Tom Heap introduces Rare Earth, a programme exploring major stories about our environment.

Can British farmers transform themselves into carbon-cutting heroes? Arable farmer, Duncan Farrington has worked hard to reduce the carbon emissions from his farm. He's replanted hedges and trees and cut down on diesel-powered machinery. He's even persuaded some of his staff to cycle to work. But Duncan's farm isn't just zero carbon, it's actually sucking in and locking up vast quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Duncan explains to Tom how he's transformed the management of...

It could be the clean fuel of the near future- for homes and for heavy machinery. Lord Bamford, head of JCB, is betting that it will power the next generation of emission-free tractors, diggers and loaders. Tom Heap meets the JCB team and discusses the pros and cons of hydrogen with climate scientist, Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London. Producer: Alasdair Cross Researcher: Sarah Goodman Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to...

Arnold Schwarzenegger is the former Governor of California and one of America's most influential green voices. He's also one of the biggest movie stars in the world and a big fan of the innovators, activists and entrepreneurs featured in the previous 39 episodes of this series. In this final programme, the Terminator star discusses his favourite ideas from the series with Tom Heap and looks forward to the crucial climate change talks in Glasgow in November. Producer: Alasdair Cross

Tom Heap discovers fresh ways to quantify greenhouse gas emissions with help from satellites, artificial intelligence and former US Vice President Al Gore. Emissions data from companies and countries can be inaccurate, incomplete or sometimes just plain deceitful. The team at Climate TRACE, led by Al Gore, have devised innovative ways to calculate accurate emissions data from power stations, factories, ships and even planes. That data can be used to reveal unexpected sources of carbon...

Ever thought about the carbon cost of a packet of crisps? At CCM Technologies they think of little else. Their revolutionary fertiliser offers a big step to carbon-free snacking. Waste from crisp factories or from sewage treatment works can be routed and treated to form the basic building blocks of new fertilisers that can be spread on the ground to grow a new harvest of potatoes- or any other crop we need. The system avoids waste and takes a big cut out of the carbon emissions of...

Wind energy is vital in the battle against climate change, but can we make improvements to harness more from them? Tom Heap visits Kelburn windfarm in North Ayrshire to discuss whether 'wakesteering' - reorientating the turbines could see them harness more power collectively. Meanwhile some potential sites are refused or restricted due to the damage caused to wildlife. Hubert Lagrange talks about his childhood obsession with bats which are often killed by the pressure around turbine blades....

Batteries are powering the electric car revolution, but can we make them longer lasting, faster charging and smaller and lighter? Beyond electric cars and other vehicles, the more applications means more renewable energy can be stored and used, driving us away from fossil fuels. Tom Heap visits UKBIC - the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry - a vast facility to develop better batteries. He dons full protective gear to see some of the processes involved in making batteries and...

How well is your country doing? The GDP - gross domestic product - has long been a measure of growth and success but some argue judging purely on economics is too narrow-sighted. Tom Heap meets 'chopsy' Sophie Howe, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales who will challenge if a decision being made will be detrimental for children and those yet to be born. If the cost and inheritance to them is high it risks getting kicked out. She takes him to the wetlands she helped save from a...

Generating renewable energy from solar power has been a great resource but land for this purpose can come into conflict with other uses or receive opposition from those who don't enjoy the view. But can floating solar panels on water - which accounts for most of the surface of the planet - provide an alternative? Tom Heap meets Mark Bennett, a farmer from Berkshire, who created a reservoir for soft fruit production and was curious to see if it had more potential. After a quick internet...

There are different schools of thought on how land (and sea) are best managed but often in the rush for economic development indigenous practices and knowledge are overlooked. Observations and understanding from living on the land can inform how to protect and preserve it . Tom Heap meets Victor Steffensen, a descendent of the aboriginal Tagalaka people and an indigenous fire practitioner. He explains how cultural burns can help manage the land, reduce the fuel load and the likelihood of...

Flying, for business or pleasure, has long been seen as one of the biggest carbon villains. As airports gear up again after Covid it's clear not every business wants to keep meetings online or holidaymakers settle for a staycation. But what if we could fly without the guilt? Tom Heap meets some of the pioneers of zero carbon flight: hitching a ride with Harbour Air in Canada who have retrofitted one of their planes to fly on electric battery power; visiting the equivalent of the Batcave...

Nuclear power should be a powerful ally in the fight against climate change but cost and safety issues hold it back. Could a new generation be safer and cheaper? Tom Heap meets the team behind the molten salt reactor that can use nuclear waste as fuel and is claimed to be significantly cheaper and safer than current reactors. Ian Scott was a senior scientist at Unilever, pioneering research into skin-ageing, but when he retired from the field of biological sciences he became fascinated...

Biochar is an idea thousands of years old but one that seemed to have been (foolishly) lost by many along the way. Like charcoal, biochar is made by baking wood in the absence of oxygen and then quenched. It can then be ground down and worked into the soil to improve fertility and crop yields. It's believed to have been applied thousands of years ago in the Amazon, to generate the Terra Preta. The biochar locks in much of the carbon captured by the trees and stabilises it. Tom meets...

Concrete blocks are the foundations of the modern world but they could be greener. Tom Heap meets Colin Hills and his team turning waste dust and carbon dioxide into building materials. Professor Hills of the University of Greenwich has developed a technique that mimics natural processes, using carbon dioxide as a glue to form stone aggregates from waste dust left behind by heavy industry. The spin-off company, Carbon 8 Systems, has compressed the process into a shipping container and...

How to improve mass catering for the planet. Tom Heap considers how changing the menus in schools, hospitals and the armed forces could help in the fight against climate change. Andy Jones, chair of the Public Sector Catering 100 Group, explains how his own farming family background informs his drive to reduce the amount of meat served in canteens and increase the choice of vegan and vegetarian options. Tom visits hospitals in Nottingham to see the drive in action and joins climate...

From clothes to cars and buildings, all our new 'stuff' takes energy and resources to produce. If we want to cut down the use of high carbon materials like steel and cement then we need a new attitude. We need to think about sharing more and valuing what we have, we need products that are designed to last longer. Tom Heap meets Aisling Byrne from clothing app NUW. Concerned about the impact of fast-fashion on the environment, she found that lecturing friends who loved fashion didn't change...

A big weight and a very, very deep hole. The team behind Gravitricity think they have found a solution to a serious problem with renewable energy. As we rely increasingly on wind and solar energy the risk rises of the lights going out when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. We can solve the problem with energy storage but batteries are expensive and don't last very long. As Tom Heap and Tamsin Edwards hear, the answer could lie with a deceptively simple pulley system. Put...

Heating our homes can be expensive and draughty old housing stock leaches carbon dioxide. But making homes more energy efficient can be a costly upheaval and is therefore often done piecemeal. Tom Heap meets the team from Energiesprong who are proposing a new model - retrofitting modern technology like insulating 'wraps' around the house, replacing roof tiles with solar panels and fitting ground source heat pumps into old housing stock. It's done on scale and on a whole-house basis to keep...

Soil is brilliant at capturing carbon dioxide and keeping it out of the atmosphere. But what if we could make it do an even better job? On a farm overlooking the broad River Tay in Perthshire they've sprinkled the fields with the waste product from quarrying. Nature does the rest- using the rockdust to pull carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the soil. With the help of Rachael James from Southampton University, Tom Heap and Tamsin Edwards check out a technique that could be applied...

Giant fans are sucking in fresh air from the Swiss Alps and Iceland's frozen interior, capturing the carbon dioxide and turning it into fizzy drinks or burying it deep underground. Tom Heap gets up close to the extraordinary Climeworks device at the Science Museum in London and talks to the team that's developed it to ask if they've designed the solution to climate change or created a potent symbol of our failure to cut carbon emissions? Dr Tamsin Edwards of King's College London joins Tom...

Why use gas or electricity to heat your water when the power of the sun will do it for free? Faisal Ghani, a young Bangladeshi-Australian engineer, has invented a deceptively simple glass pyramid that takes cold water in at the bottom and supplies hot water from the top. He believes it can bring cheap, hot water to every home around the Equator. In the first of a new series packed with carbon-busting ideas Tom Heap visits Faisal at his Dundee production line to hear about his plans to...

Fast-growing bamboo has gone in and out of fashion but is now being seen as a possible climate hero. Its capacity to absorb carbon is enhanced by how densely it can be grown, the speed and its regrowth after harvesting - a great advantage over trees. Tom Heap meets Arief Rabiek from the Environmental Bamboo Foundation based in Indonesia. He's working to restore degraded land by planting bamboo which can be managed by communities on a forest to factory system. The harvested product can be...

Cattle emit huge quantities of planet-warming methane. But they can be stopped! Tom Heap meets Eileen Wall from SRUC, Scotland's Rural College who introduces him to a host of cunning carbon-cutting ideas- from seaweed in the feed and gas masks for cows to barns that can convert methane into energy to power the farm. Tom is joined by Tamsin Edwards of King's College, London to calculate just how much difference these ideas might make to our warming Earth. Are those the best answers or...