Spirit Of

SHOW #11

Survival

The year is 2030...a climate catastrophe looms as water levels in the world’s oceans continue to rise. The global population surges to nine billion as medical advances prolong life expectancy. People resort to violence on the streets as food shortages continue to bite. The war in the Barents sea rages, as the battle for control of energy fields divide the world. The future has never appeared so frightening.

In May the Spirit of…takes a look into the future and asks some of the world’s leading thinkers: How will we survive?

We begin our program with a look at a nightmarish vision from highly respected futurist Ray Hammond. Becky Anderson and Ray discuss how current challenges might affect us in the future: Are we teetering on the verge of climate catastrophe, could refugees become the norm, where are food shortages likely to be worst, and how can we cope with an ever expanding human population?

On hand to provide an insight into what the future might hold are James Lovelock – the man who first developed the Gaia Theory and Josette Sheeran, Director of the World Food Programme.

Next we look at the ever growing Food crisis and a movement that hopes to protect civilisation from starvation. We travel to the Arctic where the Doomsday Vault houses a collection of crop seeds from around the world.The Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, EU President Jose Barroso and Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai explain why they this project is crucial to our survival.

Our investigation takes to the Philippines, a country torn apart by food shortages – where we meet the most eminent rice expert in the world –Robert Ziegler- and ask him about a drought resistant rice grain that is being developed at the institute.

Lastly, we travel to one of spots on earth Ny Alesund to meet one of the world’s most important climate specialists - Jan-Gunnar Winther and to see first hand how climate change is affecting the arctic. The programme concludes by asking the leaders we have gathered together whether we can look optimistically forward to life in 2030.