A global programme that reflects the variety of takes on climate change, how best to understand it and the world’s attempts to avert it, temper it or adapt to i...
A global programme that reflects the variety of takes on climate change, how best to understand it and the world’s attempts to avert it, temper it or adapt to i...
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What should I eat to help fight Climate Change?
The Climate Question receives lots of emails from listeners asking about the impact that the food and drink we consume on a daily basis has on the environment and climate: which foods are most associated with greenhouse gas emissions? Which fruits and vegetables are the most sustainable choices at the supermarket? How would a tax on carbon-intensive imported produce, like beef, work?
In this programme, a panel of experts answer your questions to help you see past the product packaging, wherever you are in the world.
Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by:
Dan Saladino, food journalist, author and presenter;
Franziska Funke, Associate Doctoral Researcher in environmental economics at the Technical University of Berlin;
Dr Ximena Schmidt, sustainability expert at Brunel University, London;
If you have a question about climate change that you’d like us to answer, or a comment – please email them to [email protected]
Producer: Ben Cooper
Researcher: Octavia Woodward
Series Producer: Simon Watts
Editor: China Collins
Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford, Sophie Hill and Sabine Schereck
17/9/2023
23:28
Meet the Climate Quitters: Part Two
In this, the second episode in our spin-off series on Climate Quitters, we invite trailblazers from three different continents to reveal the ups and down, highs and lows of their new lives in climate conscious careers.
In Mumbai, Namita Dandekar swapped a role marketing stock for one of India's largest - and wealthiest - conglomerates for a front-line position with The RainTree Foundation, an organisation that works with rural communities to introduce climate friendly practices into their everyday lives and livelihoods.
In Vihiga County in Kenya, Kevin Makova traded in his job as a schoolteacher to create sustainable employment opportunities for members of the community keen to work in climate and conservation focused jobs.
And in Berkeley, California, Eugene Kirpichov said goodbye to a lucrative post developing AI systems for Google to build a new, global workforce that he hopes will be capable of solving the climate crisis conundrum.
But is the grass always greener - and cleaner - for climate quitters? What are the realities of life on the other side of that leap? And does putting the planet first come at a personal cost?
In this globe-spanning episode, your host, Paul Connolly, probes all three guests for their views and experiences so far - and we go a step further to bring you on-the-ground, in-person reports from the projects based in both India and Kenya.
Presenter: Paul Connolly
Series Producers: Simon Watts and Alex Lewis
Editor: China Collins
Sound engineers: James Beard and Tom Brignell
Production co-ordinator: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
10/9/2023
26:58
Going carbon neutral: Lessons from Denmark
Bornholm – a Danish island in the Baltic Sea – is trying to go carbon neutral by 2025. It is a lofty ambition that would put the island decades ahead of most countries. This dream has been 15 years in the making; a crash in fish stocks meant Bornholmers had to reinvent themselves and they chose to become ‘the bright green island’. Since then, they have been making biogas from pig manure, building wind turbine after wind turbine, and now they are piloting new ways of storing this renewable energy, including in a battery made of salt.
The island is not just trying to rid itself of fossil fuels – it is also aiming to go zero waste by 2032. Graihagh Jackson teams up with CrowdScience presenter Caroline Steel to explore Bornholm’s double quest to go green.The changes have not just been at top-level – the island’s businesses and 40,000 residents have been encouraged to reduce their climate impact too. Graihagh visits a brewery whose production has gone carbon neutral by capturing CO2 to create the bubbles in its beers, and meets a chef whose Michelin-star restaurant uses locally-sourced food.
And over on CrowdScience, Caroline tackles Bornholm’s zero waste ambition, visiting a project turning used nappies into compost and a glassblower making tableware out of wasted insulin vials. See link below.
Will Bornholm make its bold goals, and what lessons can be learned for elsewhere?
Presenters: Graihagh Jackson and Caroline Steel
Producer: Sophie Eastaugh
Production co-ordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Series Producer: Simon Watts
Editor: China Collins
Sound engineer: Tom Brignell
3/9/2023
27:27
Can live music go green?
The live music industry is booming. With global growth in concerts and festivals, more and more of us are enjoying our favourite bands and artists live. The music industry now relies on touring for money – encouraging more and more bands to travel and fans to see them. This is causing emissions to soar just like the private jets. So what can be done? Jordan Dunbar discovers the problem isn’t coming from who you might think and that this could be a climate opportunity rather than a problem.
Guests:
Ben Pol, Afrobeats star
Prof Carly McLachlan, Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Research, University of Manchester
Jordi Herreruela, Director of the Cruilla Barcelona Festival
Luke Howells, Head of Sustainability for Coldplay and Glastonbury Festival
Henry Stuart, Co-Founder and CEO of Visualise
Producers: Osman Iqbal and Ben Cooper
Reporter in Barcelona: Esperanza Escribano
Researchers: Octavia Woodward and Isobel Gough
Series producer: Simon Watts
Editor: China Collins
Sound engineers: Tom Brignell
Production coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
25/8/2023
27:18
Can small islands live with climate change?
The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, has been raising awareness of the impact that climate change is having on small island nations like hers, from the Caribbean to the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
In addition to facing more extreme weather and temperatures, these islands also have to contend with the threat posed by rising sea levels – which, for some islands, is existential.
In this episode, Qasa Alom speaks to reporters in Fiji and the Maldives about what small island nations can do to survive.
Guests:
Dr Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, Director of the Ocean Physics program at NASA
Dr Rosanne Martyr-Koller, Coastal Hazards and Adaptation Scientist at Climate Analytics
Shahudha Mohamed, on-the-ground reporter in the Maldives
Tim Vula, on-the-ground reporter in Fiji
Producer: Ben Cooper
Researcher: Octavia Woodward
Series producer: Simon Watts
Editor: China Collins
Sound engineers: Hal Haines and Rod Farquhar
Production coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
A global programme that reflects the variety of takes on climate change, how best to understand it and the world’s attempts to avert it, temper it or adapt to it.
It is not about questioning whether climate change is happening, it’s about finding the best ways to respond to it.
This is sharp-edged, analytical inquiry. Hard scrutiny, touched with a sense of adventure and discovery, and where we can find it, hope.
It includes stories from across the world on why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.