David Attenborough - Richard Dawkins - Richard Leakey - Jane Goodall Debate on how we should tackle the issue of saving our own planet. For education and awareness purposes only.
Towards the end of the debate I became more optimistic about our plight. Then I saw it was made in 2005 & realised we're in an even more worse state now than we were then, which only goes to show, we will only change things when it is far too late!
Actually, things are getting better. Green energy is spreading like crazy, electric cars are becoming more and more popular. Every other house on my street has solar panels. My neighbor just had them installed. I see Teslas and Chevy Volts replacing gasoline cars on my street, even though oil is cheaper than ever! The Tesla Supercharger close to my house, is packed all the time. It has a line of Teslas waiting.
Necesity (can't be bothered to spell it right) is the mother of invention. I've also found that when people are left to their own devices they will always try to find the most energy efficient way to achieve their goals. This is why we as individuals and as a collective only respond to problems when they become great enough to require more energy to ignore them than to deal with them. This is the tipping point, I believe between action and inaction
lnpilot If I may be allowed Sir, your prism is rather narrow. If you care to take a more penetrating look further east and south of the planet, you'd soon see that there's cause for great concern. That's actually what this illustrious panel are telling us. By the way, how about using a bike instead of a car- even if the latter is electric.? The country I live in is 83% nuclear-powered electricity. We in the West have arrogantly imposed materialism on all parts of the world. This has bled many resources dry, and has created rampant poverty all over the world- INCLUDING our very own parts. The three basic needs of mankind are : food, clothing, and shelter. These need not be more than basic. Just a thought ...
Nick Woodruff I suggest to join kiva.org which is a nonprofit organization which provides micro loans to people all over the world. you can choose who you give your money to and what for from the list of borrowers, so you can help directly for example a family in Kenya to get solar lamps or seeds to plant or a water cleaning system or education, etc. this way you can make a change exactly where it is needed the most. then they will pay the money back and you can loan it again, so it's not charity thrown at them, but a leg up to improve their life and your money can help over and over again. of course in your own life you should do what you can not to waste resources like water and electricity, have a garden if you can even if just a small balcony one, collect your garbage selectively so it can be recycled, use clean energy if possible, vote for politicians who care about these issues and encourage the people around you to do the same.
"there are people of goodwill and altruism in the world, and there are people in important offices running the world, and the two don´t necessarily coincide" - oh yes.
When you listen to these four wonderful people, what they’ve done, are doing and hope to do, and then compare them to the people all over the globe that hold the political power, it really is very disturbing,, and probably the most disturbing thing of all is, that we elected them into that position of power............
Many thanks to whoever uploaded this. Perhaps the four finest minds in the field all agreeing in far-sighted and thoughtful ways. Particularly inspiring is Jane Goodall's global youth education programme. She's right: the fate of our planet depends on the education and empowerment of our children - however we analyse and present the issues.
The level of wisdom, compassion and class is off the charts on that panel! Talking about living legends - all national treasures of not only the UK but to the whole world. All pioneers in the field of popular science, conservation and biology/zoology - the very first advocates and communicators in the field - through the magic of television their impact children and adults alike will endure far into the future. In fact I would argue that Goodall, Dawkins and Attenborough are single handedly responsible for taking subjects such as biology from previously being considered an somewhat complex, academic subject, reserved for only the well educated - to a popular subject that captivated so many people around the world, of all ages, getting people interested in science - despite how much of a bookworm one is. That’s the power of television - and they pretty much invested the nature documentaries we know today.
Very good discussion, as you would expect from this distinguished panel. I’m also very impressed with Dimbleby! His questions, input and interventions within this company show a knowledge and intelligence that surpassed my (already high) expectation! Unfortunately though discussions like these won’t make any difference to the outcome - as a species we are just too selfish, indifferent, uneducated, and destructive.
Forget religion and particularly fundamentalism. These people understand what matters. Thank you all. I hope a sufficient number of people listen and act on this to make a difference.
It was not very long ago that all of Western Europe was under existential threat from a group that was attempting to exterminate any group that opposed it or didn't meet its standards. We tend to use the military for political bullying and cock-waving these days, but the idea of removing it entirely is extremely naive and forgetful. I'd say go the Swedish route: national service paired with neutrality, maintaining a defensive stance and a trained population with direction fitness and self-discipline without ever actually starting any trouble.
Aaaaand how is it valid that she espouse platitudes on a topic she knows exactly nothing about? btw the military uses the vast majority of its resources in humanitarian aid, (e.g. foreign aid, disaster relief, medical and food supplies etc).
Finally someone brings up the issue of over population! Cudos to David Attenborough. It's time we spoke about the elephant in the room, namely over population and all the related issues that comes with it. This is a wonderful panel of thinkers of our generation. We need more of this kind of gatherings.
Franklin MacGillacuddy At last, I've been constantly saying that having a population control would solve or go a way to solving practically every modern issue.
It's never going to happen, because we live in a culture where psychopaths prosper and end up in the most powerful positions. These people simply cannot see or care about even the future of their own children. It is a culture where successfulness is a determination of how wealthy and powerful, in the sense of controlling people and resources, is the highest position of respect. It is not capitalism itself that is the problem, but the rampant dog-eat-dog method, which is exactly the kind of environment where people who don't care about anything but their own gains thrive. We need to have more control over how powerful people can become, because it is always a bad thing to have one person running the show.
We have not got rid of slavery. It has just taken many different forms such as economic slavery, poverty, ... Our selfish gene is and will remain unchanged.
That struck me, too, but not so much for the "economic slavery, poverty." Human trafficking occurs throughout the world with dire consequences to those caught up in it.
On a panel of immense credentials, Leakey stands out as being the only person who seems to actually understand the issues at hand. Was very impressed with him.
The very best talk I have ever heard. Those amazing people put forth all the problems and ideas that need to be absorbed by humanity. Then and only then can our future have some kind of outcome that all can live a good life. All life has value....all, not only selfish humans, but all life! We must change our attitudes from worshiping money, gods and entertainment to knowledge. Dr Goodall said it well, we need to find satisfaction with less stuff and use our brains more.
I think this is a contender for one of the most important videos on RU-vid. I also think it would be a good idea for everyone with a large number of subscribers to upload it to their own channels.
Richard Leakey is a brilliant anthropologist and paleontologist who has dedicated his life to Africa in general, and Kenya in particular. He comes from a family sharing similar interests. Televised interviews seem quite rare; and I would like to see more. Thanks for a really great post. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Leakey
"The final aim of history is a crumbling field of ruins. Its final meaning is the sand blown through the eye-holes of human skulls." -- Ulrich Horstmann
I think one of the main reasons this generation, and more so the next generation will make strives towards the calculated conversation of the world's ecosystems and environments, is because intellectualism is becoming more and more fashionable and popular. This is evident in the number of scientific/informative RU-vid channels, the type of movies we produce, and the sheer number of people who are now continuing on to College/University level education. It's filtered down into nearly every aspect of the media, and the list goes on and on. We are becoming more scientifically, reasonably minded, and the prospect of degrading our environments needlessly is becoming unseemly.
Sadly I disagree. The election of that appalling example of corporate greed, who delights in sneering at intellectual thought would seem to show that the opposite is true. I hope I'm wrong.
Dude I agreed with everything Richard Leakey said. I'm not sure when this panel was held but the stuff he's saying people are starting to come around to today
These businesses only exist to fulfill the needs/desires/greed of consumers... If no-one chose to eat fast food from a ruthless multinational corporation, for example then these corporations would cease to exist, no?
So true. Mega corporations run and own this world, protected by the powerful & ultra rich. Consumers have no choices as corps continue to merge into trillion $$ companies. Doesn’t matter if one buys a different brand-it’s owned by same parent Corp until it’s a monopoly. Villagers have low carbon footprint. Who does the industrialized fishing, dredging of the ocean, building, damming rivers, reshaping the earth & sea coast for profit, harvests multi tons of human food, and finally influencing all societies into buying and living a certain way? Insatiably greedy corps.
Thank you denis for providing this program. So awestruck by the panel of personalities was almost blown away by the moment! Dare I pose the Question why do we have such crap leaders running the world. Bankers and clergy. One sells monetary slavery the other sells hope, well I tend not to go with the latter, you might as well chuck the all deck in the air and say something will clean up eventually. I'm a dower.Although I do struggle with Richard Dawkins observations at times. We're all slaves whether the price is right or not.On Cannibalism I'd like to see him trying to convince the poor African Albino that it was save to come out of hiding, and reassure the poor soul that he wasn't going to have his body parts rendered down, to add to some witches potion.Sure we would all like to be like Costa Rica. Me I'm proud to be associated with our military, they allow me to keep my head where it belongs, on my shoulders and not having to have some crazy man trying to hack it of because I refuse to acknowledge the flying teapot. Kind regards Richard.Sir David to what could one say but, you are a True Human being!, and Jane Goodall you gave the all show that wise feminine balance , and never have I forgot my wild life hero Richard Leakey.
These auditors are exceptional. Time to pay attention. Why, They have done their due diligence. They have committed their life to our cause....save our earth.
Dawkins is now one year older than 79 year-old Attenborough was at the time of this discussion (2005), and in the time passed since seemingly very little has been done on a major scale to address the grave global issues of environmental sustainability presented and addressed so intelligently by the remarkable panel. Are we as a species ever going to collectively wake up to the reality of the planet's fragile and finite state of resources we so callously exploit and reverse our destructive course of action?
The problem with these kind of personalities is that they are so specialized in what they do that it is difficult for them to make a real difference due to the lack of experience in the things that the poor or the basic person is going through for REAL...that other perplex side of the social matrix that is life these people lack from and understandably so, because to be able to really hold a firm a grasp of that you need a lifetime in itself and that is why their influence is limited and not of greatness...BUT it's always a pleasure to learn from what they know...ALWAYS! Cheers!
Your assumption that "it is difficult for them to make a real difference" due to their speciality is (with all due respect) quite an arrogant point of view, unless you have directly experienced making real differences due to your speciality. You are also coming across in your comment that people who specialize have a limited breathe of experience outside their speciality. This doesn't need to be the case and is probably not the case in most peoples lives. Your use of the term "greatness" is subjective in its context, perhaps you could do better describing what you mean in more detail. To summarize, don't underestimate people. Just trying to help. Please refrain from replying with infamitry language as I will only interpret this kind of response as your personal denial and lack of substance to back up your argument.
So carefully thought out are the arguments of all the guests. Can you imagine creationists ever having such a conversation. They couldn't even begin since they believe we "own" the animals according to their mythical "god". It's so sad. We should never believe like that. We are the keepers of the planet by virtue of our evolution.
a good example of a monetary value for preservation of nature is manta rays. there was a group of poaching fishermen who hunted them for a few hundred thousand dollars. but when they found out that conserving them would make them millions they started conserving them.
Oh Jesus, I can't believe I find this video. Dawkins, Goodall, Leakey and Attenborough. .. .. and Richard would have said, "Mm.., I think 'Jesus' is not the right word" 😂😂
One of the comments by Dawkins reminded me of something Lyall Watson said in "The Lifetide." He suggested that humans had become something akin to executives in the corporate DNA, since the dawn of the nuclear age, and could direct the advance of evolution. He also remarked that given the our recklessness he wondered if within the DNA might there be a failsafe before we blew ourselves to bits. It was perhaps 1976 when that book was released.
not a single word about reduction in animal agriculture as a good way of reducing our impact.... which is insane given that animal agriculture is the #1 reason for pollution, species extinction, and destruction of natural habitats :(
Why is the decommissioning cost never factored in nevermind the storage costs for 100 times longer than all recorded the records of our history. Nuclear power is not cheep.
I saw Mrs. Leakey died, a chain of feelings multiplied. I had learned as a kid, what she and her husband did: they worked their lives for everyone, there beneath a tropic sun. Sweating knowledge from the ground; sharing all the finds they found. Pushing back the mystery, reconstructing history, proving what but cowards dare, pooh-pooh from their easy chair. I saw Mrs. Leakey died, I lay the paper down and cried.
Great minds, great people, and great causes. But I¨m sorry, this is not a debate, they are all on the same team, all have very similar world views and are all the same age group. It would be much more interesting to have some contrast in at least one area. This is preaching to the choir.
I would like our schools could have these kind of teachers. I would bet our classes would be much more productive! Unfortunately our reality is completely different.
44:10 once again the spritely David Attenborough nails it again.....climate change...I fully support what he says, there will be a tipping point, a trigger point, a temperature point at which the system irreversibly tends toward a new set of dynamic conditions that will spell out the new environmental norm, ice all gone, savage wind and dust storms etc etc, it's impossible to say what these new conditions will be like and where they will materialize, but you can bet with all that extra heat energy in the global system weather will be more extreme in whatever direction it takes..
WOW! What a fine group of people! I'm gonna enjoy this! :D I don't mean to be rude, but I would have preferred Jons' brother David Dimbleby to have hosted this one. (much as I like Jonathon)
You can tell the discussion dates back to 2005 by hearing that Richard Leakey refers to nuclear energy as being _clean_ energy. I was quite surprised ...
The Law Nam-myoho-renge-kyo represents the identity of what some scientists refer to as the ‘unified field of all consciousnesses’. In other words, it’s the essence of all of existence and non-existence, the ultimate creative force behind planets, stars, nebulae, people, animals, trees, fish, birds, and all phenomena, manifest or latent. All matter and intelligence are simply waves or ripples manifesting to and from this core source. Consciousness (enlightenment) is itself the true creator of everything that is, ever was and ever will be, right down to the minutest particles of dust, each being an individual ripple or wave. The big difference between chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo and most other conventional prayers is that instead of depending on a ‘middle man’ to connect us to our state of enlightenment, we’re able to do it ourselves by tapping directly into it by way of self-produced sound vibration. On the subject of ‘Who or What Is God?’, when we compare the concept of ‘God’, as a separate entity that is forever watching down on us, to Nichiren’s teachings, the true omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of what most people call ‘God’ is our enlightenment, which exists nowhere else but within us. When the disciples asked Jesus where the Kingdom of God is, didn’t he tell them that it was within them? Some say that ‘God’ is an entity that can never be seen. I think that the vast amount of information that is constantly being conveyed via electromagnetic waves gives us proof of how an invisible state of ‘God’ could actually exist. It’s widely known that certain data being relayed by way of electromagnetic waves has the potential to help bring about extraordinary and powerful effects, including instant global awareness of something or mass emotional reaction. As well as many other things, it’s also common knowledge that these waves can easily be used to detonate a bomb or to even enable NASA to control the movements of a robot as far away as the Moon or Mars. However, none of this is possible without a receiver to decode the information that is being transmitted. Without the receiver, the information would remain impotent. In a very similar way, it’s important for us to have our ‘receiver’ switched on so that we can activate a clear and precise understanding of our life, all other life and what we and all else that exists truly is. Chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo helps us to achieve this because it allows us to reach into the core of our enlightenment and switch it on. That’s because the sound vibration of ‘myoho-renge-kyo’ represents the combination of the three major laws that underlie all existence. ‘Myoho’ represents the Law of latency and manifestation (Nature), and consists of two alternating states. One state of ‘myo’ is where everything in life that’s not obvious to us exists. This includes our stored memories when we’re not thinking about them, our hidden potential and inner emotions whenever they’re not being expressed, our desires, our fears, our wisdom, happiness, karma, and more importantly, our enlightenment. The other state, ‘ho’, is where everything in Life exists whenever it becomes obvious to us, such as when a thought pops up from within our memory, whenever we experience or express our emotions, or whenever a good or bad effect manifests from our karma. When anything becomes apparent, it simply means that it has come out of the state of ‘myo’ (dormancy/latency) and into a state of ‘ho’ (manifestation). It’s simply the difference between consciousness and unconsciousness, being awake or asleep, or knowing and not knowing something. The second law, ‘renge’, governs and controls the functions of ‘myoho’, ‘ren’ meaning cause and ‘ge’ meaning effect. The two laws of ‘myoho’ and ‘renge’, both functions together simultaneously, as well as underlies all spiritual and physical existence. The final and third part of the tri-combination, ‘kyo’, is what allows the law ‘myoho’ to be able to integrate with the law ‘renge’. It’s the great, invisible thread of energy that fuses and connects together all Life and matter, as well as the past, present and future. It is often termed the Universal Law of Communication. Perhaps it could even be compared to the ‘string theory’ that some scientists now suspect exists. Just as our body cells, thoughts, feelings and all else are constantly fluctuating within us, everything in the world around us and beyond is also in a constant state of flux, in accordance with these three laws. In fact, more things are going back and forth between the two states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in a single moment than it would ever be possible for us to calculate or describe. And it doesn't matter how big or small, important or trivial that anything may appear to be, everything that’s ever existed in the past, exists now, or will exist in the future, exists only because of the workings of 'myoho-renge-kyo'. These three laws are also the basis of the four fundamental forces and if they didn't function, neither we nor anything else could go on existing. Simply put, all forms of existence, including the seasons, day and night, birth, death and so on, are all moving forward in an ongoing flow of continuation, rhythmically reverting back and forth between the two universal states of ‘myo’ and ‘ho’ in absolute accordance with ‘renge’ and by way of ‘kyo’. Even stars are dying and being reborn in accordance with the workings of what the combination ‘myoho-renge-kyo’ represents. ‘Nam’, on the other hand, is a password or a key; it allows us to reach deep into our life and fuse with or become one with ‘myoho-renge-kyo’. On a more personal basis, nothing ever happens by chance or coincidence, it’s the causes that we’ve made in our past, or are presently making, that determine how these laws function uniquely in each of our lives from moment to moment, as well in our environment. By facing east, in harmony with the direction that the Earth is turning, and rhythmically chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo for a minimum of ten minutes daily, anyone can experience actual proof of its positive effects in their life. In so doing, we can pierce through even the thickest layers of our karma and activate our Buddha Nature (enlightened state). We’re then able to bring forth the wisdom needed to challenge, overcome and change our negative circumstances into positive ones. It brings forth the wisdom that can free us from the ignorance and stupidity that is preventing us from accepting and being proud of the person that we truly are, regardless of our race, colour, gender or sexual preference. We are also able to see and understand our circumstances and environment more clearly, as well as attract and connect with any needed external beneficial forces and situations. Actual proof soon becomes apparent to anyone who chants the words Nam-myoho-renge-kyo on a regular daily basis. Everything is subject to the law of Cause and Effect, so the strength of the result from chanting depends on dedication, sincerity and determination. To explain it more simply, the difference could be compared to making a sound on a piano, creating a melody, or producing a song and so on.
The core of this discussion is articulated by Jane Goodall at around 15:30 - to paraphrase her; '...'if there was one species whose disappearance would benefit all future life on earth it would be us. There is no question about that.'' This central point has been quite apparent for quite some time now.
There's more understanding of Biology in those four people alone than a good portion of the population in Southern dixie line America just think about that for a second...
The innate will to survive will keep us selfish, it takes a LOVE greater than that we have for ourselves to put anything in front of us....much like that of a mother or father. This kind of love is rare
