Radical

Professor David Keith, one of the world’s leading researchers in geoengineering, answers Your Radical Questions. In the main episode, David told Gabriel Gatehouse why deliberately reflecting a small amount of sunlight away from Earth could slow global warming. Now, you ask him whether we could ever know the unintended consequences before trying it, and whether sunlight reflection could be stopped safely once it had begun.
David’s also challenged on whether carbon capture and carbon removal genuinely help tackle climate change, or if they offer oil companies an excuse to continue operating as usual. And is continued economic growth compatible with protecting the planet?
GET IN TOUCH:
- WhatsApp: +44330 123 9480
- Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.
Series producer: Rufus Gray
Producers: Oscar Pearson, Nathan Gower
Technical producer: Michael Regaard
Senior news editor: Sam Bonham

What if the answer to climate change is not only to cut carbon emissions, but to make the Earth more resilient using tech?
Professor David Keith is one of the world’s leading researchers of geoengineering which aims to do just that. Efforts to capture carbon are already underway, but Professor Keith is particularly interested in sunlight reflection - the controversial idea of cooling the planet by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space. To do this, he wants to release sulphur high into the atmosphere, and believes governments should consider starting within years.
To critics, it’s an arrogant and potentially disastrous attempt to interfere with a climate system we don’t fully understand. But, Professor Keith is now willing to say that we should be more radical in the face of the scale of our climate problem, and that a carefully managed intervention would be worth the downsides.
Gabriel Gatehouse sits in this week, and asks who would control the technology, who would be liable if it went wrong, and whether humanity should have the power to redesign the climate.
Next week, James Marriott speaks to Lamorna Ash about why Generation Z are turning to religion for answers to the problems of the modern world.
GET IN TOUCH
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk

Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.
Series producer: Rufus Gray
Producers: Oscar Pearson, Nathan Gower
Digital producers: Leona Gasper, Gabriel Purcell-Davis
Technical producer: Jonny Hall
Senior news editor: Sam Bonham

On Amol’s last day as the host of Radical, he shares five conversations that really stand out. Matt Clifford, Emma Grede, Jacob Dunne, Katherine Birbalsingh and James Marriott.
Next week, Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to Professor David Keith about geoengineering, deliberate large-scale interventions in the Earth’s climate system designed to fight human-caused climate change.
If you have a Radical question for Professor Keith, get in touch:
- WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
- Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.
Series producer: Rufus Gray
Producer: Oscar Pearson
Technical producer: Jonny Hall
Senior news editor: Sam Bonham

Sophie Pender, founder of The 93% Club, returns to answer your questions on class, privilege and education.
In the main episode, Sophie told Amol why she thinks Britain needs to stop talking politely about social mobility and confront the power of private schools. Now, listeners ask whether class identity has become too slippery, whether people downplay their own privilege, and whether support for state-school students risks helping those who are already advantaged.
Sophie also discusses oracy, accent and confidence in the classroom, the culture shock of elite universities, the case for and against grammar schools, and why she thinks vocational education should be about aptitude rather than origin.
GET IN TOUCH:
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday and Monday.
Amol Rajan presents the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and hosts University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was the BBC’s media editor and the editor of The Independent newspaper.
Series producer: Rufus Gray
Producers: Oscar Pearson, Julian Paszkiewicz
Digital producers: Leona Gasper, Joe Wilkinson
Technical producer: Jonny Hall
Senior news editor: Sam Bonham

Sophie Pender grew up on council estates in North London, became the first in her family to go to university, trained as a corporate lawyer - then walked away from a six-figure salary to fight Britain’s class problem.
She’s the founder of ‘The 93% Club’, a network for state-educated students and professionals, named after the proportion of people in Britain who go to state schools. But Sophie argues that “social mobility” has become too polite a phrase for something much deeper: how much class, accent, money and private education shapes who gets power – and who doesn’t.
In Amol’s final Radical interview, Sophie explains why she’s made it her life’s mission to make private schools redundant, why networks matter as much as talent, and what it would take to build an old boys’ network for everyone else.
GET IN TOUCH:
* WhatsApp: 0330 123 9480
* Email: radical@bbc.co.uk
Episodes of Radical are released every Thursday and Monday.
Amol Rajan presents the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 and hosts University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was the BBC’s media editor and the editor of The Independent newspaper.
Series producer: Rufus Gray
Producers: Oscar Pearson, Julian Paszkiewicz
Digital producers: Leona Gasper, Joe Wilkinson
Technical producer: Jonny Hall
Senior news editor: Sam Bonham