September 25 (NZ Herald) – Famed naturalist David Attenborough has released another impassioned plea to save the world, and in the process shattered a record set by star actor Jennifer Aniston.
Attenborough, 94, has been warning about the dangers posed by climate change in the final years of his life and while it’s likely he won’t be around to see the full extent of its eventual impacts he’s sure they’ll be catastrophic for the Earth and its inhabitants.
He’s one of the most recognisable faces for the environment after a long and successful career as a documentary maker, but in a bid to spread his message to more people he’s joined Instagram, where he’s already racked up more than two million followers.
When Aniston joined Instagram in October last year she announced her presence on the platform with a photo of the Friends cast hanging out together, and hit one million followers in five hours and 16 minutes, according to Guinness World Records.
It might have helped that the photo went spectacularly viral after eagle-eyed audiences spotted what they thought might have been some recreational drug use on camera (but likely wasn’t).
Attenborough’s first post was uploaded a little over four hours before he passed the one million follower mark.
He appears in the one minute and 13 second IGTV video, but is not personally running the account.
He wanted to use the video to again urge action on climate change, as does the subject of his upcoming film in cinemas next week.
“I am making this move … because, as we all know, the world is in trouble,” Attenborough said.
“Continents are on fire. Glaciers are melting. Coral reefs are dying … The list goes on and on,” he added.
He said he was “tackling this new way of communication” because “we know what to do about” climate change “we just need the will”.
