Rare Earth

It was known as the Great Smog. In 1952, London was blanketed for five days in a thick toxic layer of soot and sulphur dioxide, leading to thousands of premature deaths. The outcome was the Clean Air Act of 1956. In this programme, Helen Czerski and Tom Heap ask what's changed in the seventy years which have passed since then. How clean is the air we now breathe? Panel: Dr Gary Fuller, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Imperial College in London Dr Kathy Davies, Environment Historian, Northumbria University Beth Gardiner, Journalist and authorProducer: Emma Campbell Assistant Producers: Toby Field and Georgia Graham

The shadowy world of wildlife crime is estimated to be one of the four biggest illegal trades in the world. It runs the gamut from the international smuggling of ivory and exotic pets to hare coursing and badger baiting. The impacts of wildlife crime vary - in some cases it means a threat to endangered species, in others it takes the form of cruelty to individual animals. Could the unregulated world of social media make it easier than ever for wildlife criminals to evade the authorities? Or will advances in tech - including exciting forensic breakthroughs - be enough to stop them in their tracks? With panellists:- Fiona Howie, wildlife veterinary pathologist at Scotland's Rural College - Neil D’Cruze, UK Director of international animal welfare organisation Four Paws - Christian Plowman, Program Manager - Wildlife Cybercrime at the International Fund for Animal Welfare Presented by Tom Heap & Helen CzerskiProducer - Beth Sagar-Fenton Assistant Producer - Georgia Graham Editor - Alasdair Cross

What can the legal system do to protect the environment? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski gather together a panel of legal and environmental experts to discuss their battles for the planet. How much protection does nature have in law at the moment, and do legal rights make any real difference in practice? They debate whether nature should be given official legal rights, like human rights.Today's panel: Paul Powlesland - barrister, campaigner, founder of Lawyers for Nature Laura Clarke - CEO of Client Earth Rosa Vásquez Espinoza - biologist, conservationist, founder of Amazon Research InternationalProducer: Emma CampbellAssistant Producer: Toby Field

Cornish fishermen this summer have had their usual catch of lobster and crab replaced by voracious octopus. Restaurant menus have had to be wiped and rewritten across the south-west, but what else has changed? Tom Heap and Helen Czerski ask why octopus have such a hold on our imagination and the science world, why the octopus has moved north and what its journey can tell us about the changing oceans.Joining Tom and Helen are the writer Sy Montgomery, marine biologist Dr Keith Hiscock MBE and octopus neuroscientist Dr Amy Courtney of the Marine Biological Association.Producer: Beth Sagar-FentonAssistant Producer: Toby Field

Helen Czerski and Tom Heap ask if nature is really red in tooth and claw. Is life all about survival of the fittest or are we all working together on a changing planet? They're joined by Rowan Hooper, author of Togetherness, lichen expert April Windle and Isabel Hardman, assistant editor of the Spectator magazine and author of The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind. Together they discuss the plants and insects that rely on deals with other species to keep themselves healthy, from fungus-farming ants to the Wood Wide Web that connects most living plants. April shows Helen the wondrous lichens of Hyde Park and Rowan discovers the orchids studied by Charles Darwin at his home in Kent. Producer: Ed PrendevilleAssistant Producer: Toby FieldSpecial thanks to English Heritage and The Royal Parks