Stay ConnectedDiscover the people and the projects trying to make the world a better place.
A weekly programme looking at common challenges around the world and the creative ways people are trying to tackle them.
Presenter Myra Anubi speaks to reporters, experts and innovators to investigate how effective different solutions are, share their successes and inspire listeners with what is possible.
Copyright: © (C) BBC 2022
A clever invention is saving the lives of hundreds of children. Pneumonia kills about 1.4 million children under five every year. Treatment with concentrated oxygen could save many of them, but the machines that make it need a reliable source of electricity. Some hospitals have frequent power cuts, though, which can be fatal. So scientists in Australia and Uganda came up with an innovative way to produce oxygen by separating it from the rest of the air, using a vacuum created by running water. Then they designed special bags that can store and deliver oxygen – even when the electricity cuts out. Their systems have provided oxygen for hundreds of sick children in Uganda. People Fixing the World hears the story of these remarkable inventions. Produced and presented by Ruth Evans
Picture credit: Peter Casamento
We all know that sport is great for our health - and if you’re talented it can bring you great riches. But this week we look at how sport is changing lives and giving hope to young people leading the toughest lives. In Cape Town, South Africa, a British surfer noticed how kids from poor townships hardly ever went to the beach. So he started giving them free surfing lessons. Now hundreds go along each week to get “surfing therapy”. Not only is surfing giving them a buzz, it's helping to improve their life chances. In Afghanistan we meet the people who have brought skateboarding to the streets. As well as being an exciting challenge, it’s giving girls in particular a safe place to do sport and changing their outlook on life. And in one of the more deprived parts of London we find out how horse riding - a sport normally associated with the elite - is now inspiring young people from all backgrounds. Reporter/Producer: Richard Kenny
There’s a technology on the block which has the power to change all kinds of things for the better. If that power is harnessed, it has the potential to end corruption, protect your online identity and a whole lot more. Start-up companies and charities are using it in everything from tuna supply chains to medical records and ID documents and everything in between. The technology is blockchain and on this episode of People Fixing the World, we’ll explore whether its great potential can be realised. Produced and presented by Tom Colls Image: Blockchain illustration (Getty Images)
We visit farmers growing lettuce, herbs and strawberries indoors in the middle of cities. The plants are stacked up on shelves in vertical farms that use hydroponics and aeroponics to cultivate them.
The idea is to grow food closer to where it’s eaten. At the moment, cities get most of their produce delivered from far away, but transporting it uses energy, while fruit and veg can lose their freshness in transit.
We visit two European companies hoping to change the supply chain. One makes indoor farming units for food retailers, restaurants and hotels, and the other grows strawberries in shipping containers on the outskirts of Paris.
We find out if these pioneers of European urban farming are able to feed our growing cities.
Produced and presented by Dina Newman.
Picture credit: Getty Images
People around the world are coming up with ways to make the world a quieter place, from portable sound barriers to schemes to stop people honking their car horns.
The trouble is that noise from traffic, railways, builders, even neighbours, can have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing, according to the World Health Organization.
One of the solutions we look at reduces decibel levels around building sites and music festivals, while another collects acoustic data to help local councils enforce laws if people are being too noisy. Also, a woman in India is doing her bit to reduce noise levels on the streets of Mumbai.
Presented and produced by Anisa Subedar Picture credit: Getty Images
Robot shuttles and buses on demand are being tested to persuade more people to use public transport. Tallinn in Estonia and Luxembourg have even made travel free.
The aim is to tackle the impact of one billion cars on the world's roads, which have brought some cities to a virtual standstill. But in order to tempt people away from their cars new incentives are needed.
Claire Bates tries out schemes that are being developed across Europe.
Presented and produced by Claire Bates
It has taken him 40 years, but Omar Tello has turned a patch of exhausted farmland in Ecuador back into rainforest. One of his biggest challenges was repairing the soil. His land was so degraded he had to make enough new soil - from unwanted wood shavings and chicken manure - to cover the entire plot. That alone took about 15 years. He also travelled deep into the Amazon for days at a time, looking for seeds and plants he could rescue. Now his forest is flourishing and the wildlife has returned - it is home to snakes, toucans, monkeys and many other animals. And he is sharing what he has learned to encourage others to protect the rainforests instead of cutting them down. Presented and produced by Jo Mathys.
Human sewage contains lots of valuable nutrients, so should we be recycling it? One of these nutrients is phosphorus, a key ingredient in fertiliser. We need fertilisers to meet the demands of the planet’s growing population, but there is a limited supply of phosphorus. Once it finds its way into the sea it becomes impossible to recover. And yet we all excrete about half a kilogram of the stuff a year, making cities a potentially rich source of the element. In the Netherlands human sludge is already being processed to recover phosphorus and recycle it into a high-tech fertiliser which will not leach into the environment. Reporter: William Kremer Photo: Getty images
This week we’re in Rwanda, where some men are getting lessons teaching them how to look after their babies. As well as promoting gender equality it's helping to reduce the high levels of violence women there experience at the hands of their husbands and partners. People Fixing the World meets the people taking part and finds out how it works and what difference it’s making.
Reporter Lily Freeston Executive Producer Nick Holland
(Photo Credit: BBC)
It’s a flightless bird on the edge of extinction, but a team in New Zealand is trying to stop it from going the way of the dodo.
The kakapo is a large parrot that was once common in New Zealand. But its inability to fly, strong smell and habit of freezing when attacked made it easy to hunt for both human settlers and the animals they introduced. By the mid-1990s there were only 51 left.
The remaining birds were moved to an island and a recovery operation began – looking at every aspect of the animals’ lives to try to boost the population. Twenty-five years on and the kakapo are at the centre of an elaborate breeding programme. There are monitors that measure the jiggle of mating birds, “smart eggs” to replace the ones removed for rearing and even a sperm-carrying drone.
People Fixing the World looks at what it takes to bring a bird back from the brink.
Presenter: Tom Colls Reporter: Alison Balance
(Photo caption: A kakapo / Photo credit: Jake Osborne, New Zealand Department of Conservation)
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