Born on May 8, 1926, the British broadcaster and conservationist Sir David Attenborough turned 100 on Friday. Over the course of the last seven decades, Attenborough has spearheaded multiple documentaries with anything and everything to do with the natural world. Having kickstarted his career before the advent of colour television, Attenborough’s works can claim to have withstood not the test of time.

A notable advocate for addressing climate change and increased focus on awareness through education, Attenborough challenged society to rethink its relationship with the natural world. His impact, however, cannot be categorised as simply entertaining or informative; instead, it must be understood through the ethos with which he tackled his work. We explain his contribution and the impact of his work over the years.

Black and white

As the son of Frederick Attenborough, the then principal of University College in Leicester, Attenborough completed his schooling at Cambridge, where he read geology and earth sciences. He joined the BBC as a trainee producer in 1952 and quickly rose up the ranks.

By 1954, he was the star of his own docuseries, Zoo Quest, wherein Attenborough and his crew — in collaboration with London Zoo staff — visited remote locations in their search for rare animals to be carted back to London. Featuring 42 episodes across seven seasons, the programme was massively popular.

Having already established himself as a household name owing to Zoo Quest’s popularity, Attenborough found himself elevated to the position of Controller (editorial executive) at BBC Two by 1965. When the BBC introduced colour to its TV viewers in 1967, Attenborough was directly involved. By then, he already commanded a loyal following, eager to witness the newest natural (or geological) marvel he would introduce them to. In 1972, however, he resigned from his post to once again step back into the wild.

Advocacy and scientific communication

Following his BBC exit, Attenborough’s efforts to turn natural history programmes into tools for scientific communication intensified. His 1979 series, Life on Earth, is popularly credited with bringing the plight of the mountain gorilla in the public eye. At the time, the species faced an existential threat, with global numbers totalling a mere 250. The broadcast of his encounter with a family of gorillas in Rwanda triggered a historic influx of public donations and garnered attention worldwide.

By 2018, the impact was clear: census data revealed that the population of the mountain gorilla had surpassed 1,000. This prompted the International Union for Conservation of Nature to reclassify the species from “Critically Endangered” to “Endangered”. Today, it remains the only great ape species to record steady population growth.

Over time, Attenborough deepened his focus on awareness through education. In the island of South Georgia near Antarctica, Attenborough and his team captured the formative years of a King Penguin. The story was adapted into an instructional guide consistent with US National Education Science standards. The programme’s uniqueness was enhanced by Attenborough’s ability to instil deep emotional bonds vis-à-vis the scientific accuracy of such an exercise.

It was not however, until 2004, that Attenborough shifted his focus from observation to full-blown conservationist advocacy. According to climate journalist Leo Hickman, this happened after Attenborough attended a lecture at the University of Liège (Belgium) in 2004, which definitively linked human interference to climate change.

The ‘Attenborough effect’

By the mid-2010s, Attenborough’s influence had begun to translate into direct policy actions. The broadcast of Blue Planet 2 in 2017 generated outrage, owing to its focus on the presence of microplastics and single-use packaging in oceanic ecosystems. This was widely credited as the primary catalyst for the UK’s 2020 ban on plastic straws, stirrers, and cotton buds. Environmental analysts noted that Attenborough’s accessible narratives manufactured the consensus necessary for lawmakers to work towards otherwise contentious environmental targets.

This laid the ground for broader structural commitments, including international dialogues on global plastic treaties and the UK’s aggressive 25-Year Environment Plan aimed at eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Market research conducted in the months following Blue Planet 2 found a change in everyday purchasing habits. This translated into a 50% surge in online queries regarding plastic recycling and a demonstrable drop in consumer demand for single-use goods.

Criticism

Attenborough’s efforts however, have not always been without criticism. He has been called out on his adherence to the BBC’s aversion to political advocacy, which is critical to producing tangible change in the field of conservation.

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George Monbiot, columnist at The Guardian, questioned Attenborough’s commitment to the world he claimed to love. Monbiot wrote: “It is not proselytising or alarmist to tell us the raw truth about what is happening to the world, however much it might discomfit us. Nor do I believe that revealing the marvels of nature automatically translates into environmental action.”

Attenborough’s deep involvement over the decades with the BBC’s Natural History Unit has also provoked questions. In recent years, his decision to present the natural world as isolated from society has come under scrutiny, especially since it fails to account for the important role indigenous people play in the upkeep of ecological ecosystems.

Attenborough’s work cannot be measured merely by the hours of television produced. But the bond he formed with viewers helped influence environmental policy in the 21st  century and mobilised collective efforts towards preserving habitats previously ignored.