Sir David Attenborough is mostly known for his educational shows about the way planet Earth works. His works are usually found on the BBC, including Life on Earth and Blue Planet, Planet Earth and more. Many of Attenborough’s nature TV documentaries have won him worldwide acclaim.
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What has David Attenborough done?
Attenborough has used his documentaries to warn the world about our ‘last chance’ to change the way we treat our planet to prevent climate change from irreversible damage, which could lead to natural disasters. He advocates for a no-waste lifestyle, whether that be energy, food or plastic.
Attenborough has also written numerous books on nature, including A Life on Our Planet (2020). Many of his books are to educate people on nature as well as wildlife and ways to protect our planet from irreversible damage due to climate change.
You can watch Attenborough’s latest nature documentary Our Planet (2019) on Netflix.
Read more:
Animals are evolving to cope with the climate crisis
The surprising consequence of climate change on the human body
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Why was he nominated?
So what is the exact reason why David Attenborough was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize? Well to answer that, he was nominated for his ‘efforts to inform about and protect Earth's natural diversity, a prerequisite for sustainable and peaceful societies’ according to Norwegian Green Party leader, Une Bastholm.
David Attenborough isn’t the only person who has been nominated for this award for the same reason. Indeed, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarus’ opposition leader, who is currently in exile in Vilnius has also been nominated.
Surprisingly, Pope Francis has also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to help solve the climate crisis, as well as his work towards peace and reconciliation.
Past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize include Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai ‘for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education’ in 2014 and Barack H. Obama ‘for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples’ in 2009. You can find the full list of winners here.