Living Planet | Deutsche Welle

This week on Living Planet, we hear about the people protesting extinction — our own, to be exact. And we examine how climate change is bringing insects and the diseases they carry to new places around the world.

This week, we look at how melting sea ice is threatening the survival of polar bears in the Arctic, and ask what impact shrinking glaciers will have on Switzerland's hydroelectric power supply. We'll also meet UNDP goodwill ambassador Olafur Eliasson, and find out how illegal mining is destroying India's fragile Aravali mountains.

Why do we waste so much food? And what can we do about it? Neil King and Gabe Borrud get to the bottom of these questions on this week's Living Planet. They visit a supermarket to gauge their role as consumers, and team up with two dumpster diving sisters for a nighttime harvesting spree. They also talk to a leading food economist and discover the root of the food waste problem runs a lot deeper.

The much anticipated IPCC report on the oceans and the cryosphere sets out the full extent to which the world’s oceans, glaciers, mountains and polar ecosystems are being disrupted by climate change, with dire consequences for life on our planet.

As young people all over the world take to the streets to demand climate action and the United Nations Secretary General hosts a special climate summit in New York, the UN Environment Programme's Executive Director, Inger Andersen tells us people power is proving pivotal. And we look at new ways of getting the climate message across.