Understand

BBC Radio 4
Understand
Latest episode

99 episodes

  • Understand

    Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 4. Terror

    06/07/2026 | 15 mins.
    A pair of radical activists drives east, from the West Coast of the US to a quaint skiing town in Colorado. They’ve watched as local environmental groups tried - and failed - to prevent the expansion of a ski resort into pristine forest land. And they’ve had enough. Their plan? To burn the resort down.
    This group will go on be named the number one domestic terror threat in the United States. And the green movement is split about whether their actions went too far.
    Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
    Series Producer: Ellie House
    Editor: Matt Willis
    Sound Design and Mix: James Beard
    Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck
    Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
  • Understand

    Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 3. The Ecologist

    06/07/2026 | 15 mins.
    It’s the 1990s - and in a tiny office in Charing Cross, a group of big thinkers is publishing some radical ideas…and about to have a very public falling out.
    This is the story of an influential green magazine and the man who created it: Teddy Goldsmith. He believed the cause was so grave it stood outside of left-right politics. Not everyone agreed.
    Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
    Producer: Rachel Naylor
    Series Producer: Ellie House
    Editor: Matt Willis
    Sound Design and Mix: James Beard
    Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck
    Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
    Archive:
    Margaret Thatcher speech to the United Nations General Assembly, C-SPAN, 8/11/1989
  • Understand

    Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 2. The Greenpeace

    29/06/2026 | 15 mins.
    Somewhere in the North Pacific, 1971. A ragbag crew of environmentalist hippies sets sail on a rickety fishing boat in a last ditch effort to stop a nuclear weapons test. Their tumultuous voyage would birth the modern green movement. The men on board wanted to save the world, but spent much of their time at each other’s throats.
    Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
    Producer: Rachel Naylor
    Series Producer: Ellie House
    Editor: Matt Willis
    Sound Design and Mix: James Beard
    Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck
    Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
    Archive:
    Irving Stowe announcing Greenpeace concert, provided by Robert Stowe
    ‘The birth of Greenpeace’, CBC Radio Canada, 11/10/1971
    Argument on Greenpeace boat, AM925 , City of Vancouver Archives
  • Understand

    Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: 1. Rebellion

    29/06/2026 | 14 mins.
    We follow Extinction Rebellion on one of its first ever actions. Before the rebels shut down London, before they became a household name, they occupied an office building in Islington. Their target? Not a fossil fuel company or government, but Greenpeace - perhaps the world’s most high profile environmental campaign group.
    Presenter: Justin Rowlatt
    Series Producer: Ellie House
    Editor: Matt Willis
    Sound Design and Mix: James Beard
    Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele, Brenda Brown, Sabine Schereck
    Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
    Archive:
    ‘Extinction Rebellion occupy Greenpeace HQ’, Real Media, 18/10/2018
    ‘LONDON Walk TOUR - Extinction REBELLION Protest PINK BOAT at Oxford Circus - England’, Walking Tour, Walking Tour, 16/4/2019
  • Understand

    Ten Fights That Made the Green Movement: Trailer

    24/06/2026 | 3 mins.
    The modern green movement has been shaped not only by protest, but by conflict within the ranks.
    Shared ideas are forged through friction - battles over tactics, solutions, or who gets a voice.
    Justin Rowlatt goes to the heart of these battles - to learn about these dramatic moments from the people who were there. Friends, or sometimes enemies, hashing out big ideas that help define what it means to be green.
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About Understand
New in Understand: Ten Fights That Made The Green MovementThe modern green movement has been shaped not only by protest, but by conflict within the ranks. Shared ideas are forged through friction - battles over tactics, solutions, or who gets a voice. Justin Rowlatt goes to the heart of these battles - to learn about these dramatic moments from the people who were there. Friends, or sometimes enemies, hashing out big ideas that help define what it means to be green.Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.
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