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Brings together in a single hour The Why Factor; More or Less and Trending.

The Thought Show: Global Footprint

Factual: Life Stories

Global Footprint

18/06/2015

BBC World Service - The Thought Show, Global Footprint

Do we consume so much that we need more than one planet to sustain our consumption?

Do we really consume so much that we need more than one planet to sustain our consumption? Also, the bogus chocolate experiment that fooled the press, and why do we draw?

We are often told that we consume so much that we need one and a half planets. It comes from the Global Footprint Network a think-tank that has pioneered ecological foot-printing but what does that number even mean, and is it helpful? Tim Harford finds out. 

Also, the story behind the chocolate experiment designed to deliberately fool the press. Concerned about the amount of pseudo-science surrounding diet and nutrition, John Bohannon and Peter Onneken ran a trial, had the results published and sent out a press release. While the results were correct, the trial was not very robust but this did not stop the story that chocolate made you thinner running in newspapers, magazines and on TV around the world.  But was this an ethical way to behave? 

In BBC Trending Mukul Devichand asks what happens when you make up war stories and publish them on Twitter.  He hears from the man who invented ‘the battle of the cheese bladder’ in Iraq, and fooled supporters of Islamic State and the Shia militia alike. Plus, why one Pakistani man, recently deported from Scotland, generated an army of supporters online. The #DontDeportMajid hashtag was unsuccessful, but can similar campaigns like this ever be effective? 

For The Why Factor Lucy Ash wonders what motivates people to draw. Are some people simply more visual than others? And, what do we reveal through our drawings? Is it to make our mark on the world, to decorate our surroundings, or is it a way of communicating with others when words fail us? Stephen Wiltshire, world famous for his incredibly detailed pen and ink cityscapes; David Hockney renowned for his both his traditional draughtsmanship and his enthusiasm for new technology and Lizzie Ellis, who comes from a remote community in central Australia and draws with a stick, are among those explaining  what drawing means for them.

(Photo: Earth and Stars. Credit: Shutterstock)

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