Costing The Earth

Insects are the most varied and abundant animals outweighing humanity by 17 times, yet they are in decline in many parts of the world. Insects have been called the ‘glue’ in nature and are essential for the proper functioning of all ecosystems as pollinators, food for other animals, and recyclers of nutrients. This month the United Nations IPBES report said insect abundance has declined very rapidly in some places, and the available evidence supports a “tentative” estimate that 10% of the 5.5m species of insect thought to exist are threatened with extinction. Leading entomologists tell Tom Heap that insects have an image problem when it comes to conservation and the first step is getting people to care about these little creatures. We hear about the weird and wonderful world of some insect species that are declining in the UK, including mayflies and dung beetles and discover just how they contribute to the systems we humans rely on. The conversion of natural environments to create farmland is one of the main

As India votes Navin Singh Khadka travels the sub-continent to find out if environmental issues are rising up the agenda.Amongst nations India is the third highest emitter of carbon dioxide. Its rapid pace of development is pushing emissions higher and worsening air quality. The BBC World Service Environment Correspondent visits the energy capital of India to find out if that link between development and environmental damage can be broken.Producer: Alasdair Cross

Is the future of the planet making you depressed? Do you feel paralysed, unable to imagine the happiness of future generations? As global governments fail to respond to the existential crisis of climate change it’s understandable that some people seem unable to conjure up a sense of hope, understandable that dozens of young British women have joined the Birthstrike movement, refusing to bring more children into the world. Verity Sharp meets the eco-anxious and asks if they are ill or simply more perceptive than the rest of us.Producer : Ellie Richold

A detailed snapshot of Earth's natural life is published this week. How sick is the planet and what can we do to reverse the damage? Tom Heap hosts a debate on the vital findings of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.Tom is joined by Sir Robert Watson, Chair of the IBPES, by the writer and broadcaster Gaia Vince and by Erica McAlister, insect specialist at the Natural History Museum.Producer: Alasdair Cross

Greta Thunberg and the global youth strikes for the climate have directed the worlds attention to the potential future they face on a warming planet. The words and actions of these young people have been noted by global leaders and promises of change have been made but for their efforts to have a lasting impact the promises need to become policy. Tom Heap asks one of the young organisers Tom Bedford if young people are really changing the narrative on climate change. The strikers' demands that the UK government recognises that we are living through a climate emergency has been taken up by some local councils whilst in the US proposals for a 'Green New Deal' are being taken seriously and Greta Thunberg has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. It seems young people's hope and energy is having an impact but to really change the planet's trajectory they need to bring more of their generation with them and convince the rest of society that their future demands sacrifice today.Producer Helen Lennard

Where does Brexit leave the UK countryside? Tom Heap hosts a studio debate. On the panel: Shaun Spiers from the environmental think-tank, the Green Alliance; Heather Hancock, director of rural-based consultancy 'Rural Solutions', chair of the Food Standards Agency, and former chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and Patrick Holden, founding director of the Sustainable Food Trust,.Producer: Emma Campbell

Wolves were hunted out of many European countries over a century ago. In recent years they've been migrating back naturally and have now reached every country in continental Europe. Not everyone is happy - while their preferred food source is said to be deer and wild boar the killing of sheep and goats has angered many farmers. Tom Heap travels to the French Alps, meeting farmers to see if its possible to rear livestock alongside a wolf population and hears about projects to help - including an innovative scheme where volunteers camp out to protect the sheep. Tom's taken his own camping gear in the hope of getting closer to these creatures and hearing or possibly seeing them. He also travels to the Netherlands. Even here, they've had sightings of wolves since 2015, so he's going tracking in one of the areas they've been spotted - hoping for a sighting or a sign. Tracks or scat can give important evidence and may help indicate if the wolves have now settled here. How will the first resident female wolf - or e

Fast fashion is responsible for more emissions than shipping and aviation combined and by 2050 could account for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget. Consumers have been informed about the ethical alternatives but whilst sales of more sustainably sourced clothes are increasing, the biggest success of 2018 was a fast fashion brand which often sells dresses for less than the cost of their postage. After grilling the fashion industry, the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee has recommended action to curb throwaway culture at an industry level. But can regulation really change a nation of shopaholics who buy more clothes than the people of any other country in Europe? Lucy Siegle finds out how social media has fuelled a huge increase in consumption and how regulation, industry leaders and new generations of consumers and campaigners may finally force the industry to curb its excess. Producer: Helen Lennard

Around 90% of homes in Britain get their hot water and heating from gas-fired boilers. There are 23 million of them in Britain. The Chancellor has banned them from new homes after 2025 and by 2050 they'll be history. The government is committed to phasing them out to meet international climate change commitments.So what are the alternatives to the gas that's provided reliable, reasonably priced heat since it was first piped ashore from the North Sea in the late 1960s? Electric heating is a quick and easy replacement but we would need to massively increase the amount of green electricity that we generate. Hydrogen gas could be burnt in home appliances but producing hydrogen takes a lot of energy and expensive new infrastructure would be needed.Peter Gibbs is on the hunt for solutions, basing himself in the valleys of South Wales where energy companies and their customers are trialling new fuels, new smart technology and new payment methods to cut the carbon from heating our homes.Producer: Alasdair Cross

Clean air - the fightback: Tom Heap investigates the problems caused by air pollution, and asks how it affects children's health. He visits schools in Manchester and London and finds out about new initiatives which hope to try to reduce pollution around school sites.Produced by Emma Campbell

Tyres have an enormous impact on the environment. What can be done to produce and dispose of them more efficiently? Tom Heap reports.Producer: Anne-Marie Bullock

From the cattle shed to the racetrack, ammonia is having a moment. In the wrong place it's a dangerous pollutant, in the right place it's a clean fuel for your car. Ella McSweeney and Peter Hadfield report on the two faces of the gas chemists know as NH3.The increasing global demand for milk means more big dairy herds. More cows means more dung and urine. Mixed together they produce ammonia gas which contributes to urban air pollution and destroys sensitive habitats. In Ireland scientists have spotted big problems in peat bogs. The mosses which help create the carbon-grabbing peat are dying off in areas down-wind of dairy, pig and chicken farms. Farmers are being asked to change the way they store and spread their slurry, but it could be too late for some of the island's most vulnerable bogs.Meanwhile, in Australia they're exploiting some interesting properties of ammonia. Environmentally-friendly hydrogen-powered cars have been around for years but they've failed to take off because hydrogen is costl

2019 is the 70th anniversary of the legislation that created the first National Parks in the UK. At this crucial moment for the future of our countryside, Tom Heap asks how our best-loved landscapes can work better for people and wildlife. There are now 15 National Parks – all are protected areas because of their beautiful countryside, wildlife and cultural heritage. However, much has changed since the original legislation and many of these landscapes face significant challenges, including declining wildlife, a need for housing and poor public access. Tom visits two very different parks, the Cairngorms and the South Downs, to ask communities how they think National Parks should be improved to meet the needs of the 21st century. He considers some of the key issues; such as how to balance agriculture with enhancing and connecting habitats and how to deliver rural development and housing in protected landscapes.Producer: Sophie Anton

The heat contained in the top 3km of the Earth’s crust could power the planet thousands of times over. Despite that, less than 1% of the world’s electricity comes from geothermal energy. That may be about to change.Near Redruth in Cornwall a 3 mile deep hole is being dug- it will be the deepest in the UK. Cold water will be pumped down to the 200 degrees hot rocks below, the hot water returning will drive turbines to provide electricity for thousands of homes. Nearby, the Eden Project and the seawater lido in Penzance are building their own geothermal plants.But Cornwall is just the tip of the iceberg. Geothermal electricity was first produced in 1904 at Larderello in Tuscany. Today Enel Green Power supply a third of the region's electricity from natural steam and they have plans to get much bigger, exploiting an extraordinary bit of chemistry. When water goes above 374 degrees centigrade and 221 bars of pressure it becomes a supercritical fluid. This contains five times as much energy as 200 degree water,

Climate change is hard to depict. Polar bears on melting ice caps are far away from everyday life and the data is often complex and confusing. So could art in its broadest sense help us to understand the implications of global warming and environmental degradation? Tom Heap takes a look at how the creative community is responding to what is arguably the biggest threat of our time and asks if art can succeed in eliciting a response where science has failed. Music and visual arts which make climate data sets tangible, clothing which make pollutants visible and artists who make their creative response a form of protest. These are just a few of the ways in which artists are responding to environmental issues but it remains to be seen if these visions can impact our collective beliefs and behaviours.

Over the last decade, wet wipes have become ubiquitous. There's a wipe for almost everything, from faces to furniture, and it's a multi-million pound industry. But our sewerage systems are paying the price. Tom Heap goes on a call-out with the teams whose job is unblocking the drains - and finds that the culprits are usually wet wipes. It doesn't stop with the sewers: wipes can now be found in their millions on our beaches and in our rivers - where they are affecting wildlife, and in some cases even changing the shape of the riverbed itself. Water companies say that nothing but pee, poo and paper should be flushed down the toilet. Many wipes are labelled "do not flush" - but Tom talks to experts who cast doubt over whether even the ones marked "flushable" really are. Producer: Emma Campbell

What have wetlands ever done for us? Apart from providing fresh water, carbon storage, flood mitigation, wildlife habitat and much more....they are said to be critical to human and planetary life. But a recent report claims despite this these ecosystems are disappearing three times faster than forests. Around 35% of the worlds wetlands were lost between 1970 and 2015 - but the UK lost most of its before then. So why don't we care? Are a 'bunch of bogs and ditches' less valued than a romantic forest? Tom Heap finds out what wetlands are and what they do for us and if policy makers and decision-makers need to value them more highly, should we too? The positive news is wetlands can be created and improved - both on a large scale and in our own gardens and neighbourhoods. Is it time to make some noise for the wonders of wetlands? Produced by Anne-Marie Bullock

China's $900bn Belt and Road Initiative is taking Chinese money, expertise and workers all around the world. From South-East Asia all the way to South America, Chinese influence can be spotted at construction sites for roads, dams and railways. Evidence is mounting that this is bad news for rare and endangered species. Local people discover that Chinese workers have an appetite for the skin, bones and teeth of rare creatures for use in so-called Traditional Chinese Medicine. A market is established and before long an illicit trade is established, reaching all the way back to China.The Chinese government has just announced a partial reversal of its 25 year ban on the sale of rhinoceros and tiger parts. That decision is expected to boost the illegal trade in endangered species.Peter Hadfield has travelled across the world from the Kazakhstan steppe to the markets of Hong Kong, in search of the species threatened by the trade and the buyers of body parts. He discovers a new drive from scientists to create alter

Could the war on plastic have unintended consequences for the environment? Tom Heap reports.Producer: Sarah Swadling

The environment affects us all so should gender matter when we consider how best to save the planet? Lucy Siegle and Tom Heap take on the gender divide to find out how global warming has a disproportionate impact on women and how solutions which put women in charge can be highly effective in saving carbon as well as creating equality.