Channel 4 Tackles Environmental Issues

2007 is set to be the year of the environment on Channel 4 with a raft of programmes tackling the issues that have become hot topics of concern and debate. From a documentary that challenges existing orthodoxies on global warming, to a series in which contestants spend one month living on Britain’s biggest rubbish tip, Channel 4 will be addressing the subject through a unique and varied mix of programmes.

Dumped is an innovative new series that takes ten unsuspecting members of the public and makes them live 24-7 on Britain’s biggest rubbish dump. The series aims to highlight the huge amount of food, clothing and other materials needlessly discarded in the UK everyday and follows the contestants as they discover just how comfortable a life they can lead on recycled materials.

The Great Global Warming Swindle (working title) challenges the consensus that man-made CO2 is heating up the earth. Featuring leading academics, The Great Global Warming Swindle questions the science behind the accepted reasons for global warming.

God Is Green follows former Dominican Friar Mark Dowd on a personal journey to find out why the world's major faiths are saying so little about the environment. The programme follows Mark as he challenges the Catholic Church to replace guilt over sex with guilt over carbon emissions and urges Muslims to offset their flights to the Haj in Mecca by planting trees.

Other programmes with an environmental theme airing on Channel 4 in 2007 include: River Cottage Market, a four-part series that follows Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall as he sets up an organic market, café and market garden in the centre of Axminster. With ‘Food Miles’ becoming an increasing issue for consumers, Hugh argues that shoppers would be better off enjoying healthier, tastier food bought in pleasant surroundings, if people moved away from the pervading supermarket culture.

The Farm is a new three-part series that examines some of the latest genetic research currently going on around the globe. Presented by Olivia Judson and Giles Coren, the series will consider the ethical debate and ecological implications of this research in terms of its effect on us and the world around us – including claims that genetics could help safeguard the natural world and combat malnutrition in sub-Saharan Africa.

George Monbiot, one of the UK’s most prominent environmental campaigners, will be presenting a special report on climate change as part of Channel 4’s award winning current affairs strand Dispatches and contributing to The Human Footprint – a programme that uses art installations to show the impact that every human has on the planet in an average lifetime. Britain’s Worst Weather examines how the UK’s weather is becoming increasingly volatile with recent tornadoes in the capital and floods effecting whole areas of the country on an annual basis.

Kevin Lygo, Director of Television said: “We want to engage as many people as possible in the environmental debate. Throughout the year we have a range of thought-provoking programmes, hearing from different viewpoints and challenging us to examine our own behaviour. All raise urgent and serious issues about our relationship with the environment.”

Find out more at Channel4.com.