop it?