A Life Under Capitalism
This is the introduction to a series that will explore the environmental issues raised in David Attenborough’s A Life On Our Planet and their causes under global capitalism
David Attenborough’s most recent documentary sends a powerful message in this time of climate crisis, and it speaks to an important truth: We cannot defeat the forces of environmental degradation without also defeating global capitalism.
A classroom in the abandoned town of Pripyat
A Life On Our Planet is not your usual Attenborough production. The opening scenes shot in the ghost town of Pripyat, Ukraine, warn of a future in which our mistakes have made our world unliveable. The town, abandoned in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, is now populated only by the echoes of human civilisation - classrooms full of mouldering books, chalk equations still on the blackboards, play sets overgrown with vines and weeds. It is a powerful metaphor for humanity’s arrogance and transience.
It’s a more sombre opening than you might expect from the man who once brought the wonder of the wilderness into living rooms around the world. His message is clear: nature will always endure, but our mistakes (like Chernobyl) have the potential to wipe us out. The documentary parallels the doomed Pripyat with the collapsing natural world, as the ominous counter between scenes shows a runaway human population and atmospheric carbon increase, all while the wilderness recedes.
While the central message of the documentary certainly conveys an appropriate sense of urgency, it is wrong to suggest that the world’s environmental problems are the result of a bunch of “mistakes”. The vast expanses of monoculture, dizzying numbers of livestock and global fossil fuel industry depicted in the documentary aren’t all a “mistake”. They are undeniably the result of an expansionist, wasteful and destructive system of global capitalism.
If we are to see Attenborough’s vision of a once more flourishing wilderness, and ultimately a thriving, sustainable humanity, the path couldn’t be clearer: We must take back the reins of industry from giant corporations, break their stranglehold on politics and allow ourselves to produce, work and live for each other, not just for profits. If we can’t do this and overturn global capitalism, our greatest achievements will end up as hollow and empty as Pripyat.
More in the Life Under Capitalism series
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