David Attenborough's climate change documentary leaves viewers asking 'what are we doing to this world?!'
Sir David Attenborough's new documentary - Climate Change: The Facts - has aired in the UK, leaving many viewers with a burning question: "what the hell are we doing to this world?!" The documentary features a number of world class scientists and activists - including 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Greta Thunberg - and gives viewers insight into our world if we exceed 1.5 degrees in global warming, and if we don't make reductions in our CO2 emissions. "Right now we are facing our greatest threat in thousands of years. Climate change . At the current rate of warming we risk a devastating future," Attenborough narrated. The iconic documentary-maker and environmentalist warned, "science is now clear that urgent action is needed." READ MORE: * Young climate change activist Greta Thunberg asks Pope Francis to 'join the climate strike' * Debate over Netflix's shocking wildlife documentary - climate change or 'contrived nonsense'? * Sir David Attenborough tackles climate change in new documentary * Thousands expected at student-led climate change march through Wellington * School climate change strike: Mum supports her kids standing up for their values The documentary, which aired on BBC , put the issue of climate change in layman's terms: "our climate is changing because of one simple fact... our world is getting hotter." "We have pumped so much carbon dioxide into our atmosphere that are our world is now 1 degree Celsius hotter than it was in pre-industrial times." There is still time to hit the emergency brakes on the damage we are doing to our planet. There is still hope. Climate Change The Facts with Sir David Attenborough. Tonight on BBC One at 9pm. pic.twitter.com/afG5PMezzR The footage used and stories told affected many viewers on a personal level. "How do we look our children in the eyes and say we let this happen on our watch?" one person Tweeted. "This is so hard to watch but should be mandatory. What are we doing to our beautiful home?" another wrote. Attenborough teamed up with Thunberg, who recently took her climate change fight to the Vatican and EU Parliament , to spread awareness of the effects of climate change and how the younger generation is taking it upon themselves to fix. "My future and everyone else's future is at risk and nothing is being done, no-one is doing anything, so then I have to do something," she said in the documentary. "So I sat myself down on the ground outside the Swedish parliament, and I decided that I wasn't going to go to school." Thunberg kick-started the School Strikes for Climate protests, which have since gained momentum around the globe, most recently in Italy. The strike made its way to New Zealand earlier in the year, with thousands of Kiwi kids taking the streets in protest of climate change in a bid to help enact change in our country. The surprising rate in which the movement spread around the world even shocked Thunberg. "The first day I sat all alone. Then the second day people started joining me. "I wouldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that this would happen. It happened so fast." The documentary, which follows the recent release of his Netflix series Our Planet , highlights the effects of last year's heatwave in Australia. As temperatures rose over 40 degrees C in Australia , 11,000 flying foxes suffered heat stroke . Despite efforts by conservationists, only around 300 of the animals were able to be saved. Many viewers labelled this particular scene "absolutely heartbreaking". "I don't think I'll get that image of those poor wee bats out of my head for a long time. It's awful. We did that. People did. It's shameful," one person tweeted. Attenborough also warned viewers that climate change has the ability to "wipe out an entire species". "Eight per cent of species are now at threat of extinction solely due to climate change. "With the loss of even the smallest organisms we destabilise and risk collapsing the world's ecosystems, the networks that support the whole of life on Earth," he said. Melting ice caps , rising sea levels and coral reef destruction are also subjects of the BBC documentary. It also touches on the possible link between climate change and the deadly wildfires that swept through California last year, killing over 70 people . A number of leading climate change scientists from around the world - including Nasa's Dr James Hansen and Sunita Narain, the director general of the Centre for Science and Environment in India - also feature in the documentary. Attenborough's new documentary presented a clear message to the world: we're running out of time but we must do something. "We stand at a unique point in our planet's history. One where we must all share responsibility for the future of life on Earth."At the At the time of publishing Stuff has not been able to establish if Climate Change: The Facts will screen on television in NZ.