The TV presenter and naturalist made his remarks during a speech at an ’emergency climate change summit’.
Chris Packham has urged MPs to “listen to the science” on climate change as he warned of a “dangerous wave of misinformation”.
The TV presenter and naturalist attended an “emergency climate change summit” on Thursday, where MPs, peers, business leaders and celebrities heard from experts about how the UK was unprepared for rising temperatures.
Delivering a speech at the start of the briefing, Mr Packham, 64, questioned why progress on the issue had been slow.
“Why are we unbelievably pulling back on rapidly and forthrightly addressing the greatest crisis to ever threaten our species, climate breakdown, and biodiversity loss?” he said.
“Well, to start with, climate denialism has been a mainstream thing again, thanks to the well-oiled machines of the rich, powerful and influential lobbyists from the fossil fuel and other industries.
“A dangerous wave of misinformation and lies fill our lives, but worse, it fills the lives of our decision makers and these are the people who shape policy.”
Mr Packham told the briefing that fossil fuel companies were “significant contributors” to some of the UK’s political parties.
The naturalist said leaders now needed to win their “Victoria Crosses”.
He urged attendees to “listen to the science”, adding: “Because if you don’t, things go wrong and lives are lost.”
The presenter referred to the recently published Covid inquiry, describing it as a “devastating indictment of poor governance”.
He said: “The failure to suppress the egos of government, their government departments and individuals, has cost lives.
“It’s not about you, it’s not about your departments, it’s not about your parties, it’s about us, those that have elected you.
“Because it’s more than that, we didn’t just elect you, we’ve given you our trust, and our lives and those of millions more are in your hands.”
Mr Packham said the issue of climate change was “tragically far, far greater than Covid”, adding: “It’s not thousands, it’s not hundreds of thousands, or millions of lives that are at risk, it’s billions of lives that are at risk… ”
He said divisions must be set aside, adding: “We are one species, on one planet, with one big problem, and one last chance to sort it out.”
“We have declared war on our one and only home, we’ve set or house on fire, so we, that’s you and I, that’s all of us, need to lead the UK on an immediate route to recovery,” he said.
