We are a plague on the Earth.

Nature isn't positive in that way. It doesn't aim itself at you. It's not being unkind to you.

The whole of science, and one is tempted to think the whole of the life of any thinking man, is trying to come to terms with the relationship between yourself and the natural world. Why are you here, and how do you fit in, and what's it all about.

I don't think we are going to become extinct. We're very clever and extremely resourceful - and we will find ways of preserving ourselves, of that I'm sure. But whether our lives will be as rich as they are now is another question.

Steve Irwin did wonderful conservation work but I was uncomfortable about some of his stunts. Even if animals aren't aware that you are not treating them with respect, the viewers are.

I'm swanning round the world looking at the most fabulously interesting things. Such good fortune.

I'm not an animal lover if that means you think things are nice if you can pat them, but I am intoxicated by animals.

Dealing with global warming doesn't mean we have all got to suddenly stop breathing. Dealing with global warming means that we have to stop waste, and if you travel for no reason whatsoever, that is a waste.

Well, I'm having a good time. Which makes me feel guilty too. How very English.

All our environmental problems become easier to solve with fewer people and harder - and ultimately impossible to solve - with ever more people.

Being in touch with the natural world is crucial.

People talk about doom-laden scenarios happening in the future: they are happening in Africa now. You can see it perfectly clearly. Periodic famines are due to too many people living on land that can't sustain them.

I'm against this huge globalisation on the basis of economic advantage.

I can mention many moments that were unforgettable and revelatory. But the most single revelatory three minutes was the first time I put on scuba gear and dived on a coral reef. It's just the unbelievable fact that you can move in three dimensions.

There are some four million different kinds of animals and plants in the world. Four million different solutions to the problems of staying alive.

I've been to Nepal, but I'd like to go to Tibet. It must be a wonderful place to go. I don't think there's anything there, but it would be a nice place to visit.

We really need to kick the carbon habit and stop making our energy from burning things. Climate change is also really important. You can wreck one rainforest then move, drain one area of resources and move onto another, but climate change is global.

It's a moral question about whether we have the right to exterminate species.

People are not going to care about animal conservation unless they think that animals are worthwhile.

There is no question that climate change is happening; the only arguable point is what part humans are playing in it.

Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics.

Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?

An understanding of the natural world and what's in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment.

If I can bicycle, I bicycle.