People Fixing the World BBC World Service
-
- Health & Fitness
-
Brilliant solutions to the world’s problems. We meet people with ideas to make the world a better place and investigate whether they work.
-
Restoring California's underwater forests
Often described as underwater rainforests and the “lungs of the ocean”, kelp forests line as much as 25% of the world’s coastlines. They provide important shelter and food for fish and other marine life, and are vital for our oceans’ ecosystems. However kelp is under severe threat because of climate change, warming seas and overfishing. We look at projects in California aimed at stemming the decline of kelp including how scientists are growing it in a laboratory to be planted at sea as well as tackling a key cause of kelp degradation - sea urchins.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Producer/reporter: Craig Langran
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Sound mix: Frank McWeeny -
Kangaroo care for premature babies
Premature babies often need a lot of expensive specialised care - but that isn’t always available. So, doctors in Colombia are teaching mothers to look after their babies in a similar way that kangaroos look after their own young.
It’s called "kangaroo mother care" and instead of being in an incubator, babies are wrapped tightly against their mother’s skin.
The technique was developed in Bogota in the late 1970s as a response to overcrowding in hospital maternity units. There weren't enough incubators and around 70% of premature babies didn’t survive.
Doctors started using this simple skin-to-skin method. They found it wasn't only saving babies but was also helping them to thrive. Now, kangaroo care has spread around the world.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter: Zoe Gelber
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Richard Vadon
Email: peoplefixingtheworld@bbc.co.uk
Image: A baby in the kangaroo position -
Redefining luxury fashion
The fashion industry is the third largest manufacturing industry in the world consuming huge amounts of the world’s resources and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. But some innovators are trying to make the industry more sustainable. We discover how old fire hoses in the UK have been diverted from landfill and turned into fashionable bags and accessories. Plus we visit Mongolia to find out about a new luxury material made from yak hair. It's an eco-friendly replacement for cashmere which comes from goats who are causing desertification. Presenter: Myra Anubi Producer/reporter: Claire Bowes Executive Producer: Richard Kenny Series Producer: Jon Bithrey Editor: Tom Bigwood Sound Mix: Andrew Mills
-
How literacy can change a life
Learning to read empowers people, reduces poverty and increases their job chances. Yet more than 700 miliion adults are illiterate, the majority of them women. We look at innovations to help adults learn how to read from flatpack classrooms in flood-prone regions of Bangladesh, to an app teaching tens of thousands in Somaliland. Plus how adults in the UK are improving their reading skills thanks to an army of volunteer teachers using a method developed in prison.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: Claire Bates
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Sound mix: Andrew Mills
(Image: Jahura Begum, Shabnur Akhter, Rashida Begum at Friendship class in Bangladesh, Friendship) -
The power of music
We all know about the power of music to change our mood or to make us move. But an increasing body of evidence is showing that music has an amazing ability to help us heal. In this programme we are going to meet people working at the cutting edge of music therapy. We find out about the innovative system that uses music to help people with dementia live at home for longer. We will see how using songs and rhythms is helping people with Parkinson’s move more freely. And in a refugee camp in Uganda we meet the teachers using music to bring people together and overcome trauma.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Producer/Reporter: Richard Kenny
Series Producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound Mix: Frank McWeeny
(Image: Salam Music Program in Bidibidi, Uganda) -
Greener ways to feed the world
Transforming the global food system is vital in the fight against climate change. Currently, food production accounts for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, the food system also fails to properly nourish billions of people worldwide.
In this edition of People Fixing The World we’re looking at high and low tech solutions to transform the ways we produce and consume food to make it greener and more equitable.
In London, we visit a startup company making cheese from genetically modified microbes rather than cattle, in a bid to make dairy production better for the planet.
And in Philadelphia we look at how planting fruit and nut trees in ‘food forests’ is tackling hunger by providing access to healthy, nutritious food for low-income communities across the city.
Presenter: Myra Anubi
Reporter/producer: Zoe Gelber
Series producer: Jon Bithrey
Editor: Tom Bigwood
Sound mix: Frank McWeeny
Customer Reviews
Love this show! Solutions are amazing!
So nice to hear stories of forward-thinking people around the world. I can talk-up the ideas within my own networks and widen the impact of the best ideas for:
-Strengthening local communities
-Reducing humanity’s devastation of our planet
-Caring for our most vulnerable citizens
Your show gives me hope, as I can see there are actually many people around our world who are generous, caring, and willing to work hard for the benefit of all.
Thank you!! —-Listener in Vancouver, Canada
Excellent high quality podcast
I like hearing about innovative people making a difference. The podcast is well researched and professionally produced. Well done!
Wonderful upbeat show
I love these stories
Could you please tackle the packaging industry
Fruit and vegetables have wonderful packages designed by nature but we are loosing our understanding of that fact
Zero waste Scotland is doing some good work in this area