Look To The Stars News: David Attenborough

Lily Cole Leads Celebrity Charity Auction

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0000

As reported by Look To The Stars earlier this month, environmental media charity tve is currently running an auction featuring a plethora of celebrity items.

A dress worn by Lily Cole is the most sought after item to date in an eclectic eBay auction Bid for the future. With less than 4 days to go, the stunning Juicy Couture dress already has the top number of bids in the auction. Other celebrity donations are proving irresistible stocking fillers with Sir David Attenborough’s specially signed book topping the list, followed closely by Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Stephen Fry.

For those readers with a passion for crime novels, there’s a chance to bid for a first edition travel book by prolific author John Creasey and the invitation to have lunch with his son Richard, Chair of tve, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

‘We have been overwhelmed by all the support so far for our 25th anniversary auction. It’s all in a good cause so we are hoping the bidding wars go higher and higher!’ said tve executive director, Cheryl Campbell. ‘Other prizes proving popular include show memorabilia from Derren Brown, a once-in-a-life time holiday in Borneo and the tank top Emma Thompson wore for her role in the Hollywood blockbuster Junior.’

tve’s ‘Bid for the future’ online auction also includes:

Two VIP tickets to the UN Day Concert in 2010 in New York
A stay for two in a boutique eco-hotel in the country tipped to the be THE holiday destination of 2010 – Colombia
Family ticket to Bristol Zoo Gardens and lunch with the Director.
A vibrant designer silk scarf from Lalesso
A signed jersey and cap from India’s star bowler, Ashish Nehra

For more details and to bid visit tve.org/auction.

Celebrities Donate Items To Environmental Charity Auction

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0000

This year TVE marks its 25th anniversary as an award-winning media charity making films on the environment and development. And to celebrate, they have launched an amazing online auction.

Founded by WWF, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP} and Central Television in 1984, its original advisory panel included Sir David Attenborough, the Aga Khan and Dr Mostafa Tolba, head of the UN Environment Programme. Today tve films are broadcast in 172 countries, reaching 302 million homes via global satellite broadcasts and more than half a billion people on national, regional and local channels worldwide.

The auction launches on Thursday and includes an incredible array of items. Going under the hammer are a copy of Stephen Fry in America signed by Britain’s best-loved comic genius; a signed copy of designer, writer and television presenter Kevin McCloud’s Colour Now – to help you with those interior design challenges; the top worn by one of Britain’s most gifted actors, Emma Thompson, in the 1994 Hollywood comedy ‘Junior’; a signed copy of Sir David Attenborough’s Life on Air, telling the story of how he became Britain’s best-loved nature journalist, a signed copy of ‘Race to the Pole’, the story of Scott’s quest written by the man described as the world’s greatest living adventurer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes; a copy of ‘Trowel and Error’, signed by Britain’s favourite television gardener and presenter Alan Titchmarsh; items from actress Lily Cole; and much much more.

Bid for the Future, the eBay auction benefiting media charity tve, goes live on 5 November and lasts for ten days. For more info and to access the auction, click here.

David Attenborough Urges Family Planning

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Sir David Attenborough, Britain’s best-known natural history film-maker, has joined a campaign to encourage people to voluntarily lower the world’s population by limiting the size of their families.

Attenborough has described the growth in human numbers as “frightening” and urged environmental organisations to spell out “loud and clear” the problems caused by population growth.

Sir David, who has become a patron of the Optimum Population Trust, the leading think tank in the UK concerned with the impact of population growth on the environment, said: "I’ve seen wildlife under mounting human pressure all over the world and it’s not just from human economy or technology – behind every threat is the frightening explosion in human numbers.

“I’ve never seen a problem that wouldn’t be easier to solve with fewer people, or harder, and ultimately impossible, with more. That’s why I support the OPT, and I wish the environmental NGOs would follow their lead, and spell out this central problem loud and clear.”

Roger Martin, OPT chair, said: "We’re delighted that one of the world’s best known, liked and respected naturalists should have become our patron.

“All serious environmentalists know perfectly well that population growth, exploding in the 20th century, has been a key driver of every environmental problem. It’s a fact, not an opinion, that total human impact is the average per person multiplied by the number of people.

“Yet for far too long, governments and environmental NGOs have observed a taboo – invented in the 1980s by a bizarre coalition of the religious right and the liberal left – on stating this obvious fact. So they keep on implying that our numbers can grow forever with no ill effects. It’s a ‘silent lie’ and by encouraging us to ignore the vital need to stabilise our numbers by humane means (contraception) before nature does it for us by inhumane, natural means (famine, disease, war) this absurd taboo betrays our children.

“David’s breaking of it should embolden others in the green movement to follow suit.”

Sir David, who was knighted in 1985, is a trustee of the British Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a fellow of the Royal Society. He joins Jane Goodall as a patron of the OPT.

Scarlett Johansson And Annie Lennox Sign Oxfam's Climate Letter

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Nineteen actors, musicians and activists signed a letter drafted by international aid agency Oxfam to tackle the issue of climate change in December.

The letter was written to world leaders who attended the UN climate negotiations in Poland and urged them to lead the way and show the political will demonstrated in the face of economic crisis so that dangerous climate change can be averted.

Scarlett Johansson, broadcaster Sir David Attenborough, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo, Colin Firth, Missy Higgins, Kristin Davis, Thom Yorke, Annie Lennox, Ian McEwan, Jarvis Cocker, Bill Nighy and Gael Garcia Bernal were among the stars to put their signatures to the letter.

“It is desperately unfair that the poor should again feel the brunt, despite being least responsible,” read the letter. “Wealthy nations, who are in their advantaged position because of heavy industrialization, are the most responsible and able to lead the world in tackling climate change. This is why they must show leadership in Poland and provide solutions that have the interests of the world’s poor at their heart.”

Oxfam says climate change is already affecting the lives of millions of poor people around the world and threatening progress made in pulling people from poverty, and progress must be made to stop global warming from exceeding 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

The full letter can be read here.

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