(Credit of Featured Image to the BBC)
Wild Isles is a documentary presented by David Attenborough, a world famous and beloved environmentalist focusing on biodiversity, nature, and our ecosystem. This documentary is solely focused on the British Isles and the animals and plants that live here. Documentaries like Wild Isles and Blue Planet need to go to steeper lengths to avoid showing the vast amounts of plastic in the oceans, or how species are affected by human waste and global warming. Thankfully, this has been included in Wild Isles to demonstrate how much the human world is affecting nature. One particular episode we would like to highlight is ‘Saving Our Wild Isles’ which can be found on the ‘extras’ tab on the Wild Isles menu on BBC iPlayer . This episode showcases the unfortunate truth of the rapid decline of our indigenous species. A quarter of our mammals are at risk of extinction, as well as a third of bird species, and insect decline is now at a whopping 60% (we also have a link to a podcast on invertebrate species decline in our LinkTree.) Documentaries like this are becoming a key asset in portraying the state of the planet to the wider public in an accessible way.
Although this series has now finished, the importance of its message is still just as essential as the day it was released. In today’s fast paced internet culture, it is easy to forget or move on from media or events that are months old – especially in social media. Documentaries like this are so important to watch, you can access it on BBC iPlayer. It does a great job of raising awareness to the shocking state of nature in the UK.
In our industry, this sharp decline in biodiversity is unfortunately already well known. However, the story isn’t all doom and gloom. At Arkwood, we always incorporate eco friendly practice wherever possible, as the vast majority of our work is closely linked with nature. Designing for nature in urban spaces is key as our cities and towns rapidly expand. This can be done by planting native and pollinator friendly species in parks, safeguarding trees, using eco-friendly and sustainable materials, and ensuring there is adequate greenspace for growing urban areas. We all need to try and do whatever we can to help in this crisis. Let’s start by educating others about biodiversity collapse and climate resilience. Small acts can go a long way.