“I’m affluent enough to afford free-range, but it’s a middle-class hypocrisy,” the veteran broadcaster said while admitting to occasionally enjoying it himself.

Sir David Attenborough has classified eating free-range meat a ‘middle-class hypocrisy’.

In an interview with Radio Times, ahead of his new documentary, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet, which premieres in cinemas on Monday 28^th September, the veteran naturalist also indicted himself as being a member of this hypocritical group.

While the 94-year-old confessed to occasionally enjoying meat, although he couldn’t recall the last time, he ate it, he said: “I eat fish, and chicken, and my conscience does trouble me.”

He added: “Human beings have overrun the Earth.

“The planet can’t support billions of meat eaters. If we all ate only plants, we’d need only half the land we use at the moment.”

“I’m affluent enough to afford free-range, but it’s a middle-class hypocrisy.”

‘Apocalyptic consequences’

The broadcaster, who has spent six decades in travelling the globe to highlight the plight of the environment and its beings minced no words when he admitted that his generation has ‘really muffed it’ as far as protecting the planet is concerned and in the wake of coronavirus the   ‘consequences could be apocalyptic.’

He stressed that ‘humanity is at a crossroads’ with the world facing a serious threat and the time has come for the world’s richest nations, who have taken a lot from the natural world to put aside ‘national interest’ and address climate change with greater internationalism. 

‘Internationalist approach’

“[The] Covid-19 pandemic has caused, and will continue to cause, immense suffering. If there is hope that can come out of it, then that may arise from the whole world having experienced a shared threat and found a sense that we are all in it together,” he said in a statement ahead of the movie’s launch.

“The time for pure national interests has passed. If we are to tackle climate change, enable sustainable development and restore biodiversity, then internationalism has to be our approach.

“In doing so, we must bring about a greater equality between what nations take from the world and what they give back. The wealthier nations have taken a lot and the time has now come to give.”

Sir David Attenborough’s film will premiere in U.K cinemas on September 28 for one night only and will then launch on Netflix globally on October 4.

• Read: David Attenborough’s new film urges the world to ditch meat and go plant-based to save planet

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Mohsina Dodhiya

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