Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

World Service,20 May 2010,28 mins

13/05/2010

One Planet

Available for over a year

Britain has just elected it's first Member of Parliament from the Green Party. Caroline Lucas won her place in the House of Commons thanks to the residents of Brighton, a city on the south coast of England. In this week's show Mike heads to this seaside resort to find out why this corner of the country has shunned the main political parties and gone green. There he chats to resident writer Gilly Smith, and catches up with the newly elected MP. Of course in many other parts of the world, green politicians have been winning elections for decades, so from Brighton beach, Mike - via the magic of satellite - has a chat with our correspondent in Germany about the rising influence of greens across Europe. And he asks "what have they been able to do once in power?" Also in the show we investigate the detergents being sprayed into the Gulf of Mexico in an effort to limit environmental damage from that oil spill. And Mike sits down with American property magnate Anthony Malkin to discuss why he's spending tens of millions of dollars to make the Empire State Building more energy efficient - apparently it's all down to Darth Vadar and rather large electricity bills. Lots to talk about in this week's show. As ever, tune in, have a listen and let us know what you think. Email the team at [email protected] or join in the conversation on our Facebook page, the link's below.

Programme Website
More episodes