 | | | | | | | | |
|
| |
| COSTING THE EARTH
|  | |  | MISSED A PROGRAMME?
Go to the Listen Again page | |
|
| | | | PROGRAMME INFO | | | |
| | | Costing the Earth tells stories which touch all our lives, looking at man's effect on the environment and at how the environment reacts. It questions accepted truths, challenges the people in charge and reports on progress towards improving the world we live in. | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN 30 min | | | |
|
|
|
|
PRESENTER |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
'Costing the Earth confronts accepted views on the environment. I think the programme consistently manages to get the real story and tell it in a way that makes people care.'
Miriam O'Reilly
|
|
|
| |
| | |
| PROGRAMME DETAILS | | | |
|  | | | Wendy and Ben Tuxworth mark out the plot for their eco-home |
Dream Homes
On a hill-side above Cheltenham, Ben and Wendy Tuxworth are building a family home, a house that should set new standards for environmental friendliness. They’re part of a growing army of self-builders eager to do their bit for the planet. All over Britain they’re installing solar water heaters, wind turbines, underground heat exchangers and enough insulation to lag a small planet.
In this week’s Costing the Earth Miriam O’Reilly meets the pioneers to hear their tales of stiff-upper lips in the face of adversity. She hears of the council planning departments who would much rather you went away and bought a Wimpey home. She uncovers the terrible truth about solar-powered showers- they’re fine if you don’t mind a cold shower for six months of the year- and there’s a visit to Hockerton where fish and children happily swim in the waters that flow out of their reed-bed sewage system.
| |  | | Wiz Clift's Worcestershire eco-house built of straw bales and glass
|
If you don’t fancy building your own eco-home you may not have to wait too long. Miriam meets Steph Wright of Gusto Homes, one of the first commercial house builders in the country to be convinced that the mainstream market might appreciate radical reductions to its energy bills. He’s already built twenty-five homes near Newark and he’s on the look out for more land. The only problem is that he was forced to install unnecessary gas central heating in all of the super-insulated homes. As one potential buyer told him, "If I don’t see a radiator I won’t feel warm".
Next week Costing The Earth investigates the increase of resistance to antibiotics. Tom Feilden visits Germany to meet scientists pioneering new techniques in removing antimicrobials from the environment.
| | |
RELATED LINKS
BBCi Nature: Environment
Hockerton- pioneering housing project
Gusto Homes- commercial builders of eco-homes
Bill Dunster- UK's top architect of eco-homes
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites
| |
| |
| |
