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.

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.

Its about cherishing the woodland at the bottom of your garden or the stream that runs through it. It affects every aspect of life.

You have to steer a course between not appalling people, but at the same time not misleading them.

I don't run a car, have never run a car. I could say that this is because I have this extremely tender environmentalist conscience, but the fact is I hate driving.

You can only get really unpopular decisions through if the electorate is convinced of the value of the environment. That's what natural history programmes should be for.

I'm not a propagandist, I'm not a polemicist; my primary interest is just looking at and trying to understand how animals work.