A Life on Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future

Let us begin our gentle journey with a story—one life, one planet, and the quiet power of observation. Imagine a boy cycling through the English countryside, hammer in hand, searching for fossils among ancient stones. His eyes are wide with wonder as he uncovers ammonites, their spiral forms a whisper from a world long past. These small discoveries spark a lifelong curiosity, a hunger to understand the intricate tapestry of life on Earth. As the years pass, the boy grows. He travels, studies, and learns, his path winding through wild places and bustling cities, always guided by a sense of awe. The world around him is transforming—forests shrinking, species vanishing, cities swelling. Where once two-thirds of the planet was wilderness, now less than a third remains. The air thickens with carbon, and the quiet songs of birds are replaced by the hum of machines. But through it all, the observer watches, records, and remembers. He sees not only the loss but also the beauty that endures: a gorilla’s gentle gaze, the swirling migration of wildebeest, the delicate bloom of a rainforest flower. Each memory is a thread in the fabric of our shared story, a reminder that we are both witnesses and participants in Earth’s unfolding drama. As we move forward, let us carry with us the wisdom that a single life, deeply engaged with the world, can illuminate truths too easily overlooked. The journey ahead will reveal how these changes—felt first as a whisper, then a roar—shape not only the fate of wild things but also our own. And so, with the gentle hush of the forest in our ears and the fossil’s spiral in our minds, we turn to the next chapter: the delicate balance of life, and how it begins to unravel.