The 93-year-old said he feels blessed to be able to keep working, and to have lasted long

enough to see a rising environmental consciousness. ‘Young people see things very clearly.
And they are speaking very clearly to politicians,’ he said in the interview. “They [people
under 18] may not have the vote … but it’s their world that’s coming along and they want to
make it clear to the politicians that they know that. ADVERTISEMENT ‘If they just sit on the
sidelines, and [debate] in a nice, reasonable way, you know, they’ll say, ‘oh kids’. But if they
actually do something in the way that they have been doing in this era, then politicians have
to sit up and take notice.’ A living treasure (Picture: Instagram The BBC presenter said: ‘You
can say, “It gets you nowhere, just stopping the traffic”. But it gets you notice. People listen
to what you say. And that you’re important. ‘And they are important. They are the people
who are going to inherit the mess that we’ve made.’ ‘The world is sick, we really have to do
things about it. And there’s no more time for argument,’ he said. Attenborough’s words of
praise for the youth come amid intense criticism for teenage activist Greta Thunberg after
she delivered a passionate speech at the UN Climate Action Summit. The 16-year-old
Swedish campaigner was mocked by Donald Trump, to which she responded perfectly by
making his words her Twitter bio, and was accused of being ‘melodramatic’ by Piers Morgan.
Greta has tirelessly pushed for climate action (Picture: EPA) David was damning in his
assessment of political inaction, especially singling out Australia in regards to the Great
Barrier Reef and the construction of new coal mines. He argued that politicians can carry the
public with them on taking action on climate change because it is in their interests ‘to appeal
to what people think is right.’ “Do you think it’s right that we go on destroying the natural
world?’ he said. ADVERTISEMENT He also made an economic argument for action: ‘We
have to convince bankers and big business that, in the end, the long-term future lies in
having a healthy planet. And unless you do something about it … you’re going to lose your
money.’ David is currently working on a new BBC documentary for 2020 called Extinction:
The Facts, which looks at what mass animal and plant extinctions mean for humanity.
MORE: SHOWBIZ Denise Welch shares heartbreaking video during ‘mild episode of clinical
depression’ On questions about his own mortality he said he hoped his death wouldn’t be
‘tiresome for others’. ‘I hope it won’t be painful.’ On life after death, he remains agnostic. ‘I
am quite sure that the mechanism by which this world has become populated with all these
different species of animals and plants we understand pretty well now,’ he said. ‘Whether
you say that means that God doesn’t exist is another question. ‘It may be that there is an
overall creative spirit that we don’t know about. I have no idea. And whether it’s a life after
death, I have no idea.’ Got a showbiz story? If you've got a story, video or pictures get in
touch with the Metro.co.uk Entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk,
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