Rare Earth

Efforts to reduce our carbon emissions are falling far short of what’s necessary to keep our temperature rise below 2 degrees centigrade. Is it time to seriously consider another option- using techn…

A celebration of the wildlife that works while we sleep. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski explore the world of animals that provoke fear and wonder in equal measure.

Producer: Emma Campbell

Rare Earth is pr…

Can the insurance industry save the planet? With the nod from insurance companies a must for everything from coal mines to new homes, is the industry ready and willing to wield its power?

When huge s…

80 years since the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Tom Heap and Helen Czerski ask how our relationship with nuclear power has evolved.

At 8.15 on the morning of the 6th of August 1945 …

A ban on commercial hunting for whales came into force 40 years ago. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski look back on the whaling industry with one of the last of Shetland's whalers and ask if our largest mam…

The transition to an economy based on renewable energy and electric cars needs huge quantities of materials like copper and rare earth metals. Sourcing them can be a problem. Mining damages the sur…

Datacentres are big business, and vast numbers of them are being built around the world. In the UK, Amazon has announced plans to invest £8bn over the next five years building new datacentres, £3bn h…

In 2019 the UK made a commitment to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Since then the political consensus has broken down and analysts doubt that current government policy has any chance of re…

Insects are the quiet engineers of the environment - pollinating our plants, balancing our ecosystems and clearing up our waste. Some insects can digest plastic, and they play a vital role in crop pr…

From ancient Rome onwards our civilisation has been built on concrete. It's incredibly useful but emits huge quantities of carbon dioxide in its production. What are the alternatives? Tom Heap and He…

The islands of the Pacific Ocean are on the frontline of climate change. Sea level rise will eventually erase some from the map and make many more uninhabitable. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski hear fro…

The shipping industry is an enormous source of pollution. Ships burn dirty fuel oil that helps contribute to the industry's global carbon emissions and even in port they continue to belch out noxiou…

PFAS chemicals are all around us. They're used in frying pans, food packaging and waterproof coats but they have been linked to thyroid disease, liver damage and cancer. The trouble is that PFAS ju…

40 years ago a hole was discovered in the ozone layer. It provoked an international effort to ban the chemicals that were destroying our protection from the sun. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are join…

The wolf has mounted an extraordinary comeback. Once hunted to extinction across Western Europe, the wolf has taken advantage of the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the depopulation of the countrys…

For the Arctic, 2024 was the second-warmest year on record, with temperatures rising much faster than the global rate. The region's resources- oil, gas, iron ore, uranium, even diamonds and the rare …

Could 2025 be a year of progress on climate change and the nature crisis? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski search for some tentative green shoots with former Green MP Caroline Lucas, editor in chief of Bu…

An ancient Babylonian text, Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, forbids the cutting down of street trees without permission. Nearly 4000 years later, threats to our urban trees still arouse the strongest pass…

With fans travelling halfway across the country, stars expecting first class flights and venues serving up beefburgers and drinks in plastic cups the worlds of professional sport and live music share…

It's been a hard year for the Amazon rainforest. The toughest drought on record has helped spread fires that have been the worst in two decades. That combination has hit the local people. “If these…