Costing the Earth
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
Bottle Bank Wars
31 Jan 2012
Contributed by Lukas
Since goldrush days San Francisco has been a magnet for those on the make. But the latest moneymakers aren't interested in striking gold, they're in s...
Let it Snow!
26 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
With planes grounded, airports shut and chaos on the roads, last winter was the harshest in a century.Temperatures plummeted to minus 22 degrees in Sc...
March of the Pylons
19 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Britain's electricity grid needs replacing. Our old power network is approaching obsolesence. That means that there's a real threat of a new army of p...
Gold of the Conquistadors
12 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Five hundred years ago the Spanish Conquistadors enslaved the population of South America in their desperate efforts to squeeze more gold and silver f...
High Speed Hell?
05 Oct 2011
Contributed by Lukas
What you hear is not necessarily what you're getting. We all have our pet noise hates, but experts tell us that the nuisance caused by noise depends o...
Waters of Arabia
28 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Take a walk through the narrow streets of Sana'a, capital of Yemen and you'll come across the last remaining radish gardens. These small bursts of gre...
A Very Large Hole in the Sahara
22 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists are looking at novel ways to halt sea-level rise and reverse global warming, but not the way in which Miranda Krestovnikoff is attempting t...
The Air That I Breathe
14 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
British air quality consistently breaches European regulations. It's not just London or the other big cities, towns the length and breadth of the coun...
Bug Mac and Flies
07 Sep 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In tonight's Costing The Earth Tom Heap tucks into a portion of locusts and asks if eating insects is good for his diet and better for the planet than...
Cave Carnage
31 Aug 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Deep beneath southern Europe there stretches a 500 kilometre long subterranean world. Underground rivers and vast caverns are home to unique and unusu...
Nature's Medicine Cabinet
25 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Take the venom from a scorpion, the suckers from a starfish and the sting from a bee. You won't create a spell to turn a prince into a frog but you mi...
California Gasping
18 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
California has a rapidly expanding population, one of the world's most important agricultural zones and a chronic lack of water. That contradiction ha...
The Real Avatar
11 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
James Cameron and Sigourney Weaver are the latest to wade into the battle to stop the Belo Monte Dam in Brazil but it seems celebrity causes are less ...
Greening the Teens
06 May 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Take your average teenagers, Trudy (13, loves sports and Twilight), Liam (16, loves computer games) and Craig (19, loves cars). So much of what they e...
Cocoa Loco
27 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
It used to be a treat but now a chocolate bar is one of the cheapest ways to fill up. Chocolate is the unlikely substance at the heart of commodity wa...
Peak Leak
20 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
From the atolls of the Pacific to the Thames Estuary, shipwrecks of World War Two litter the oceans. After seventy years rust is starting to take its ...
Deepwater Horizon - The Real Damage
13 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
President Obama described Deepwater Horizon as America's worst environmental disaster. If that was true why have fish numbers in the Gulf massively in...
Fields Paved with Gold
06 Apr 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Birmingham City Council is already fitting solar to 10,000 homes and farmers with more than 35 acres had hoped to earn as much as £50,000 a year harv...
Alien Invaders
30 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The threat to wildlife from invasive species is now one of the greatest across the world and it is growing. Killer shrimp are the latest non-native sp...
Britain's Nuclear Future
23 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
Britain is running out of power. Ten new nuclear reactors were supposed to provide the solution. In this week's 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap asks if t...
Carbon Trading
16 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
It sounded like the perfect answer. Carbon trading could halt global warming, boost 'green' investment in the developing world and make money for city...
Fur or Faux?
10 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most controversial clothing trends in Britain is the fashion revival of fur. In this week's 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap investigates the c...
OK Coral
02 Mar 2011
Contributed by Lukas
90% of the world's coral is under threat, but could this frontline ecosystem also offer signs of hope?Ocean acidification is one of the biggest threat...
The Real Eco Warriors?
23 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
According to senior military figures, by the time a gallon of fuel reaches the frontline in Afghanistan its cost has increased to £250. Add in the co...
Digging Britain
16 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The Staffordshire and Frome Hoards are just two of the most exciting archaeological finds in recent years. Both were found by amateur treasure hunters...
Arctic Dreams
09 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
The melting of the Arctic is sparking a goldrush, bringing energy and mineral companies north in search of oil, gas and minerals. To the people of the...
Into the Arctic
02 Feb 2011
Contributed by Lukas
In 2010 the Canadian Arctic experienced its warmest year on record. Suddenly the area's resources- oil, gas, iron ore, uranium, even diamonds- seem ac...
Spring Forwards, Fall Backwards
27 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
On October 31st we'll all dutifully turn our clocks back by one hour, plunging our evenings into premature darkness. There's mounting evidence that th...
Grapes of Wrath
20 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Wine drinkers face an uncertain future. A decade of great vintages, plentiful supplies and cheap prices could be about to come to a shuddering halt.In...
Can Lawyers Save The World?
13 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change has already claimed its first victims. Displaced people from the Carteret Islands, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Niger delta have...
Plastic Pollution
06 Oct 2010
Contributed by Lukas
What's happening in the Gulf of Mexico is quite literally a drop in the ocean compared to the growing plastic pollution further out in the Pacific and...