Sir David Attenborough Has Made Big Changes to His Diet Over the Years — Is He Vegan?

Environmentalist Sir David Attenborough has received quite a bit of attention over the years, thanks to his work contributing to Mother Earth. His work has helped so many of us better understand life on Earth, as well as its vast ecosystems, but this love of animals has fans wondering about Attenborough's dietary habits. Is he further helping the cause by abiding by a plant-based — or mostly vegan — diet?

Although Attenborough does what he can to better the planet, he doesn't follow a strict vegan, or even vegetarian, diet. However, in a recent interview, he said that his current eating habits are much more planet-based than they used to be.

"I have certainly changed my diet," he stated, while speaking with Good Housekeeping in October 2020.

"Not in a great sort of dramatic way. But I don't think I've eaten red meat for months. I do eat cheese, I have to say, and I eat fish. But by and large I've become much more vegetarian over the past few years than I thought I would ever be," Attenborough continued.

Additionally, in his book A Life On Our Planet: My Witness Statement and a Vision for the Future, Attenborough discusses how important it is to keep in mind all the damage that people are doing to the planet. He acknowledges it's easy not to think about it considering that everyday life seems to be moving along fine. But it's been shown that if more people were vegan, it would have a positive impact on the Earth.

Luckily, Attenborough doesn't believe all is lost, and there are still things we can do to positively impact the planet despite all the damage. In his book, he says even though we have to act now, there are lifestyle changes we all can make that don't involve living completely different lives.

For one, Attenborough suggests growing gardens that not only attract wildlife and insects, but don't use insecticides or other chemicals. This is meant to help new ecosystems develop in that natural space. This is what he calls "re-wilding."

Although re-wilding may be difficult for some, Attenborough urges us to take on the challenge because we've already done so much damage to the planet. In his interview with Good Housekeeping, he discussed the negative impact we've had on coral reefs that have been dying over the years because of climate change.

"It can survive under some circumstances, every now and again," Attenborough said in the interview. "But if it happens frequently, then it can be permanent and the loss is not only of the reef but also the reefs serve as nurseries for oceanic fish."

Overall, Attenborough hopes we can at least lessen the huge amount of greenhouse gasses that enter the atmosphere. Ideally, we would move away from fossil fuels to more renewable sources of energy.

"The bizarre thing about that is that all the technology is there, all the science is there. We know the engineering part of it, but it is putting it into action," Attenborough said in the interview.

Needless to say, even though he isn't vegan, we appreciate everything Attenborough continues to do for the planet.