40 Ways to Save the Planet
A new programme, supported by the RGS-IBG, is coming to BBC Radio Four next year
Calling all BBC Radio Four fans and climate change buffs. A new series, called 40 Ways to Save the Planet, will soon be airing, with the first set of ten programmes to run on weekdays from 4 January 2021. Presented by environmental journalist Tom Heap, each episode will test and assess a concept to cut carbon. From tiny rice seeds and perovskite solar cells to landscape transformation and outer-space hardware – a huge range of solutions will be considered. The series is being supported by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).
‘The Society is bringing several things to the partnership,’ says RGS-IBG Director Professor Joe Smith. ‘We are linking the programme makers up with experts from the Fellowship who can give an authoritative view on what each of the actions explored in the shows can achieve in terms of mitigating climate change. We will post links to the underlying evidence and debates that have informed each of the shows as “expanded reading lists” with some additional comment. We are also providing the core talent, in the sense that Tom Heap, one of Britain’s most experienced environment journalists, is an FRGS, and so is Tamsin Edwards, a climate modeller who is a geography academic at Kings College London and also a Fellow.’ Edwards will come on at the end of each episode to analyse the proposed solution.
The Society will also host events linked to the series all over the country and the schools team is generating materials for teachers and learners in recognition of the fact that an enormous number of young people are particularly passionate about this topic.
‘As the scholarly society for geography and related disciplines, we can be the connective tissue between broadcasters who know how to tell an engaging story and a body of expertise that spans the whole breadth of climate research, policy and professional practice,’ says Smith. ‘I think these shows are going to cheer me up! I’ve been tracking, and contributing to climate research and policy throughout my adult life and for most of that time, it has been a pretty lonely road and not much fun. The past few years have seen a rapid acceleration of both attention and action.’