Living Planet

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.

We live on a watery planet — nearly three-quarters of the Earth's surface is underwater. As climate change raises temperatures, water is being pushed in new and more extreme directions. But are there ways we could use water to our advantage, environmentally? This week, we hear from communities trying to push back the seas and others suffering from diminishing water supplies.

This week, we bring you an episode of DW's On the Green Fence, hosted by Neil King. In it, he heads to the forest in search of urgent answers on how to save them. Around the globe, climate change and severe droughts have wrought havoc on forests far and wide. As forest dieback increases, even young trees are dying. So what happens if we lose our forests? And what we can do to stop it?

In this special episode, we reflect on a year of environmental reporting that’s taken us from the northern stretches of oil-producing Russia to the frog-filled forests of Australia. We listen back to snippets of our favorite stories and interviews, reliving the most important environmental events of 2021, along with the funny, weird and mind-blowing moments on Living Planet in the year gone by.

How should we construct our houses and cities to better withstand a changing climate? This week we explore building strategies that reduce emissions and deal with new climate realities. From the promise of hydrogen fueling neighborhoods and businesses, to towns and cities that are using flooding to their advantage, we dig into how we can better design the places we live.

From new words in the dictionary to new migration patterns for plants, animals and humans, we dig into ways that climate change is transforming more than just the weather. We also take a look at one tight-lipped contributor to greenhouse gas emissions that is rarely talked about, despite being one of the world's top emitters.

Today on the show, we climb up into the Scottish Highlands in search of the country's last patches of snow. We also talk about how the world's waste problem could be solved if companies were responsible for repairing the products they sell and cleaning up the rubbish from packaging they produce. And we hear from a group of women in India taking trash clean-up into their own hands.

We head to the Comoros Islands, where the world's demand for ylang ylang oil is leaving the region bare and its makers shorthanded. And hear why environmental groups and politicians in Barcelona are angry over plans to attract more tourists. Plus, we speak with a journalist who has investigated the influence of the fossil fuel industry in American schools' climate change education.

We talk about how to make COP26 goals a reality, get a glimpse into the future of green tech-powered living in Sweden, marvel at meadow-made cheese in Italy, and speak science to power to save the Arctic.

Delegates are running out of time to agree on how to keep global temperatures in check at the UN climate conference in Glasgow. Young people especially are piling on the pressure for action. We hear from DW reporters covering the event and get their impressions. And in Senegal, emissions reductions come too late for the survival of one coastal community already dealing with rising sea levels.

This week, we're talking about the biggest environment event of the year – the global climate conference known as COP26. We hear from one of our reporters who's there in Glasgow covering the policy tussles and from an activist who traveled there from Nigeria to make her voice heard, along with many other young people. We also take a look at how climate change is affecting people's lives right now.

Rising waters in 17 lakes in Kenya - including Lake Baringo and Lake Bogoria - are displacing people and upending ways of life. Not to mention, it's stressing out wildlife like giraffes that have been stuck on a newly created island by the high waters. In this feature, we look at how people and animals are coping in the East African Rift Valley.

On this week's show, we have stories of environmental concerns colliding with symbols of cultural importance. We venture to the spot in Italy where marble for Michelangelo's sculptures once came from. Controversy is also stirring on some mountains in Greece, as wind turbines anger locals. And we hear from a journalist who tracked an endangered leopard through war-ravaged territory.

Around the world, local people fight to maintain their way of life and habitats. In Cameroon, the Baka people are being driven out of their forests by logging and mining. In the US, a new lithium mine threatens to infringe on Indigenous sacred sites. And in Sierra Leone, an expensive, internationally-funded industrial fishing habor could ruin residents' livelihoods and the local ecosystem.

This week, we hear about regulations to curb greenwashing in the UK. We explore the promise of hydrogen for green steel and as a green fuel option, and we'll learn about one creative way to give some old houseplants a little love.

Most religions have a connection to the Earth – stories of creation or spiritual practices tied to nature. We take a look at how religion and spirituality influence how we treat the environment. From beliefs steeped in the forest to religious leaders motivating their congregants to take care of the planet. And what happens when holy sites are threatened by climate change and too many visitors?

As we edge closer to Germany's federal election, we go back in time to experience Berlin as a swampland. We also hear about some of the controversies surrounding the imminent UN World Food Systems Summit, find out how a spaceship-like warehouse in the Netherlands is using fish poo to grow food, and chat about queer inclusion in environmental matters.

Today we take a look at things that are often overlooked, but can add up to big solutions for the climate. One of them is air conditioning. What's its role in greenhouse gas emissions? And what are alternative ways to cool ourselves as the planet heats up? And we venture to Ireland to hear why peatlands are actually a huge deal when it comes to the climate.

This week on Living Planet: What does it mean for an ecosystem to be intact? And what does it take to keep it that way? We'll also check in on the upcoming German election and what it might mean for the climate. And we hear about the challenges disabled activists face when advocating for the environment.

This week on the Living Planet: How contentious water rights can get in times of drought. Rolling blackouts in Lebanon are leaving many frustrated, scared and wondering what could have been with a different approach to energy. And we hear from a journalist who's exposing environmental racism in eastern Europe.

This week, Living Planet brings you another podcast we think you'll enjoy: The Wild with Chris Morgan. Often we go to nature to find silence, to find solace. But what is silence really? You might think you’re in a quiet place, but it’s really hard to find natural silence these days. In this special episode, Chris Morgan goes searching for one square inch of silence.

When communities face challenges they often find their own, homemade fixes. Community-run gardens around the world can be life-changing operations, and the bees that help pollinate them need our help. Meanwhile landscape restoration teams in South Africa are saving the ancient veld and recycling imported clothing has been a creative opportunity for one designer in Kenya.

We talk about the IPCC's grave warning to the world and why we urgently need clean energy alternatives, hear of solar success in Brazil's favelas, travel to one of Georgia's longest rivers where hydropower is clashing with precious wildlife habitats, and listen to Texans on how they feel about wind power picking up in the oil state.

In a special crossover episode with DW's Africalink and Living Planet, we dive into the issue of climate change across Africa. What does climate science and climate activism look like on a continent already dealing with climate impacts today? How can African nations address energy poverty without contributing more greenhouse gas emissions? And is it time for climate reparations?

As The Netherlands desperately tries to reduce its nitrogen emissions, Dutch farmers are up in arms about what that will mean for them. Melting glaciers on Mt Kilimanjaro cause drastic changes in Kenya and Tanzania. And the moment the most elusive wild cat in the world was spotted for the first time in a decade in Algeria.