Stories on why we find it so hard to save our own planet, and how we might change that.
Bill Gates: how I stay positive on climate change
Bill Gates, the tech billionaire turned philanthropist, has been combating poverty, disease, and inequity around the world for decades. However, in recent years he has shifted focus and resources towards the climate crisis. Gates believes fighting climate change and fighting poverty are two sides of the same coin. Food, health and economic crises will last longer and become more severe as climate threats escalate; disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable communities. Surprisingly, Gates remains optimistic and believes the power of human ingenuity will win out with a technology-driven approach in both mitigation and adaptation. Graihagh Jackson sits down with Mr Gates to talk about his positive outlook and the billions he’s investing in tackling climate change. Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com Presenter: Graihagh Jackson Producer: Osman Iqbal Series Producer: Alex Lewis (+ Simon Watts) Editor: China Collins Sound Engineers: James Beard and Graham Puddifoot
How can we fight drought in the Horn of Africa?
The worst drought in 40 years has left 23 million people at risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa. New research has found that it was 100 times more likely to have happened because of climate change. Food insecurity, conflict and perishing livestock are just a few elements of an ever-worsening crisis, with proactive planning difficult for governments with limited resources and other immediate problems. So what can be done to fight the worst effects of the ongoing crisis? Presenter Sophie Eastaugh hears about climate adaptation strategies pioneered by Maasai people, initiatives to implement Early Warning Systems, and what’s stopping governments acting. Sophie is joined by: Lanoi Meitiekene, a leader within the Maasai community Joyce Kimutai, Principal Meteorologist at Kenya Meteorological Department Yared Abera Deme, Research Analyst with the International Climate Action team, WRI Africa, Ethiopia. Presenter: Sophie Eastaugh Producers: Osman Iqbal and Cesar Vargas Series Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
Are disabled people forgotten in climate disaster plans?
About 16 percent of the world’s population is thought to be disabled, but they are still 2 to 4 times more likely to be injured or killed in a natural disaster than those who are not disabled. Emma Tracey, from the BBC’s Access All podcast, investigates for The Climate Question, meeting disabled people who have dealt with extreme weather events first hand. As well as those who are researching and enforcing change, even in the places you’d least expect it Emma is joined by: Sébastien Jodoin, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law of McGill University, Canada Kera Sherwood-O'Regan, an Indigenous and disabled climate justice advocate, New Zealand Gaele Sobott, writer, living in Sydney, Australia Kemi Yemi-Ese, visual artist from Austin Texas, US Setareki Macanawai CEO, Pacific Disability Forum based in Fiji Presenter: Emma Tracey, BBC Access All Producers: Octavia Woodward and Jordan Dunbar Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill, Jacqui Johnson
Can tourism ever really be good for the climate?
This week, we’re off to Costa Rica, an eco-tourism hotspot. Eco-tourism is big business - it’s forecasted to generate $103 billion annually by 2027. But how well do its green claims actually stack up when it comes to the climate? Presenter Qasa Alom visits the birthplace of Sea Turtle conservation, goes on patrol with a ranger protecting the forest from loggers and miners, and spots luxury tourist developments in the terrain of the puma. How big is tourism’s climate impact, and can this ever be mitigated by its benefits? Guests: Ralf Buckley, Director of the International Centre for Ecotourism Research, and Research Director of the Climate Response Program at Griffith University, Australia. Stefan Gossling, Professor at the Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics and Lund University's Department of Service Management If you have a question about climate change that you’d like us to answer, or a comment – please email them to theclimatequestion@bbc.com Presenter: Qasa Alom Producers: Sophie Eastaugh and Jamie Hamilton Researcher: Octavia Woodward Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Sophie Hill, Jacqui Johnson
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 theclimatequestion@bbc.com 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
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
Going carbon neutral - lessons from Denmark
Bornholm – a Danish island in the Baltic Sea – is trying to go carbon neutral by 2025. It’s 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’ve been making biogas from pig manure, building wind turbine after wind turbine, and now they're piloting new ways of storing this renewable energy, including in a battery made of salt. The island isn’t just trying to rid itself of fossil fuels – it's also aiming to go zero waste by 2032. In this week’s episode, Graihagh Jackson teams up with CrowdScience presenter Caroline Steel to explore Bornholm’s double quest to go green.The changes haven't 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. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4y4h) Will Bornholm make its bold goals, and what lessons can be learned for elsewhere? Presenters: Graihagh Jackson and Caroline Steel Producer: Sophie Eastaugh Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell
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
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 Ocean, right across to the Pacific Ocean. 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 speakers 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
What is Climate Change?
Jordan Dunbar introduces The Climate Question's guide to the Climate Change basics - with the help of some friends of the show.
Have we underestimated Climate Change?
A combination of heatwaves across the Northern Hemisphere, unseasonable warmth in parts of South America and Antarctica, and global sea surface temperatures around 0.51°C above the 30-year average, saw July 2023 confirmed as the hottest month ever on Earth. Climate scientists are now poring over the record-breaking data. Professor Jim Skea, the newly-elected chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), joins Graihagh Jackson to discuss how worried we should be, and the challenges ahead as he takes up the most important role in global climate science. Producer: Ben Cooper Researcher: Isobel Gough Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineers: Graham Puddifoot and Neil Churchill Production Coordinators: Gemma Ashman, Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Should I quit my job to fight climate change?
Have you thought about quitting your job because of climate change? Research shows more and more people are worried about their career’s impact on the planet. So this week The Climate Question hears from four people from around the world who’ve taken the plunge and done it. Luke Jones meets an air steward who's swapped flying for teaching; a restaurant critic who's become a tree-planter; a fossil fuel company engineer who's switching to working in renewables; and a multinational CEO turned sustainable business campaigner. Presenter: Luke Jones Series Producers: Alex Lewis and Simon Watts Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Editor: China Collins
Can we have a climate-friendly death?
Funeral rites are steeped in culture, tradition and faith, with most of the world opting for cremation or burial. However, with new research now revealing the carbon impact of established funeral choices, more people are questioning their cost to the climate. With alternatives such as ‘water cremation’ and ‘eco-burials’ becoming available, will people start to consider another way? Presenter Jordan Dunbar hears about initiatives in India to modify traditional funeral pyres, calculates the climate cost of the most common choices, and hears from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter, Rev. Mpho Tutu van Furth, about her surprise at her father’s final act on earth. Producer: Osman Iqbal Researcher: Octavia Woodward Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
How are Afghans fighting climate change?
Climate change has been tightening its grip on the people of Afghanistan, with flood after flood and drought after drought. It’s considered to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the world, not just because it's warming twice as fast as the global average, but because its people’s ability to fight back has been severely hampered by decades of conflict and war. To add insult to injury, Afghanistan has contributed very little to the climate crisis. Since the Taliban takeover two years ago, financial aid to help locals adapt has drastically dropped, leaving Afghans to take matters into their own hands. Presenters Graihagh Jackson and Barry Sadid hear how the diaspora are helping villages back home to build life-saving dams and protect themselves against flood and drought. And we ask if there’s a way for foreign governments to financially support Afghanistan without legitimising the Taliban. Producers: Jordan Dunbar and Barry Sadid from BBC Monitoring Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins Sound Engineer: Tom Brignell Production Coordinators: Debbie Richford and Sophie Hill
Climate Change and El Nino: Can we handle both?
Scientists say an El Nino weather event has started. Its effects will be felt everywhere in the form of heavier rainfall in some parts of the world and deeper droughts in others. What's the link with Climate Change? And is it making it harder for us to prepare? On this week's edition of The Climate Question, Graihagh gets a briefing on El Nino from a leading expert; we travel to Peru to meet the coastal communities on the front line; and we hear how ancient civilisations not only learned to deal with El Nino, but managed to use it to their advantage. Presenter Graihagh Jackson is joined by: Tom Di Liberto, Meteorologist at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in the US Dr George Adamson, Senior Lecturer in Geography, King's College London Dr Laila Shahzad, Disaster Risk expert at Government College, Lahore. Producer: Osman Iqbal BBC reporter in Peru: Guillermo Olmo Research: Octavia Woodward and Matt Toulson Sound: Tom Brignell Series Producer: Simon Watts Editor: China Collins