Sir David Attenborough:
Here there's virtually
no water at all.
So it seems really --
-- The blue whale.
Today is my 89th birthday
and to my very considerable
surprise I find myself in a
place that I've never been
to before and which it is a
great, great privilege to
visit -- the White House.
Mr. President, this
is a great honor.
The President:
It is my honor.
It's wonderful to see you.
Thank you so much
for taking the time.
Come on.
I grew up on some of
your programming and --
Sir David Attenborough:
Really?
The President: Of course.
Sir David Attenborough:
(laughs)
The President: And the --
since I grew up in Hawaii.
Sir David Attenborough: What
a great place to grow up.
The President: You know, I
had a natural affinity for
the outdoors and
an appreciation --
Sir David Attenborough: -- A
lot of underwater swimming?
The President: Oh yes.
Let me backtrack
for a second.
How did you get
interested in nature
and wanting to record it?
When you think back after
this storied career, what
is it that led you to such
a deep fascination with how
the natural world worked?
Sir David Attenborough:
Well, I've never met
a child --
The President: --
Who's not fascinated?
Sir David Attenborough:
Who's not interested
in natural history.
So, the -- I mean, just
the simplest thing --
a five-year-old turning over
a stone and seeing a slug,
you know, and says,
"What a treasure.
How does it live?
What are those
things on the front?"
The President: Yeah.
Sir David Attenborough:
Kids love it.
Kids understand the
natural world and
they're fascinated by it.
So the question is,
how did you lose it?
The President: So you
just never grew up?
Sir David Attenborough:
How did anyone lose the
interest in nature?
The President: Yeah.
Sir David Attenborough: And
certainly I never lost it.
The President: Yeah.
Sir David Attenborough: But
if you do lose it and I
imagine there are lots of
other attractions that can
make, divert your
attention you've lost
a very, very
great treasure.
The President: You know,
growing up in Hawaii, it
was one of the things that
taught me not only to
appreciate nature but also
that you had to care for it.
And, because we spent so
much time outside and
I think there was part of the
native Hawaiian culture that
is true of many native
cultures -- the sense of
needing to care for the
environment that you're in
-- that sometimes we lose
when we live in big cities.
The interesting thing is
though, my daughters I find
-- Malia and Sasha, they're
16 and 13 now -- they're
much more environmentally
aware -- this generation --
Sir David Attenborough:
I believe that.
The President: -- than some
previous generations.
They do not dispute, for
example, the science
around climate change.
They think it's
self-apparent that we've got
a problem and we should be
doing something about it.
Sir David Attenborough:
Yeah, yeah.
I absolutely agree.
The letters I get, they
bring tears to the eyes from
kids of all ages and
the young people.
They care.
They know that this is the
world that they're going to
grow up in and they're going
to spend the rest of their
lives in.
The President: Right.
Sir David Attenborough: But
I think it's more idealistic
than that.
They actually believe that
humanity -- human species --
has no right to destroy
and despoil regardless.
The President: Right.
Sir David Attenborough:
They actually feel
that very powerfully.
The President: They do.
What do you think are
some of the most stubborn
misconceptions about nature
that lead us not always to
get out in front
of these problems?
Sir David Attenborough: I
think what is required is an
understanding and a gut
feeling that you understand
that the natural world is
part of your inheritance.
The President: Right.
Sir David Attenborough:
This is the planet
on which we live.
It's the only one we've got
and we've got to protect it.
And people do feel that
deeply and instinctively.
It is, after all, the
natural world is where you
go in moments of celebration
and moments of grief.
It is the greatest
propensity to humanities
own feeling for himself,
itself, herself, ourself.
The President: Right.
The knowledge that well, you
know, if you think about,
you know, in all the world's
religions, you know, when
you're seeking wisdom --
you're seeking to hear God
-- you're in the desert or
you go to great waters or
you go up to great
mountain peaks.
You know, recapturing that
sense of wonder and the
amazement of the natural
world and its powers.
You know, that's what speaks
to what's deepest in us and,
you know, the -- what's
critically important is
making sure that
we're passing that
on to future generations.
You know, you and I, we've
been blessed to be able to
see it and experience
it and be moved by it.
And I want to make sure
that my daughters and their
children are experiencing
that same thing.
