There is no Planet B

2020. The year that changed it all. For all of us, it is etched in our collective memory for a very different reason. But something else happened that year that is etched in ours.

In 2020, Sir David Attenborough’s feature documentary David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet was released on Netflix. It opens in the abandoned city of Pripyat, within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

The documentary opens in the abandoned city of Pripyat within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. In the opening scene, Sir David stands inside a ruined, glass-strewn building in Pripyat. The site is a profound reminder of yet another human-made disaster that left an area completely uninhabitable for humans. It is a sad symbol of how brazenly we destroy things forever.

And yet the ending scene of the documentary could not be more lifting. The camera pulls back to reveal that over three decades without humans, the abandoned zone has blossomed into a thriving dense forest and a sanctuary for wild animals like wolves, deer, and rare horses. 

Watching that scene, we felt grateful for Mother Nature’s extraordinary resilience. And, somewhat darkly, we felt happy that even if mankind were ever erased from the face of the Earth, life would continue. This beautiful planet would go on without our follies, our stupidities, our blunders, our insatiable greed, our egos, our mountains of trash, and our complete disrespect for nature.

But even in that despondence, hope finds its way back.

When we see a majestic mountain, hike through a dense forest, watch a beautiful sunset, or are simply surprised by a beautiful sparrow that has flown into our balcony to regale us with her sweet song, we become hopeful.

Hopeful that we can fight back before we decimate ourselves from the face of the Earth.

Hopeful that we can learn to coexist with nature.

Hopeful that we can build a sustainable relationship between humans, progress, and nature.

Hopeful that we can clean up our mountains of trash.

Hopeful that we can grow more forests.

Hopeful that we can make our rivers and oceans free of pollutants.

Hope that we can use our wisdom, imagination, and all the intelligence we are building to once again become a species that is in balance with nature. 

Unlike some people who want to look for a planet B, for us there is no Planet B. There is only A and it’s this very earth. And it is worth fighting for. Worth saving. Worth handing on to the generations that come after us.

That is why our mission at NoPlanetB Media is to fan that hope.

To imagine a future where technology, policy, business, and people work together to regenerate, not deplete, the Earth. To tell stories and bring ideas that turn awareness into action, and optimism into progress. To prove that a better future is still within reach. And, most importantly, to inspire people to build it.

Because there is no Planet B.

There is only this one extraordinary, fragile, beautiful planet we call home.

And as Sir David rightly said, “If we take care of nature, nature will take care of us.”

-Team NoPlanetB Media