Irish Examiner view: David Attenborough taught us to look at the world with tenderness

We wish a happy 100th birthday to David Attenborough, whose gentle curiosity brought us all on a journey into nature — and left a civilisation wiser than he found it. Thank you, David.

Over seven decades, David Attenborough helped shift our relationship with the natural world. Picture: Joe Loncraine/ BBC/Passion Planet/PA 

As David Attenborough reaches his 100th birthday, it is tempting to measure his life in programmes made, miles travelled, or species documented. Yet his true achievement lies somewhere deeper and more difficult to quantify.

For more than seven decades, Attenborough has fundamentally altered humanity’s emotional relationship with the natural world.