Recent events in Hong Kong have made many people in Taiwan jumpy. Duncan Hewitt talks to a Taiwanese hacker and activist turned government minister who is full of ideas about how to improve life on the island. He finds an increasingly pluralistic and confident society, now more inclined to stand up to China.

Our main focus this week is on the natural world and we begin at the South Pole where Justin Rowlatt is holed up in a research station eating chips and patiently waiting for a change in the weather.

At the opposite pole, we trek around Greenland. Some are calling this Artic country the Saudi Arabia of the Green future because it is so rich in rare earth metals. Horatio Clare reflects on exploitation in the wilderness.

There are fears of plunder too in the Cayman Islands where the tourism industry is threatening to rip up great swathes of coral for the convenience of cruise ship passengers.