Deutsche Welle Living Planet

Living Planet

As humans' impact on the planet becomes more evident, there is a need for independent reporting. Living Planet looks at new technologies, visits innovative projects and keeps you up-to-date on the state of the earth.
Weekly English Germany Society & Culture · Health & Fitness
49 Episodes
40 – 49

The Switch — coming soon

Solar power is the cheapest energy source in history - and wind isn’t far behind. So why isn't the clean energy transition moving faster? In a new three-part miniseries, we’re digging into why the switch is so damn hard. From solar mega-farms in Morocco to European bottlenecks to climate writer…
14 Nov 2025 1 min

Breaking gold's toxic bond with mercury pollution

When mercury pollution makes headlines, it's often linked to fish and human health. But there's another big source of mercury pollution that's affecting millions of people across the world - artisanal and small-scale gold mining. This episode looks at efforts in South America to reduce mercury use in mining -…
7 Nov 2025 35 min

Introducing: Boy Wasted

This week on Living Planet, we're sharing Boy Wasted - a gripping three-part environmental true crime series by Dan Ashby and Lucy Taylor. It begins with a shocking find: a boy's body hidden in a bale of recycled plastic in Turkey, leading to a dangerous, cross-border investigation into a global…
24 Oct 2025 23 min

Can a cancer hotspot be saved from our addiction to plastic?

The harm of plastics on human health is well known, but what about their impact on the people living near the plants that produce them? In this episode, we hear from the women on the frontlines of the fight against petrochemical companies in one of the US’s most toxic strips…
17 Oct 2025 29 min

The truly amazing world of fungi (Rebroadcast)

Think fungi are just mushrooms and mold? Think again. Over 90% of fungal species are still unknown, and scientists are discovering new ones all the time. This World Fungus Day, dive into the hidden, fascinating world of fungi with us.
3 Oct 2025 27 min

Norway's big green lie

Hydropower, heat pumps and EVs made Norway a climate darling. Oil and gas exports made it rich. When one Norwegian started to question his role in this story, he came up against the paradox shaping this country's future – and the world’s energy transition.
26 Sep 2025 29 min

Message in a bottle – Saving Louisiana’s sinking coastline

Louisiana loses a football field’s worth of land every 100 minutes to coastal erosion. Franziska Trautmann, co-founder of Glass of Full, tells the story of how she and her boyfriend stumbled upon a genius solution to save the region's natural barrier against hurricanes – by tapping into New Orleans’ party…
19 Sep 2025 30 min
40 – 49