Rare Earth
Episodes
The Joy of Soil
03 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath our feet is a world wide web that keeps us all alive. Estimated to be the origin of about 97% of the calories we eat, soil is fundamental to ...
The Future of Sport
27 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The 2026 World Cup is expected to be the most environmentally costly yet. But are there alternative models that provide sporting thrills without the ...
America and the Planet
20 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump has been very clear in his views on climate change but how much of his rhetoric will have real impacts on the environment in the US an...
Lakes, Lochs and Loughs
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Plunge into the chilly embrace of the UK's lakes and you enter troubled waters. They're a place for recreation and an inspiration for our greatest po...
Should we still have zoos?
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This year London Zoological Society marks its 200th anniversary. Established in 1826, today it has around 8000 animals and claims to be "the original ...
Ocean Explorers
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
150 years ago the British research ship Challenger returned from a three and a half year voyage that changed the world. Plucking species from every o...
Love of a Cold Climate
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does the arrival of winter mean for plants and animals? In this programme Tom Heap and Helen Czerski find out how wildlife survives the freezing ...
City Transport: Faster, Cheaper, Greener
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How we get around town has never been more political, with controversies over low traffic neighbourhoods and 15 minute cities, and rows about congesti...
Hiding in Plain Sight
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to think of wildlife as something which exists in the countryside or in nature reserves, but in fact there are plenty of plants and animals wh...
The Evolution of Evolution
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
190 years ago Charles Darwin stepped ashore in Falmouth at the end of a five year voyage that would transform the way in which we all think about natu...
Fashioning the Future
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you love to express yourself through fashion, or find getting dressed a chore, clothing isn’t optional - and every choice has an impact. So ...
COP30: A New Hope?
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For thirty years world leaders have been gathering to negotiate the planet's route away from climate disaster. For thirty years carbon emissions have...
Trains on Trial
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It's 200 years since the first passenger rail journey saw George Stephenson’s Locomotion No.1 travel 26 miles between Shildon, Darlington and Stockt...
Great Migrations
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New technology gives fresh insights into the great animal migrations. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski discuss the great spectacles of the bird, mammal and...
World of Steel
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The modern world is built on steel but can it ever be green? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski search for the holy grail of environmentally friendly steel.P...
Engineering the Planet
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 tim...
Creatures of the Night
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 equa...
The Risk Takers
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
After the Bomb
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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....
A Whale's Life
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Metals and Minerals
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The transition to an economy based on renewable energy and electric cars needs huge quantities of materials like copper and rare earth metals. Sourci...
Powering Our Robot Overlords
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Is Net Zero a toxic brand?
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 th...
Are insects the answer?
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Insects are the quiet engineers of the environment - pollinating our plants, balancing our ecosystems and clearing up our waste. Some insects can dige...
Set in Concrete
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
From ancient Rome onwards our civilisation has been built on concrete. It's incredibly useful but emits huge quantities of carbon dioxide in its produ...
Paradise on the Edge
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 un...
How to Clean Up the Shipping Industry
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The shipping industry is an enormous source of pollution. Ships burn dirty fuel oil that helps contribute to the industry's global carbon emissions a...
Forever Chemicals
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, live...
The Hole That Changed the World
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
Cry Wolf
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The wolf has mounted an extraordinary comeback. Once hunted to extinction across Western Europe, the wolf has taken advantage of the collapse of the ...
Arctic Goldrush
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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, ga...
Reasons To Be Cheerful
27 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 form...
Christmas Trees
20 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
An ancient Babylonian text, Hammurabi’s Code of Laws, forbids the cutting down of street trees without permission. Nearly 4000 years later, threats...
Good Clean Fun
13 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With fans travelling halfway across the country, stars expecting first class flights and venues serving up beefburgers and drinks in plastic cups the ...
Amazon Future
06 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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. Tha...
The Final Frontier
29 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 p...
Who's in charge: us or plastic?
22 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Beak and Talon
15 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Clean energy or green fields?
08 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
Rise of the Tuna
01 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Cz...
Battle for the Planet
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Magic of Microbes
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The environment and wildlife show returns with a celebration of the humble microbe. Tom Heap and Helen Czerski are joined by a ‘microbe explorer’...
Save Our Seabirds
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Seabirds face many challenges - avian flu, plastic pollution, overfishing and climate change have all had an impact - but despite all of this, these r...
How to Floodproof A City
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 wor...
The Seabed: out of sight, out of mind?
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Over the centuries, bottom-trawling activities have transformed our coastal seas both ecologically and physically, mostly for the worse. As the habita...
World on Fire
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The Future of Meat
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can meat ever be environmentally friendly, or do we need better substitutes? Helen Czerski and Tom Heap discuss the cutting edge technology being dev...
Can an oil rig be a nature reserve?
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What should we do with our old oil rigs? Can the relics of the fossil fuel age be good for wildlife? Helen Czerski and Tom Heap investigate the futur...
Environment and the General Election
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With the general election now two weeks away, Helen Czerski and Tom Heap take a look at how the environment is featuring on the political agenda. They...
Can writers save the planet?
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nature-writing is going through a renaissance. What started largely with TV tie-ins has evolved into a genre encompassing books about climate change,...
Hush! Don't Mention the Environment
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the first edition of a new series of Rare Earth Tom Heap and Helen Czerski reveal a new phenomenon- 'Greenhushing'. Big corporations that once tru...
How do we get our healthy rivers back?
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With river pollution more in the news than ever before, and sewage now a hot topic, Helen Czerski and Tom Heap investigate how we can restore the heal...
Can the Oceans Save Us from Climate Change?
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The world's oceans have absorbed huge quantities of carbon dioxide, protecting us from the worst effects of climate change, but how much longer can th...
Can Politicians Save the Planet?
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Why do politicians have such trouble sticking to their environmental promises? Why are they happy to hug a husky one minute, desperate to ditch the '...
Alien Invasion
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Should we celebrate the arrival of new species to the UK or drive them out? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski investigate the role of alien invasive species...
Can We Build a Better World with Wood?
02 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the emotional balm of a walk in the woods to the first wooden skyscrapers, Tom Heap and Helen Czerski ask if we can replace a world of concrete a...
Can we live without waste?
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rare Earth is a new weekly podcast and radio show from BBC Radio Four which digs deeper into the biggest issues for our planet. Each week, environment...
Is Nature Better Off Without Us?
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rare Earth is a new weekly podcast and radio show from BBC Radio Four which digs deeper into the biggest issues for our planet. Each week, environmen...
Welcome to the future
16 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Journalist Tom Heap and physicist Helen Czerski unpack a burning environmental issue each week, discovering fresh ideas and new ways to approach our r...