Helen Czerski
@helenczerski.bsky.social
Physics, bubbles, oceans, hot chocolate and curiosity. Professor at UCL, writer, broadcaster. Author of Storm in a Teacup and Blue Machine https://linktr.ee/helenczerski Co-host of BBC Radio 4's Rare Earth
Hivemind, I have a challenge. Popular culture is dominated by the car (car chases, cop dramas etc), helping us accept a car-dominated urban environment as normal. Can you think of any examples of popular culture highlighting bikes, trams, walking etc? I can only think of A Streetcar Named Desire.
December 2, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Hivemind, I have a challenge. Popular culture is dominated by the car (car chases, cop dramas etc), helping us accept a car-dominated urban environment as normal. Can you think of any examples of popular culture highlighting bikes, trams, walking etc? I can only think of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Something that really stuck with me from the fast fashion episode of Rare Earth, and is still cheering me up: sites like Vinted and Ebay are making a significant dint in fast fashion sales, and people are choosing to buy better quality clothes so they can sell them on. Less waste, wins all round 🎉🎉🎉
BBC Radio 4 - Rare Earth, Fashioning the Future
Can we rethink how we dress to be less impactful on the planet?
www.bbc.co.uk
December 1, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Something that really stuck with me from the fast fashion episode of Rare Earth, and is still cheering me up: sites like Vinted and Ebay are making a significant dint in fast fashion sales, and people are choosing to buy better quality clothes so they can sell them on. Less waste, wins all round 🎉🎉🎉
What a treat to see the Tudor warship the Mary Rose today. It sank in 1545, lay hidden under sediment for centuries, and was raised in 1982. It’s astonishingly intact, with thousands of artefacts telling the stories of everyday life (including SO MANY nit combs). If you’re near Portsmouth, do go!
November 29, 2025 at 5:34 PM
What a treat to see the Tudor warship the Mary Rose today. It sank in 1545, lay hidden under sediment for centuries, and was raised in 1982. It’s astonishingly intact, with thousands of artefacts telling the stories of everyday life (including SO MANY nit combs). If you’re near Portsmouth, do go!
Black Friday is a horrible event for our planet, and I hate these e-mails. If you needed something anyway and there's a discount today, it's a win for you. But everything you buy has an impact on the planet. Don't be sucked into getting more stuff just because you can. Aim for better, not more!
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Black Friday is a horrible event for our planet, and I hate these e-mails. If you needed something anyway and there's a discount today, it's a win for you. But everything you buy has an impact on the planet. Don't be sucked into getting more stuff just because you can. Aim for better, not more!
Imagine showing a petrol engine to someone who had only known electric vehicles, and trying to convince them to switch to petrol. No-one would choose the dirty, noisy, less efficient, more expensive vehicle. This isn't 1910, hostage to gender insecurity. We can just choose the better tech.
November 28, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Imagine showing a petrol engine to someone who had only known electric vehicles, and trying to convince them to switch to petrol. No-one would choose the dirty, noisy, less efficient, more expensive vehicle. This isn't 1910, hostage to gender insecurity. We can just choose the better tech.
On BBC Radio 4's Rare Earth next week we'll be covering urban wildlife, and we'd love to hear about the fun/creative/unusual things happening near you to make space for wildlife in towns/cities. Do reply to this and let us know!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
November 22, 2025 at 10:22 AM
On BBC Radio 4's Rare Earth next week we'll be covering urban wildlife, and we'd love to hear about the fun/creative/unusual things happening near you to make space for wildlife in towns/cities. Do reply to this and let us know!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Remember the Shoe Event Horizon from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? (explained in pic)
Is that where we are today with online clothes shopping?
Listen now to this week's Rare Earth, on fast fashion, its effect on the environment, and options for what happens next: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Is that where we are today with online clothes shopping?
Listen now to this week's Rare Earth, on fast fashion, its effect on the environment, and options for what happens next: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
November 21, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Remember the Shoe Event Horizon from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? (explained in pic)
Is that where we are today with online clothes shopping?
Listen now to this week's Rare Earth, on fast fashion, its effect on the environment, and options for what happens next: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Is that where we are today with online clothes shopping?
Listen now to this week's Rare Earth, on fast fashion, its effect on the environment, and options for what happens next: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
On Rare Earth this week: can the clothing/fashion industry ever be sustainable? Our 3 fab guests - Patrick Grant (Great British Sewing Bee), Prof Kate Fletcher & Simon Platts - all had LOADS to say. Sneak peak here before you can listen to it all on Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
November 19, 2025 at 12:27 PM
On Rare Earth this week: can the clothing/fashion industry ever be sustainable? Our 3 fab guests - Patrick Grant (Great British Sewing Bee), Prof Kate Fletcher & Simon Platts - all had LOADS to say. Sneak peak here before you can listen to it all on Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Spot the stylishly dressed! Here we all are in the studio today for this week's Rare Earth, on fashion/clothing. Can the massive fast fashion consumption machine be turned off, and what could /should we make our clothes from? Hear it all online or on air on Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
November 18, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Spot the stylishly dressed! Here we all are in the studio today for this week's Rare Earth, on fashion/clothing. Can the massive fast fashion consumption machine be turned off, and what could /should we make our clothes from? Hear it all online or on air on Friday: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Reposted by Helen Czerski
China’s economy is booming – but its emissions are flat?
Environment Prof Helen Czerski gives her take on #COP30, highlighting how this year’s conference signals real, if slow, progress on climate action...
📺 Watch Helen's lectures: gres.hm/large-planet
@ucl.ac.uk @helenczerski.bsky.social
Environment Prof Helen Czerski gives her take on #COP30, highlighting how this year’s conference signals real, if slow, progress on climate action...
📺 Watch Helen's lectures: gres.hm/large-planet
@ucl.ac.uk @helenczerski.bsky.social
November 14, 2025 at 3:08 PM
China’s economy is booming – but its emissions are flat?
Environment Prof Helen Czerski gives her take on #COP30, highlighting how this year’s conference signals real, if slow, progress on climate action...
📺 Watch Helen's lectures: gres.hm/large-planet
@ucl.ac.uk @helenczerski.bsky.social
Environment Prof Helen Czerski gives her take on #COP30, highlighting how this year’s conference signals real, if slow, progress on climate action...
📺 Watch Helen's lectures: gres.hm/large-planet
@ucl.ac.uk @helenczerski.bsky.social
It's like going back in time 20 years. Pub menus, for very highly rated pubs, with only one vegetarian main course (the least imaginative thing on the list). The world is changing. Diets are changing, and eating meat can't still be the default. Catch up!
* yes, not all pubs, but still most of them.
* yes, not all pubs, but still most of them.
November 16, 2025 at 12:23 PM
It's like going back in time 20 years. Pub menus, for very highly rated pubs, with only one vegetarian main course (the least imaginative thing on the list). The world is changing. Diets are changing, and eating meat can't still be the default. Catch up!
* yes, not all pubs, but still most of them.
* yes, not all pubs, but still most of them.
Rare Earth is back on air🎉 & today's episode is available here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... We started by discussing the new sea anemone that spends its life as a crab's hat (see below), but the focus was COP30... what has COP ever done for us, what's happening now in Brazil, and what comes next?
November 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Rare Earth is back on air🎉 & today's episode is available here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... We started by discussing the new sea anemone that spends its life as a crab's hat (see below), but the focus was COP30... what has COP ever done for us, what's happening now in Brazil, and what comes next?
Back in the studio for a new series of Rare Earth! First up: COP30, the big yearly global climate conference. What might come from COP30, where are we after 30 years of COPs, and how might COP evolve in the future? Join us on Friday (or any time afterwards) to find out:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
November 13, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Back in the studio for a new series of Rare Earth! First up: COP30, the big yearly global climate conference. What might come from COP30, where are we after 30 years of COPs, and how might COP evolve in the future? Join us on Friday (or any time afterwards) to find out:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
This a big deal: "China’s carbon dioxide emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months"
China's economy has grown by ~5% in the last year, so this comprehensively debunks the idea (again) that emissions are tied to growth. So yes, faster progress needed, but this is how you turn the corner.
China's economy has grown by ~5% in the last year, so this comprehensively debunks the idea (again) that emissions are tied to growth. So yes, faster progress needed, but this is how you turn the corner.
China’s CO2 emissions have been flat or falling for past 18 months, analysis finds
World’s biggest polluter on track to hit peak emissions target early but miss goal for cutting carbon intensity
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 9:20 AM
This a big deal: "China’s carbon dioxide emissions have been flat or falling for 18 months"
China's economy has grown by ~5% in the last year, so this comprehensively debunks the idea (again) that emissions are tied to growth. So yes, faster progress needed, but this is how you turn the corner.
China's economy has grown by ~5% in the last year, so this comprehensively debunks the idea (again) that emissions are tied to growth. So yes, faster progress needed, but this is how you turn the corner.
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
November 10, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Oh, I love this. A new species of sea anemone was discovered recently that parks itself on top of a hermit crab shell like a hat. It seems to feed partly off the crab's faeces, but it also excretes a hard shell that extends the crab's home. In return, it's carried around the seafloor like a king.
Exciting times at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, home of the Meridian Line! It's 350 years old & needs a bit of a refurb, caring for the wonderful buildings & making them more accessible, easier to navigate & even more exciting. 2 yr project starts now! More here:
www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observ...
www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observ...
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Exciting times at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, home of the Meridian Line! It's 350 years old & needs a bit of a refurb, caring for the wonderful buildings & making them more accessible, easier to navigate & even more exciting. 2 yr project starts now! More here:
www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observ...
www.rmg.co.uk/royal-observ...
Rare Earth will be back on air soon & in preparation for a programme on Darwin, Wallace & evolution, I found this ace example of evolutionary adaptation. The plant C. argenteum makes seeds that look & smell like dung, so dung beetles roll them away, bury them, then lose interest. Free seed planting!
November 5, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Rare Earth will be back on air soon & in preparation for a programme on Darwin, Wallace & evolution, I found this ace example of evolutionary adaptation. The plant C. argenteum makes seeds that look & smell like dung, so dung beetles roll them away, bury them, then lose interest. Free seed planting!
Loved the Oscar Wilde quote read out at the start of Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction ceremony this evening:
“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”
Yay books!
(book in pic was in my goody bag, not the winner)
“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”
Yay books!
(book in pic was in my goody bag, not the winner)
November 4, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Loved the Oscar Wilde quote read out at the start of Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction ceremony this evening:
“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”
Yay books!
(book in pic was in my goody bag, not the winner)
“If you cannot write well, you cannot think well; if you cannot think well, others will do your thinking for you.”
Yay books!
(book in pic was in my goody bag, not the winner)
If you're anywhere near Stratford and you have things lying around that are broken and in need of repair, do bring them along to this Repair Cafe (booking an appointment is best but not essential), and get them fixed. It's great for the environment and your wallet... win-win!
We have people booked to bring broken food processors, favourite jumpers with damaged zips, and ailing plants. Don't miss this opportunity to repair your stuff with the help of 40 technicians and makers. Repair Café | Sustainable UCL - share.google/2qFlWYPHRPLs...
Repair Café
Bring your broken or damaged possessions to our UCL Repair Café event at UCL East Marshgate on Friday, 7th November.
share.google
November 4, 2025 at 10:56 AM
If you're anywhere near Stratford and you have things lying around that are broken and in need of repair, do bring them along to this Repair Cafe (booking an appointment is best but not essential), and get them fixed. It's great for the environment and your wallet... win-win!
Wow. I did not know that Alfred Russell Wallace (co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection) wrote a book in 1904 about the biological potential for life on other planets, and I've just found this extraordinary paragraph setting out the insanity of atmospheric pollution [1/3]. In 1904!
![But the sketch I have here attempted to give of its varied functions shows us that it is really a most complex structure, a wonderful piece of machinery, as[ 259] it were, which in its various component gases, its actions and reactions upon the water and the land, its production of electrical discharges, and its furnishing the elements from which the whole fabric of organic life is composed and perpetually renewed, may be truly considered to be the very source and foundation of life itself. This is seen, not only in the fact of our absolute dependence upon it every minute of our lives, but in the terrible effects produced by even a slight degree of impurity in this vital element. Yet it is among those nations that claim to be the most civilised, those that profess to be guided by a knowledge of the laws of nature, those that most glory in the advance of science, that we find the greatest apathy, the greatest recklessness, in continually rendering impure this all-important necessary of life, to such a degree that the health of the larger portion of their populations is injured and their vitality lowered, by conditions which compel them to breathe more or less foul and impure air for the greater part of their lives. The huge and ever-increasing cities, the vast manufacturing towns belching forth smoke and poisonous gases, with the crowded dwellings, where millions are forced to live under the most terrible insanitary conditions, are the witnesses to this criminal apathy, this incredible recklessness and inhumanity.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:2g72wvrmzdfakrjq56d3lddj/bafkreidgfp3g5erh7m3rdhzqvar2th65nqj72arwtpxrzak4yvtepmshba@jpeg)
October 31, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Wow. I did not know that Alfred Russell Wallace (co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection) wrote a book in 1904 about the biological potential for life on other planets, and I've just found this extraordinary paragraph setting out the insanity of atmospheric pollution [1/3]. In 1904!
If you need an injection of positivity, I strongly recommend watching Power Station, if it's on near you (screening list & trailer here: power.film/pages/screen...). It's a beautiful story of a community taking action to make their on electricity supply cleaner, greener and cheaper. Brilliant stuff.
October 31, 2025 at 12:01 PM
If you need an injection of positivity, I strongly recommend watching Power Station, if it's on near you (screening list & trailer here: power.film/pages/screen...). It's a beautiful story of a community taking action to make their on electricity supply cleaner, greener and cheaper. Brilliant stuff.
If you fancy a bit of ocean in your life this Friday, come to the Royal Festival Hall for this FREE talk on the ocean by Liz Bonnin & me, followed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing a whole evening of ocean music (that bit isn't free). Tickets & more info here: lpo.org.uk/event/harmon...
October 28, 2025 at 8:29 PM
If you fancy a bit of ocean in your life this Friday, come to the Royal Festival Hall for this FREE talk on the ocean by Liz Bonnin & me, followed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra playing a whole evening of ocean music (that bit isn't free). Tickets & more info here: lpo.org.uk/event/harmon...
Yay for small things that make the world better! Every time I see something like this (swimming goggles today) that used to be sold covered in unnecessary plastic and now has paper/cardboard packaging, it makes me so happy. Manufacturers, I *will* choose this. Keep going! Make a better world real!
October 26, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Yay for small things that make the world better! Every time I see something like this (swimming goggles today) that used to be sold covered in unnecessary plastic and now has paper/cardboard packaging, it makes me so happy. Manufacturers, I *will* choose this. Keep going! Make a better world real!
Today I am very much enjoying the range of sea creatures depicted in the 1539 Carta Marina (the "Marine map and description of the Northern lands"). We know now that the ocean has even more wonderful things in it (that really exist!), but I love the brave attempt at making a then-unknown world real.
October 23, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Today I am very much enjoying the range of sea creatures depicted in the 1539 Carta Marina (the "Marine map and description of the Northern lands"). We know now that the ocean has even more wonderful things in it (that really exist!), but I love the brave attempt at making a then-unknown world real.
Wow, this is disappointing. This meeting was supposed to be a final confirmation of a deal agreed six months ago, and it would have been the first serious step in making the slow-to-change shipping industry cleaner & greener & ready for the future. The delay only hurts everyone in the long run. 🌊
Shipping emissions levy shelved as countries bow to US pressure
Long-planned charge on greenhouse gas emissions postponed as Trump officials accused of intimidation tactics
www.theguardian.com
October 17, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Wow, this is disappointing. This meeting was supposed to be a final confirmation of a deal agreed six months ago, and it would have been the first serious step in making the slow-to-change shipping industry cleaner & greener & ready for the future. The delay only hurts everyone in the long run. 🌊