Why David Attenborough is the doomsayer we still adore | Rebecca Nicholson

Ever eager to get the message out about climate crisis, the 94-year-old environmentalist joined Instagram last weekDavid Attenborough must be the only person who can appear on national television to tell us that we are all doomed, probably past the point of no return, that species are dying and the climate is boiling over and yet everybody still loves him. "Unfortunately, you're all done for," is what I took from his programme Extinction: The Facts on BBC One earlier this month; still, didn't it feel nice to hear it from a national treasure?Similarly, the words "this is my first time on Instagram" are not always a reason for optimism, but Attenborough joined the platform on Thursday, at the age of 94, and as a result he began trending on Twitter. (I have said it before, but when a certain name trends, it can provoke a brief moment of anxiety; in this case, it caused a sharp and thankfully unnecessary intake of breath.) In his first video, which is racking up likes more quickly than a picture of an egg, the presenter doubles down on his Extinction message, using a new platform to impress a sense of urgency to a presumably younger audience. "As we all know, the world is in trouble," he explains, sombrely, promising to post more videos with suggestions of what we might do about it. It will all accompany his new film, A Life on Our Planet, in which he will dangle a glimpse of hope. Continue reading...