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Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere

Heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere - how and why more frequent and more extreme?

The extreme heat wave in western Europe over the last couple of weeks is just one of many in the Northern Hemisphere in 2022. How is global warming changing the atmosphere to make heat waves more frequent and more intense? We talk to climatologists Hannah Cloke, Friederike Otto and Efi Rousi.

If we want to stabilise global warming to two degrees by the end of the century, how are we going to do that? One novel idea is to harness the world's vast railway infrastructure and equip freight and passenger trains with an additional special wagon or two. These extra cars would be designed to suck carbon dioxide out of the air, liquify it and transport it to sequestration sites. Critically all the energy to capture the carbon dioxide comes free from regenerative braking on the trains. University of Toronto chemist Geoff Ozin and Eric Bachman, founder of the start-up CO2 Rail, explain the vision.

On the 40th anniversary of the International Whaling Commissions announcing an end to commercial whaling, we hear from Greenpeace co-founder Rex Weyler about the high seas campaign in the 1970s that helped prevent the extinction of the great whales. He talks about the contribution to the cause made by the discovery of whale song, and the release of humpback whale recordings as a commercial disc.

(Image: Firefighter trucks burning during a wildfire on the Mont d'Arrees, outside Brasparts, western France, 19 July 2022. Credit: LOIC VENANCE/ AFP via Getty Images)

Presenter: Andrew Luck-Baker
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker

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30 minutes

Last on

Sun 24 Jul 2022 01:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 21 Jul 2022 19:32GMT
  • Fri 22 Jul 2022 03:32GMT
  • Fri 22 Jul 2022 04:32GMT
  • Fri 22 Jul 2022 08:32GMT
  • Fri 22 Jul 2022 12:32GMT
  • Fri 22 Jul 2022 19:32GMT
  • Sun 24 Jul 2022 01:32GMT

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