Hooray for David Attenborough

David Attenborough is having a profound impact on our civilization’s understanding of the impending environmental collapse and the imperative to take action before it’s too late (happy 93rd birthday, btw!).  The s0-called Attenborough Effect is causing things like a wholesale reduction in plastic pollution around the globe.  

Of course, this raises the question: Why David Attenborough? Yes, he’s a wonderful and profoundly accomplished human being whose celebrity greatly improved the odds, but it makes one wonder about the mysterious forces that determine who goes to the top and how all this happens. Barack Obama is a good example of this.  Yes, he’s highly intelligent, articulate and personable, but what propelled him out of obscurity to be a two-term president of the U.S.?  Obviously, a lot of this is timing, as shown by the ascendancy of the man who followed him.  Try to imagine a liar, racist and con artist becoming president at any time other than the present.  Scratch that. Don’t waste your time.  It’s impossible.

One thing’s  for sure: having one’s name enshrined in the popular lexicon with the word “Effect” after it doesn’t happen every day.  Yet regardless of its cause, Attenborough most certainly deserves our respect, admiration, and gratitude.