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PODCAST

Rare Earth

Environmental journalist Tom Heap and physicist Helen Czerski tackle major stories about our environment and wildlife, celebrate the wonder of nature and meet the people determined to keep it wonderful.

science earth sciences

All Episodes

53:27

How to Clean Up the Shipping Industry

Rare Earth ·

2025/03/28

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 noxious fumes that pollute the air of many of our major port cities. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski search for the solutions, from a return to sailing ships to new fuels - and even the possibility of ships being more like penguins - with a panel including:Paddy Rodgers, Director (Chief Executive) of Royal

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53:15

Forever Chemicals

Rare Earth ·

2025/03/21

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 just doesn't go away- these 'forever chemicals' build up in our bodies and the environment.Tom Heap and Helen Czerski look back at the invention of these miracle chemicals, their use in the Second World War and the Space Race and meet Robert Bilott, the American lawyer who held the PFAS manufacturers to

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53:01

The Hole That Changed the World

Rare Earth ·

2025/03/14

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 joined by Jonathan Shanklin, one of the team that realised that CFC chemicals used in aerosol cans and refrigerants were helping to create a 20 million square kilometre hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica. Also on the panel they speak to Alice Bell, author of ‘Our Biggest Experiment: a history of the

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53:16

Cry Wolf

Rare Earth ·

2025/03/07

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 countryside to spread from east to west, reaching the suburbs of Amsterdam and Brussels. Only Britain, Ireland, Malta, Cyprus and Iceland now lack the top predator that haunts our fairytales.Tom Heap and Helen Czerski go face to snout with the wolf to find out the secrets of its success. They're joined by

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53:18

Arctic Goldrush

Rare Earth ·

2025/02/28

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 earth metals used in electric cars- suddenly seem accessible. That's caught the attention of China, Russia and the US, with President Trump, eager to mount a hostile takeover bid for Greenland.In the first of a new series of Rare Earth, physicist Helen Czerski and environment journalist, Tom Heap

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53:15

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Rare Earth ·

2024/12/27

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 Business Green James Murray, and climate comedian Stuart Goldsmith.Producer: Emma CampbellAssistant Producer: Toby FieldRare Earth is produced in association with the Open University

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53:13

Christmas Trees

Rare Earth ·

2024/12/20

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 passions. Coventry residents organised a record-breaking mass tree hug in November to save 26 trees marked for the chainsaws and the battle to save thousands of Sheffield's street trees from the council's contractors inspired folk songs and expensive legal battles.As so many of us bring a tree home for

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52:44

Good Clean Fun

Rare Earth ·

2024/12/13

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 a pretty poor reputation for environmental impact. Add in the wasteful habits of high end film and TV productions and it starts to look as though anything that's fun has a disproportionate impact on the planet.In Liverpool, they're hoping to change all that. The United Nations has asked the city to use

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52:42

Amazon Future

Rare Earth ·

2024/12/06

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 fires continue, we indigenous people will die,” says Raimundinha Rodrigues Da Sousa who runs the voluntary fire service for the Caititu indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon. Her land is supposed to be protected but outsiders come in and set fires so that they can clear the land for

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53:24

The Final Frontier

Rare Earth ·

2024/11/29

Some of the wealthiest tech entrepreneurs share a vision of life beyond the horizon. They see a future for humankind that abandons our tired, dirty planet and creates new colonies of health and creativity on the Moon, on Mars or even further into deep space. Is this a wise precaution for all our futures or an insurance policy for the super-wealthy as they continue to trash our home planet? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are joined by British astronaut, Tim Peake to consider the big moral questions of

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53:26

Who's in charge: us or plastic?

Rare Earth ·

2024/11/22

Our love affair with plastic has grown beyond all expectations since we were first introduced to the substance in the mid 20th century, and the rate at which we're using it shows no sign of slowing. But the tidal wave of plastic pollution we've unleashed is causing serious environmental problems. In this programme, Helen Czerski and Tom Heap hear how some of our plastic waste is burnt in incinerators or sent overseas, causing pollution far from our shores. In their search for solutions, they visit

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53:20

Beak and Talon

Rare Earth ·

2024/11/15

Nothing beats the sight of a top predator as it hunts. In the British Isles that means looking up. Our birds of prey are bouncing back after decades of shooting, poisoning and habitat loss. Buzzard numbers are up by 80% since 1995 and Red Kite by 2000%. Peregrine Falcon are thriving in London and Marsh Harriers have returned to our wetlands. Helen gets up close to Black Kites and an Eagle Owl at the Owl and Raptor Centre in Kent and travel writer Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent describes the

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52:25

Clean energy or green fields?

Rare Earth ·

2024/11/08

How can we build new green infrastructure without wrecking the countryside? Helen Czerski and Tom Heap debate the issue with a panel of experts, and ask what the measures outlined in last week's budget will mean for planning decisions and the environment. On the panel this week: Emma Pinchbeck, new CEO of the Climate Change Committee; Roger Mortlock, chief executive of the CPRE - the Countryside Charity; and Professor Matthew Kelly, modern historian from Northumbria University.Producer: Emma

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53:11

Rise of the Tuna

Rare Earth ·

2024/11/01

It's four metres long, the weight of two grizzly bears and dangerously delicious. The Bluefin Tuna is back in British waters so Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are here to celebrate the role of the tuna in food, culture and nature. Unseen since the 1960s, these enormous fish have surprised surfers and anglers by leaping clear out of the waters of South-West England. Rare Earth takes a deep dive with the tuna to examine their unusual biology and their cultural importance to people all around the world

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53:42

Battle for the Planet

Rare Earth ·

2024/10/25

US elections always have an outsized impact on the planet. As the world's second largest polluter and one of the primary sources of green technology and finance, America's lead on environmental issues is a vital part of our battle against climate change.Tom Heap and Helen Czerski analyse the efforts of the Biden regime and examine the rival policies of Harris and Trump. Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is said to have helped channel half a trillion dollars into clean technology and renewable

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53:24

The Magic of Microbes

Rare Earth ·

2024/10/18

The environment and wildlife show returns with a celebration of the humble microbe. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are joined by a ‘microbe explorer’ who travels to some of the Earth’s most hostile environments in search of microbes with a huge appetite for carbon dioxide. They also be visit the crop trial field station of Imperial College London where researchers are studying changes to bacteria in soil that could help agriculture and the environment. Producer: Emma CampbellAssistant Producer:

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53:20

Save Our Seabirds

Rare Earth ·

2024/08/09

Seabirds face many challenges - avian flu, plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change have all had an impact - but despite all of this, these resilient birds are surviving and in some cases, thriving. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski explore all things seabird, from the urban kittiwakes of Tyneside to the sea cliffs of Shetland.They're joined by Adam Nicolson, the author of The Seabird's Cry. He's determined to recover the reputation of the puffin from the cute star of seaside mugs and tea towels

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53:21

How to Floodproof A City

Rare Earth ·

2024/08/02

Tom Heap and Helen Czerski meet the people with fresh ideas to combat rising sea levels, from Enfield to Indonesia. Average sea levels across the world are rising fast. That puts 570 cities with a combined population of 800 million people at significant threat of inundation. Add in the impact of extreme rainfall events and you have a huge slice of our urban planet that needs protection from flooding. Tom and Helen are joined by Professor Richard Dawson of Newcastle University who considers the

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53:28

The Seabed: out of sight, out of mind?

Rare Earth ·

2024/07/26

Over the centuries, bottom-trawling activities have transformed our coastal seas both ecologically and physically, mostly for the worse. As the habitat has declined, so has the success of fisheries. Is it time we said goodbye to bottom trawling? Or can we manage our coastal seas more effectively to protect nature and provide seafood and jobs?Tom Heap and Helen Czerski discuss the issues with a panel of experts.Producer: Emma CampbellAssistant Producer: Toby Field and Christina SinclairRare Earth is

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53:24

World on Fire

Rare Earth ·

2024/07/19

Is the rise in global wild fires unstoppable? Helen Czerski and Tom Heap discuss the terrifying march of the flames and search for fresh answers. They're joined by John Vaillant, author of the award-wining exploration of Canada's Fort McMurray disaster, 'Fire Weather' and by Dr Stacey New from the Met Office.Tom and Helen take a look at the ways in which indigenous knowledge is being applied to fire prevention in California and visit the Blodgett Research Forest where experts study the best ways to

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53 results

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