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| | | COSTING THE EARTH
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| | | | 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 Ìý30 min | | | |
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'I really enjoy working on Costing the Earth, because it has the time to get its teeth into a subject and the resources to look at it critically. I hope it manages to say something new about most of the subjects it covers.'
Alex Kirby
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|  | | | Inhalers provide some relief for the 5.1 million asthma sufferersÌýin the UK |
Breathless
One in ten people suffer from asthma, giving the UK one of the highest asthma rates in the world. This figure has doubled in the last 20 years.
In the first of a new series of ‘Costing the Earth’ Alex Kirby asks why Britain suffers so badly and looks toward a frightening future where life may get even worse for an ever-increasing number of asthmatics.
New research predicts that global warming and airborne pollution will exacerbate the asthma epidemic. As the climate gets warmer, allergens like pollen and mould will flood the air, interacting with urban pollutants such as ozone and carbon dioxide to fuel the upward trend in asthma.
| |  | | | Can a walk in the park provoke an asthma attack? |
As spring arrives earlier each year, plants are releasing their pollen and accelerating the onset of the hay fever season. Increasing temperatures also encourage the growth of mould and fungi, and stimulate photochemical smog, all of which contribute to respiratory distress.
Can anything be done to prevent an ever-growing threat to the vulnerable? Alex Kirby investigates in ‘Costing the Earth’.
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