Sir David Attenborough has urged Donald Trump not to pull out of the Paris Climate deal because of the devastating effect man is having on the planet.
Sir David, 91, pleaded with the US president, after calling for action to save ‘the future of humanity’.
In an episode of Blue Planet II – which came to an end last night – he opened up about the destructive influence of mankind on the natural world.
He described an albatross as it lay dying after its mother accidentally fed it a plastic toothpick.
Sir David Attenborough urged the US president not to pull out of the Paris Climate deal because of the devastating effect plastic is having on the ocean
Referring to the Paris Climate Agreement, the US president said at the time: ‘This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States’. The president is pictured yesterday speaking with reporters at the White House
Sir David said: ‘Let us hope that Trump will eventually recognise that the Paris Agreement was not about Pittsburgh, or even Paris, but the entire planet.’
He added: ‘Never before have we been so aware of what we are doing to our planet – and never before have we had such power to do something about it.
‘Surely we have a responsibility to care for the planet on which we live? The future of humanity, and indeed of all life on Earth, now depends on us doing so.
There are concerns that more than a million birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles die every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste
Sir David described the moment a baby albatross died after eating a plastic toothpick. Pictured: Scientists have discovered the birds are inadvertently feeding their chicks plastic
The Blue Plant crew recreated a scene where 7,000 plastic toys ended up in the water after falling from a ship during a storm in 1992
‘Plastic is now found everywhere in the ocean, from its surface to its greatest depths.
‘There are fragments of nets so big they entangle the heads of fish, birds and turtles, and slowly strangle them.
‘Other pieces of plastic are so small that they are mistaken for food and eaten, accumulating in fishes’ stomachs, leaving them undernourished.’
There are concerns that more than a million birds and 100,000 sea mammals and turtles die every year from eating and getting tangled in plastic waste.
One of the key goals of the Paris Agreement is to limit the increase in global temperatures to 1.5°C.
But Trump, who has expressed doubts that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are the prime cause of global warming, announced in June that he intended to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement and instead promote U.S. coal and oil industries.
He said at the time: ‘This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States.’
And last month it was revealed that the US president was not invited to the Climate Summit next week.
Over a hundred countries, as well as non governmental organizations, have been invited for the December 12 summit.
Sir David added: ‘Our wellbeing is inextricably bound up with the health of the oceans.’
He said ‘all is not yet lost’ and told people to ‘reduce the amount of plastic that we use in our everyday lives’.
Sir David praised countries for coming together in 2015 to sign the Paris Agreement, but added: ‘It is true that since then the United States has threatened to withdraw from that decision.’