Living Planet

As the climate heats up, we hear about the dry future predicted for one of Scotland's best known exports. We travel to East Africa, where Somalians — desperate for climate aid — are taking the salt out of seawater to solve worrisome water shortages. We also ask how — indeed, if — clean Bitcoin could fix the currency's carbon footprint, and learn how to zap the methane out of cow dung.

We ask a climate economist if Putin’s war in Ukraine could see the world fast-track a switch to renewables. From the Southern Hemisphere, we hear about the record-breaking "megafloods" devastating Australia's east coast and the twin threat of flooding and rising sea levels engulfing Indonesia. Plus, the Italian farm that wants to save its animals from setting hoof in the slaughterhouse.

In a week of landmark environmental announcements, we ask: is it too late to halt the climate crisis? We also hear about plastic recycling in Nairobi, as a groundbreaking UN resolution is passed in that same city that could ban global plastic production. Plus, the slimy, green future of plant-based protein.

Climate change can seem far away from our daily lives. But behind headlines about melting ice sheets, devastating droughts and the collision of wildlife and agriculture are ordinary people. This week we meet the Indian farmers, the Greenlandic sled dog owners and the average South Africans facing mental health struggles who are all living with the effects of climate change.

We get a sobering breakdown on the extreme weather events facing most Indians amid the unfolding climate crisis. A climate scientist tells us what "positive tipping points" are and how understanding them can help us get out of this mess. Plus, what's going on with France's new electronics right to repair regulations?

This week, we tackle a few thorny subjects. In South Africa, we look at poaching – not of animals, but of plants! Plants that could be sitting on your windowsill right now. We also take up the divisive topic of nuclear energy. And why protecting forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo is so crucial.

This week on Living Planet, we take a look at harmful chemicals that stay in our bodies, forever. Where do they come from and what risks do they pose? And we ask what the future holds, for athletes and winter sport enthusiasts, as the 2022 Olympic Games open in Beijing, China.

The highest peak on the African continent has inspired locals and travelers alike over the centuries. But climate change is melting its ice cap and impacting those whose livelihoods are tied to it – from tour guides who regularly climb the 5,895 meter dormant volcano to Maasai farmers who live around its base.

How a vulture restaurant is helping bring the bird back from the brink in Nepal. The quest to make a "super breed" of the beloved Ugandan banana so it can withstand the pests and diseases that farmers have fought for decades. And how the residents of Gothenburg in Sweden are redesigning their city to make it the best in the world when it's raining — which is pretty often.

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin consumes a huge amount of energy. We take a look at why this is and what can be done about it. And how do lawmakers ensure a green energy transition actually reduces fossil fuel use? South Africa is planning to move away from its reliance on coal, but plans are afoot to extract natural gas from the ocean. In the EU, new regulations make exceptions for nuclear and gas.