English subtitles for clip: File:Sir David Attenborough & President Obama.webm

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Sir David Attenborough:
Here there's virtually

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no water at all.

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So it seems really --

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-- The blue whale.

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Today is my 89th birthday
and to my very considerable

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surprise I find myself in a
place that I've never been

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to before and which it is a
great, great privilege to

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visit -- the White House.

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Mr. President, this
is a great honor.

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The President:
It is my honor.

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It's wonderful to see you.

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Thank you so much
for taking the time.

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Come on.

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I grew up on some of
your programming and --

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Sir David Attenborough:
Really?

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The President: Of course.

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Sir David Attenborough:
(laughs)

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The President: And the --
since I grew up in Hawaii.

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Sir David Attenborough: What
a great place to grow up.

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The President: You know, I
had a natural affinity for

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the outdoors and
an appreciation --

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Sir David Attenborough: -- A
lot of underwater swimming?

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The President: Oh yes.

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Let me backtrack
for a second.

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How did you get
interested in nature

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and wanting to record it?

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When you think back after
this storied career, what

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is it that led you to such
a deep fascination with how

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the natural world worked?

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Sir David Attenborough:
Well, I've never met

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a child --

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The President: --
Who's not fascinated?

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Sir David Attenborough:
Who's not interested

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in natural history.

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So, the -- I mean, just
the simplest thing --

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a five-year-old turning over
a stone and seeing a slug,

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you know, and says,
"What a treasure.

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How does it live?

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What are those
things on the front?"

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The President: Yeah.

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Sir David Attenborough:
Kids love it.

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Kids understand the
natural world and

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they're fascinated by it.

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So the question is,
how did you lose it?

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The President: So you
just never grew up?

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Sir David Attenborough:
How did anyone lose the

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interest in nature?

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The President: Yeah.

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Sir David Attenborough: And
certainly I never lost it.

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The President: Yeah.

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Sir David Attenborough: But
if you do lose it and I

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imagine there are lots of
other attractions that can

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make, divert your
attention you've lost

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a very, very
great treasure.

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The President: You know,
growing up in Hawaii, it

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was one of the things that
taught me not only to

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appreciate nature but also
that you had to care for it.

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And, because we spent so
much time outside and

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I think there was part of the
native Hawaiian culture that

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is true of many native
cultures -- the sense of

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needing to care for the
environment that you're in

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-- that sometimes we lose
when we live in big cities.

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The interesting thing is
though, my daughters I find

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-- Malia and Sasha, they're
16 and 13 now -- they're

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much more environmentally
aware -- this generation --

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Sir David Attenborough:
I believe that.

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The President: -- than some
previous generations.

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They do not dispute, for
example, the science

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around climate change.

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They think it's
self-apparent that we've got

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a problem and we should be
doing something about it.

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Sir David Attenborough:
Yeah, yeah.

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I absolutely agree.

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The letters I get, they
bring tears to the eyes from

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kids of all ages and
the young people.

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They care.

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They know that this is the
world that they're going to

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grow up in and they're going
to spend the rest of their

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lives in.

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The President: Right.

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Sir David Attenborough: But
I think it's more idealistic

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than that.

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They actually believe that
humanity -- human species --

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has no right to destroy
and despoil regardless.

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The President: Right.

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Sir David Attenborough:
They actually feel

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that very powerfully.

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The President: They do.

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What do you think are
some of the most stubborn

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misconceptions about nature
that lead us not always to

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get out in front
of these problems?

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Sir David Attenborough: I
think what is required is an

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understanding and a gut
feeling that you understand

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that the natural world is
part of your inheritance.

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The President: Right.

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Sir David Attenborough:
This is the planet

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on which we live.

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It's the only one we've got
and we've got to protect it.

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And people do feel that
deeply and instinctively.

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It is, after all, the
natural world is where you

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go in moments of celebration
and moments of grief.

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It is the greatest
propensity to humanities

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own feeling for himself,
itself, herself, ourself.

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The President: Right.

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The knowledge that well, you
know, if you think about,

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you know, in all the world's
religions, you know, when

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you're seeking wisdom --
you're seeking to hear God

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-- you're in the desert or
you go to great waters or

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you go up to great
mountain peaks.

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You know, recapturing that
sense of wonder and the

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amazement of the natural
world and its powers.

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You know, that's what speaks
to what's deepest in us and,

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you know, the -- what's
critically important is

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making sure that
we're passing that

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on to future generations.

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You know, you and I, we've
been blessed to be able to

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see it and experience
it and be moved by it.

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And I want to make sure
that my daughters and their

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children are experiencing
that same thing.