39 Ways to Save the Planet

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

39 Ways v2 Podcast

Documentaries

Podcasts

Factual

Tom Heap and Dr Tamsin Edwards uncover fresh ways to save the planet from climate change.

BBC Radio Four, in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society, presents 39 ideas to relieve the stress that climate change is exerting on the planet.

BBC Radio 4 LW

39 Ways to Save the Planet: Black Gold

Black Gold

BBC Radio 4 - 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Black Gold

Discover biochar – the arch-enemy of climate change.

Biochar – an ancient idea being rediscovered to bring new benefits and new hope.

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 Forester Dave Faulkner and his team at Whittlewood to see the productions process in Northamptonshire. 

Meanwhile, Josiah Hunt experimented with the process in Hawaii and now supplies across California. As well as capturing carbon and improving the soils, he says they're removing liability wood to reduce forest fires and are helping to produce green electricity. 

Can this ancient process help bring new hope? 

Producer Anne-Marie Bullock
Researcher Sarah Goodman

Produced in association with the Royal Geographical Society. Special thanks for this episode to Professor Stuart Haszeldine and Dr Ondřej Mašek from the University of Edinburgh and the UK Biochar Research Centre.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

39 Ways to Save the Planet

Black Gold

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4