People Fixing the World Folgen

A simple system for saving food and empowering women on the show today. Hundreds of millions of tonnes of food go to waste every year, much of it before it is even sold. This waste is bad for the planet, but also for farmers and consumers.A company in India has found an solution. They collect imperfect produce that would otherwise have been left by farmers to rot and use specially designed solar dryers to remove the water. They then take the dried fruit and vegetables, process it, and sell it on. The benefits of their system go far beyond food waste. By setting up collectives of women in rural India with the machines, they’re transforming the lives and status of a group of people who traditionally struggle to gain economic independence.Chhavi Sachdev goes to see the system in action, finds out who is buying the dried produce and discovers what it actually tastes like. Image: Kavita Gadekar, who uses the solar dryer

Floating solar panels and a see-through pyramid are the solutions this week. The sun is the ultimate source of energy for life on earth. Harnessing that energy in new ways is a key part of the fight against climate change. This week, we meet two people who had solar power eureka moments and are doing just that. One designed a see-through pyramid that produces hot water for low-income countries. The other opened up new space for solar panels by floating them on the water. We explore these ideas with environment journalist Tom Heap, who joined forces with The Royal Geographical Society to check out the most promising climate change solutions for BBC Radio 4 series ‘39 Ways to Save the Planet’. Image: Faisal Ghani and his solar water heater.

CubeSats are small but mighty. They started as an educational toy in 1999, but now help people tackle issues from deforestation in Brazil to modern slavery in Greece.Cheap to make and launch, these tiny satellites’ biggest role is in remotely scanning the Earth. Thousands are whizzing over our heads right now tracking a huge range of stuff - including herds of elephants, coral reefs and volcanic ash clouds.We look at how CubeSats have opened up space to nations and start-up companies and helped usher in a new, commercial, space age.Produced and presented by Claire Bates.Image: A CubeSat (Nasa)