David Attenborough's film. A life on our planet.

Few days ago, when running through Netflix movies we spotted (with my boyfriend) new David Attenborough's movie. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't very familiar with his figure and accomplishments. Shame on me. It's not like I'm an ignorant, who doesn't care. The thing is I care too much, when it comes to wildlife, Planet Earth issues etc. After each article, reportage I read or documentary film I watch, I feel totally despondent. And the new David Attenborough's film wasn't an exception here. 

I don't really like the idea of writing another, rather sad post on my blog. We all face some sorts of difficulties in life and it's healthier to avoid new sources of bad emotions, right? Not sure, if there's the right answer. I also have a close friend, who constantly reads bloodcurdling reportages and she's truly sensitive (she cries frequently when reading). I guess she believes we are supposed to be aware and I hope when it comes to the Planet that's what establishes this post. Only, I feel obligated to admit (just to be fair) I'm losing my hopes for the real change of the situation.

The first part of the movie shows life of David Attenborough - witness of what we've done to the Planet through his very own life. With numbers: when he was a little boy there was over 60% of wildlife on Earth - places untouched by human; right now we got to the point of 35%. Impoverished flora & fauna are  mostly damaged by big plantations. And let's face it, much of produced food is wasted, also most of it is for feed - we breed so many animals for meat worldwide. I'm out of words to name how I feel 'it gets on my nerves', ' I'm furious'? It's just not enough, I'm on the edge of crying out of helplessness. How could we do so wrong? And what's even worse - how can we keep going?

When it comes to food the amounts we waste are just unbelievable. Yet, we sort of feel entitled to own so much, we feel careless to throw out stuff. And of course, we can do our best not to waste, or even rescue what's about to expire through apps like To Good To Go, but still there are policies which make it impossible to give the food to the poor for example. That's the issue - the regulations. The food is highly processed, packed with artificialities and cheap fillers, like palm oil. And because of palm oil plantations soon we'll loose the orangutans - we took away their natural habitat, their home. Not only, it's immoral and unethical to do so (yet we feel unpunished) it's also unhealthy as palm oil during the food making process is oxidized which leads to generation of toxicants. Palm oil is also high in saturated fatty acids, which is perfectly okay for your diet if you control the intake, which is not that easy as it's added to almost every product at the supermarket (read labels, just sayin').

The palm oil is just an example. One thing, and there are many issues we should take care of. What wasn't placed in the movie, but I feel in need of saying - even though, we produce so much food there are still people living in inhumane conditions and extreme hunger. Not to mention, they don't have opportunities for education. There's a book on this subject Hunger by Martin Caparros. It's over 700 pages of horror. What makes it so depressive is that it is really happening. I started reading it more than a year ago. I'm halfway through as it's so dejecting I can't force myself to read much of it at once. It's too heartbreaking to handle.

The second part of David Attenborough's film shows us how we still can rescue - not only the Planet, but ourselves. The ideas are brilliant and possible to happen. Renewable energy sources, plant based diet. However, I hate to say it and hope I'm wrong, we won't react on time. It seems to me that what we got to know through the movie was already acknowledged by many and for long time. We are aware and act, but what we do is so little. Many of these things are just PR movements, like 'recycled polyester in your dress' or vegan/vegetarian diet for your own health and the Planet. It's something - yes and it's good, yet it feels that we could and should do much more. I heard about renewable energy sources for the first time when I was in primary school, I believe. I'm 24 today and my country's energy from renewable sources this year is a little more than 10%. 

I'm sorry if anyone felt offended by 'we', what I meant using 'we' and 'us' was the human species. Maybe my lack of optimism is rooted in belief that effective big changes should come from the top (and I'm afraid it just won't happen, because of greed for big money and politics). Last thing, I'd like to say on the subject is that I won't stop taking care of Planet on my own little level. Even if my hopes shrink I know they won't disappear.