Max Anderson is Senior Communications Manager at the Conservative Environment Network and Associate Fellow at Bright Blue.
During the political chaos and intrigue of last week’s local election, you would be excused for having missed Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a second to appreciate what he has achieved.
By cable, over-the-air, and now streaming, this national treasure has beamed the wonders of our natural world into our homes for generations. As well as showing the unique, inspiring, and sometimes unusual creatures that inhabit our planet, he has also been a leading advocate for revealing and reversing the destruction and decline of precious habitats and species.
In a time dominated by political division and infighting, David Attenborough has done the seemingly impossible, uniting generations and breaking through political barriers to make the protection of Planet Earth a top concern for voters.
Tackling such a monumental problem requires real, pragmatic solutions, and as Sir David hits 100, we cannot expect him to do all the hard work.
Despite the Left’s longstanding attempts to claim environmentalism as their own, with hairshirt and unserious policy solutions, we often forget it has been conservatives who have the best track record of actually protecting nature.
This is hardly unsurprising given the philosophical history of conservatism.
Prominent conservative thinkers from Burke to Scruton have outlined the importance of intergenerational responsibility, the importance of passing on what we have inherited in a better state for future generations. The natural world is an integral part of this: protecting and enhancing Britain’s green and pleasant land is something we should do for today, tomorrow, and years into the future.
But this is more than just philosophical fascination; the Conservative Party has also made good on its rhetoric. Whether it was the Iron Lady herself, bringing in the 1990 Environment Protection Act to crack down on littering and waste; or Anthony Eden’s Clean Air Act, responding to the Great Smog in the 1950s. In the 21st century, the party’s record is arguably even more impressive. Conservative governments created marine protected areas around Britain’s overseas territories in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans, safeguarding over 4 million square kilometres of ocean.
Additionally, Boris Johnson played a leading role in bringing over 190 countries together to agree 30×30, pledging to protect 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030, whilst also expanding the Ivory Act to protect more species from poaching.
Closer to home, it was the last Conservative Government that introduced the Water Restoration Fund, utilising fines from polluting water companies to clean up British waterways, and rolled out the landmark Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) to empower farmers to restore nature on the land they love and protect.
With this proud conservative record of delivering for nature, it is interesting to see politicians of other stripes attempt to claim the mantle as the party for nature.
But delivering for nature is more than warm words. You need an actual, tangible plan. You cannot, as Margaret Thatcher warned, save the environment by going back to “a sort of primitive way of life”. Economic growth, individual freedoms, and nature restoration must go hand-in-hand, otherwise you aren’t truly protecting the natural world for the benefit of both future generations, you are doing it to make yourself feel morally superior.
And this is where Labour’s approach fails badly.
The current Government has gone to war with rural communities and our natural environment. They have handicapped farmers, the stewards of our green and pleasant land, by pausing elements of ELMs and hitting farms with punitive increases in inheritance tax.
Britain is a nation of nature lovers; Attenborough has ensured this has been cemented in the public consciousness. But it is conservatives who have put words into action.
With the Greens abandoning nature to focus on the culture war and Gaza, and Kemi Badenoch leading the Conservatives on a journey of renewal, David Attenborough’s 100th birthday is the right time for the Conservatives to remember its love for nature and how restoring it should once again play a central role in the party’s offering.
Max Anderson is Senior Communications Manager at the Conservative Environment Network and Associate Fellow at Bright Blue.
During the political chaos and intrigue of last week’s local election, you would be excused for having missed Sir David Attenborough’s 100th birthday. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take a second to appreciate what he has achieved.
By cable, over-the-air, and now streaming, this national treasure has beamed the wonders of our natural world into our homes for generations. As well as showing the unique, inspiring, and sometimes unusual creatures that inhabit our planet, he has also been a leading advocate for revealing and reversing the destruction and decline of precious habitats and species.
In a time dominated by political division and infighting, David Attenborough has done the seemingly impossible, uniting generations and breaking through political barriers to make the protection of Planet Earth a top concern for voters.
Tackling such a monumental problem requires real, pragmatic solutions, and as Sir David hits 100, we cannot expect him to do all the hard work.
Despite the Left’s longstanding attempts to claim environmentalism as their own, with hairshirt and unserious policy solutions, we often forget it has been conservatives who have the best track record of actually protecting nature.
This is hardly unsurprising given the philosophical history of conservatism.
Prominent conservative thinkers from Burke to Scruton have outlined the importance of intergenerational responsibility, the importance of passing on what we have inherited in a better state for future generations. The natural world is an integral part of this: protecting and enhancing Britain’s green and pleasant land is something we should do for today, tomorrow, and years into the future.
But this is more than just philosophical fascination; the Conservative Party has also made good on its rhetoric. Whether it was the Iron Lady herself, bringing in the 1990 Environment Protection Act to crack down on littering and waste; or Anthony Eden’s Clean Air Act, responding to the Great Smog in the 1950s. In the 21st century, the party’s record is arguably even more impressive. Conservative governments created marine protected areas around Britain’s overseas territories in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Southern Oceans, safeguarding over 4 million square kilometres of ocean.
Additionally, Boris Johnson played a leading role in bringing over 190 countries together to agree 30×30, pledging to protect 30 per cent of land and sea for nature by 2030, whilst also expanding the Ivory Act to protect more species from poaching.
Closer to home, it was the last Conservative Government that introduced the Water Restoration Fund, utilising fines from polluting water companies to clean up British waterways, and rolled out the landmark Environmental Land Management schemes (ELMs) to empower farmers to restore nature on the land they love and protect.
With this proud conservative record of delivering for nature, it is interesting to see politicians of other stripes attempt to claim the mantle as the party for nature.
But delivering for nature is more than warm words. You need an actual, tangible plan. You cannot, as Margaret Thatcher warned, save the environment by going back to “a sort of primitive way of life”. Economic growth, individual freedoms, and nature restoration must go hand-in-hand, otherwise you aren’t truly protecting the natural world for the benefit of both future generations, you are doing it to make yourself feel morally superior.
And this is where Labour’s approach fails badly.
The current Government has gone to war with rural communities and our natural environment. They have handicapped farmers, the stewards of our green and pleasant land, by pausing elements of ELMs and hitting farms with punitive increases in inheritance tax.
Britain is a nation of nature lovers; Attenborough has ensured this has been cemented in the public consciousness. But it is conservatives who have put words into action.
With the Greens abandoning nature to focus on the culture war and Gaza, and Kemi Badenoch leading the Conservatives on a journey of renewal, David Attenborough’s 100th birthday is the right time for the Conservatives to remember its love for nature and how restoring it should once again play a central role in the party’s offering.