Can science fiction help us fight climate change?

More from The Climate Question

1. 

   2 Aug 2026 · 26 min

   How is climate change affecting motherhood?

   Graihagh Jackson talks to mothers from India, Kenya and the UK about how climate change is affecting women's decisions about whether to have children and how to raise them. Her guests are Bhavreen Kandhari, a clean air campaigner from Delhi; Dr Susan Chomba, a Kenyan forest scientist and environmentalist; and Dr Elizabeth Cripps, a political philosopher specializing in climate justice. This programme was first broadcast in 2025. Got a question for The Climate Question? Email us: theclimatequestion@bbc.com Produced and presented by Graihagh Jackson Sound mix: Tom Brignell and Neil Churchill…

2. 

   26 Jul 2026 · 26 min

   Do climate protests ever work?

   Climate activists have blocked highways, scaled oil rigs and even thrown soup at master artworks. But have protests ever made a difference? The modern green movement started in the 1970s when Greenpeace sailed a fishing boat towards a nuclear test site in Alaska. It now encompasses everything from bake-ins and marches to Radiohead concerts. A small minority of activists even favour breaking the law to raise awareness about climate change. Some of them have superglued themselves to railings and blocked bridges. BBC Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt has made a new podcast series about the green…

3. 

   19 Jul 2026 · 26 min

   Could climate change fuel an epidemic?

   Scientists are warning that climate change and deforestation increase the risk of outbreaks of deadly diseases. How big is the danger? And what action can we take? Dr Neil Vora is a so-called “disease doctor” - an epidemiologist who has travelled the world to help trace the sources of outbreaks of Ebola, cow pox and rabies. Dr Vora tells The Climate Question hosts Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar about his specialism in zoonotic diseases, which are caused by infections passing from animals to humans. He is worried that the combination of climate change and cutting down forests will lead to…

4. 

   5 Jul 2026 · 26 min

   How to build a climate friendly city

   More than seven billion of us are expected to be living in urban areas by 2050. So what are the world’s great cities doing about climate change? Humans are now city creatures – with more than half the world’s population already living in urban environments, and huge growth expected in cities in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa during the rest of the 21st century. So mayors are on the front line of dealing with climate change – whether it’s keeping people cool during heatwaves or redesigning cities to cope with floods. In this edition of The Climate Question, Host Jordan Dunbar hears about…

5. 

   28 Jun 2026 · 23 min

   "Super" El Niños and climate change

   Scientists say the El Niño weather pattern has started and this one is potentially so strong that it could have devastating effects in many parts of the world. So how does El Niño work exactly? And what’s the connection with climate change? El Niño starts when water temperatures rise near the Pacific coast of South America, but the impact on weather is felt around the globe. Some regions are more likely to experience severe droughts or more powerful storms; others could face the threat of severe flooding. This “Super” El Niño is likely to add 0.2 or 0.3 degrees to the global temperature.…

6. 

   21 Jun 2026 · 25 min

   Is climate change ruining our sleep?

   Parts of India have been facing extreme heat - with temperatures soaring past 46 degrees Celsius. But a less familiar story unfolds after dark. When temperatures stay high after sunset, an essential human need is threatened: sleep. Scientific research suggests that hot nights are leading many of us around the world to lose shut-eye already. Our bodies need to cool down to fall asleep – but hotter nights make that much harder. And the impacts go way beyond just feeling tired; disrupted sleep has links to poor cardiovascular health and depression. Women, children, the elderly and those living…

7. 

   4 Oct 2026 · 26 min

   The battery revolution

   From Mongolia to Texas, record numbers of lithium-ion batteries are being added to the world's electricity grids - helping to provide more reliable power and speeding up the transition to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. China is installing over half of these new batteries, often in giant battery farms, followed by the United States and Europe. And with prices dropping fast, the trend is likely to continue and spread to more developing countries. But is battery development moving fast enough to help us meet our climate goals? And what about alternatives to lithium-ion…

8. 

   27 Sep 2026 · 29 min

   Climate overshoot: The world beyond 1.5°C

   The United Nations says the world will pass its most important climate target within a few years. So can we bring the planet's temperature back down quickly? Or will the damage be irreversible? In 2015, world leaders agreed in Paris to try to keep the global temperature below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst effects of climate change. But the UN now says what scientists call "overshoot" is guaranteed, and it may have devastating consequences. Experts are worried that the higher temperature may trigger "tipping points" in vital parts of our planet's climate system,…

9. 

   20 Sep 2026 · 23 min

   The solar power boom in Pakistan and the Philippines

   The Philippines and Pakistan are now the world's top solar panel importers. We find out why, and what other countries can learn from the boom! Cheap solar panels, mainly imported from China, are transforming lives and slashing electricity bills across Asia. In the last year, Filipinos have put up five times as many rooftop solar panels as the previous ten years combined. Installation companies are struggling to keep up with demand. In Pakistan, where the boom started earlier, solar power has reached every sector of the economy from the textile industry to farming. Solar has helped Pakistanis…

10. 

    13 Sep 2026 · 28 min

    Can China build its way out of climate change?

    Huge construction projects are transforming China - think enormous dams, giant solar power farms and a vast high-speed rail network. Will Beijing's "engineering mindset" help it deal with climate change? China's senior leadership is dominated by engineers, starting with President Xi, who trained as a chemical engineer in the 1970s. They have overseen megaprojects like the 50-kilometre bridge joining Hong Kong and Macau, and a plan to move water from southern China to the much drier north. The engineering mania extends to energy, where the world's largest polluter has invested trillions of…

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