The Happy Pod: My college designs on display at the Met

Summary

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The Happy Pod: My College Designs on Display at the Met

Global News Podcast – BBC World Service
Host: Holly Gibbs
Date: May 16, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this uplifting edition of The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service, Holly Gibbs spotlights stories of creativity, resilience, connection, and hope from around the world. The highlight is the remarkable journey of a Scottish fashion teacher whose student project honoring Alzheimer’s disease finds a place at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The episode also covers stories of unique social experiments in Switzerland, remarkable animal rescues in Canada, life-changing transplants in the UK, bold fundraising efforts in Poland, and grassroots environmental activism in Chile, finishing with an enchanting blend of music and nature in England.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. From College Cupboard to the Met: Nadia Pinkney’s Design Story

[02:20–08:18]

• Origin of the Collection:

  • Nadia Pinkney reveals the personal and scientific inspiration behind her fashion collection centered on Alzheimer’s disease, drawing from family experience and discussions with researchers at Alzheimer's Scotland.

    “It was really that that kind of drove the theme to start off with… when the disease enters the brain, it starts to tangle and knot all the neurons, which is why people can’t access their memories.” — Nadia Pinkney [03:08]

• Symbolism in Design:

  • Used knotted and tangled motifs to represent neuron damage; a fading color palette to mirror memory loss; and the color red, signifying the still-active part of the brain and her great-grandmother’s favorite color.

    “My great grandmother’s favorite color was red... The symbolism behind it connected in with the science, but also in a personal level as well.” — Nadia Pinkney [04:40]

• Being Contacted by the Met:

  • Initially suspected a scam when contacted by the Met, then reconstructed a missing centerpiece (‘the brain scan tangled coat’) on request.

    “People have asked me, what dreams are made of, isn’t it? Did you ever dream that this would happen? I was like, no... so for it to end up in the Met, it’s amazing.” — Nadia Pinkney [05:56]

• Impact and Legacy:

  • Her work is set to enter the permanent archive after the exhibition concludes.
  • Emotional impact of seeing people engage and connect:

    “If the whole thing has meant that one person feels more seen or heard or valued, that’s the main goal.” — Nadia Pinkney [06:38]

• Advice to Young Designers:

  • “Don’t let anyone ever tell you no. If you’re quite clear and you’re quite passionate and you have a vision for something, then you have to run with it.” — Nadia Pinkney [07:47]

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2. A Bus to Nowhere: Reviving Human Connection in Switzerland

[08:18–11:00]

• Concept of the ‘Line 0’ Bus:

  • A social experiment in Baden, Switzerland—no fixed route, timetable, or destination. The point is the journey and spontaneous social connection.

    “They sing, they laugh, they speak. It is a try to bring more humanity back into the daily life.” — Rebecca Wood [01:41, 08:58]

• Passenger Experience:

  • Unplanned, spontaneous events like singing and ice cream parties occur.

    “It’s just so unplanned and spontaneous… We sang on the bus, we talked to everyone. We turned on our phone flashlights in the tunnel. It was just amazing.” — Unnamed passenger [09:46]

• Philosophy:

  • Pushback against the ‘zombification’ of society and screen obsession.

    “It can give passengers a break… a time to put their mobile phones down and connect with others. In real life.” — Patrick or Frank Ricklin [09:26]

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3. Rescue and Kindness: A Canadian Moose in Trouble

[11:00–13:47]

• The Incident:

  • Tow truck driver Clint Gottinger saves a moose calf, trapped in ice for nearly a whole day, using ingenuity and kindness.

    “Everyone will have to wait, this is a priority. … I got him out at 5:30 at night. So he was, yeah, he was in there all day.” — Clint Gottinger [11:24]

• Aftermath:

  • The moose, dubbed Rebel, stays around for days, allowing Clint to scratch him, becoming a local celebrity.

    “My wife’s mad at me, ‘stop walking up to that guy, you’re going to get hurt.’ Then the next morning, he was gone.” — Clint Gottinger [13:27]

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4. A Mother Holds Her Daughter’s Hand Again: Limb Donation in the UK

[16:15–18:52]

• The Story:

  • After losing her daughter Georgie to a rare brain condition, Jackie Kerwin meets Kim Smith, recipient of Georgie’s hand, allowing Jackie to literally hold her daughter’s hand again.

    “It’s absolutely 1 billion percent Georgie’s hand. Yeah. No doubts whatsoever. Freckles. Little mark here. It’s amazing.” — Jackie Kerwin [17:02] “I’ve been able to finally hold my youngest granddaughter’s hand and I can actually feel it now.” — Kim Smith [18:02]

• Donation Process:

  • NHS confirms limb donation is rare and not standard; can be discussed with loved ones if a match is available.

    “When I was asked about limbs, I kind of paused for a minute… If I’m given heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, what difference does it make?” — Jackie Kerwin [18:26]

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5. Record-setting Livestream for Cancer Charity in Poland

[18:52–20:46]

• Fundraising Feat:

  • Influencer Piotr Hanke (Lachvagang) listens to a rapper’s song on loop for nine days, raising £50 million for a children’s cancer charity—supported by celebrities and sports stars.

    “At one point it was being watched by 1.4 million people.” — Branca Lesodisar [20:08]

• Impact:

  • The Cancer Fighters Foundation will publicly account for all the donations.

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6. Community-Led Wetland Restoration in Chile

[20:46–25:28]

• Threat and Response:

  • Wetlands threatened by illegal dumping and development; residents like Luisa Valenzuela take action after seeing wildlife affected.

    “That’s when I realized I couldn’t just watch. I had to become a voice for the species that live here.” — Luisa Valenzuela [22:11]

• Nature-Based Solutions:

  • Local and international project aims to restore wetlands’ natural functions to prevent flooding and preserve wildlife.

    “If you restore them, they can start working together to manage water.” — Loretta Arriagada [23:30]

• Personal Legacy:

  • “I want my granddaughter to be able to say, my grandmother stood up for this. She fought to leave us a better world.” — Luisa Valenzuela [24:57]

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7. Singing with Nightingales: A Harmony of Art and Nature in England

[25:28–28:59]

• History and Project:

  • Inspired by a 1924 BBC broadcast, musician Sam Lee organizes improvised nighttime concerts with live nightingales and guest artists.

    “An exquisite meditation occurs as the nightingale starts to sing with us and incorporate our human music into their avian song.” — Sam Lee [26:31]

• Magic of Collaboration:

  • Each musician elicits different responses from the birds.

    “They are so very good at reading… when Charlotte Church sang last weekend… she channeled and the nightingale found a soulmate.” — Sam Lee [28:26]

• Conservation Note:

  • The event is tinged with sadness due to declining nightingale populations.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If the whole thing has meant that one person feels more seen or heard or valued, that’s the main goal.” — Nadia Pinkney [06:38]
• “It is a try to bring more humanity back into the daily life.” — Rebecca Wood [01:41, 08:58]
• “It’s absolutely 1 billion percent Georgie’s hand. Yeah. No doubts whatsoever.” — Jackie Kerwin [17:02]
• “At one point it was being watched by 1.4 million people.” — Branca Lesodisar [20:08]
• “I want my granddaughter to be able to say, my grandmother… fought to leave us a better world.” — Luisa Valenzuela [24:57]
• “An exquisite meditation occurs as the nightingale starts to sing with us and incorporate our human music…” — Sam Lee [26:31]

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment Description | Timestamps | |------------------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Nadia Pinkney’s Alzheimer’s-inspired designs at the Met | 02:20–08:18 | | The ‘Line 0’ bus in Switzerland and social connections | 08:18–11:00 | | Clint’s moose rescue in Canada | 11:00–13:47 | | UK mother holds daughter’s hand via limb donation | 16:15–18:52 | | Polish livestream raises millions for cancer charity | 18:52–20:46 | | Chilean wetlands restoration led by community | 20:46–25:28 | | Singing with Nightingales in England | 25:28–28:59 |

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Tone and Language

The episode’s tone is empathetic, hopeful, and celebratory, amplifying stories of positive action, creativity, and moments of deep emotional connection.

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This detailed summary includes all notable stories, quotes, and timestamps, conveying the spirit and substance of this episode of The Happy Pod.

Transcript

[Podcast Advertiser]

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[Holly Gibbs]

This is the Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Holly Gibbs and in this edition, the teacher whose university designs ended up on display at the Met.

[Nadia Pinkney]

It was almost like an outer body experience. Just being amongst all these amazing artists and designers thinking, wow, all the people that have already walked past this through the Met gala. It was just amazing.

[Holly Gibbs]

Also on this podcast, why people in Switzerland are catching a bus to nowhere.

[Rebecca Wood]

They sing, they laugh, they speak. It is a try to bring more humanity back into the daily life.

[Holly Gibbs]

A woman who's able to hold her late daughter's hand again.

[Jackie Kerwin]

Absolutely 1 billion percent Georgie's hand. Yeah, no doubts whatsoever. It's amazing to know there's a little piece of us still there.

[Holly Gibbs]

The nine day livestream that's raised millions of dollars for a cancer charity.

[Luisa Valenzuela]

And that sign over there, my granddaughter painted it. It says, I love the wetlands. I want my granddaughter to be able to say, my grandmother stood up for this. She fought to leave us a better world.

[Holly Gibbs]

The fight to save Chile's wetlands for the next generation. We start with a story about how one teacher's designs ended up on display at one of America's most prestigious museums. Nadia Pinkney, an art and fashion teacher from Scotland, created a line of clothes which represented Alzheimer's disease. She made the collection as part of her degree 10 years ago and the items were then stored in a cupboard in her classroom. The that was until last year when Nadia got A message from a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York asking for her designs. The clothes are now part of a new exhibition on costume art. I caught up with Nadia, fresh from her trip to New York, and started by asking her what inspired her collection all those years ago.

[Nadia Pinkney]

I had grown up with my grandmother on my dad's side and my great grandmother on my mother's side. Both had Alzheimer's. And probably between the ages of like 8 and 19 year old, I was visiting care homes multiple times a week and seeing all these people with Alzheimer's and dementia. And so it was really that that kind of drove the theme to start off with. And then I was just really lucky that Alzheimer's Scotland let me in and speak to their researchers. And I got access to different patients brain scans. They had discussions to me and put into quite simple terms, so understand what happens. So basically, when the disease enters the brain, it starts to tangle and not all the neurons, which is why then people can't access their memories because there's basically a blockage. And so because of that, I then used the tanglement and the knots within the range quite heavily. And then the other thing was about feel like a lot of people refer to dementia and Alzheimer's, that the person's like slowly fading away. So I wanted to make sure that it was almost like one color and it was slowly getting muted. So there was a tone of black, gray and white in there. And when I was speaking to Dr. Tom Russ with the brain scans, he was telling me that the color red symbolized the area of the brain that was still very much active. So even in the most severe cases of Alzheimer's, there's always still a little part of the brain that's red. The color red tied in lovely because my great grandmother's favorite color was read. So it was quite nice that the symbolism behind it connected in with the science, but also in a personal level as well.

[Holly Gibbs]

So then one day you get a message from a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What happens next?

[Nadia Pinkney]

Yeah, well, that message came through on a Friday evening, and I thought, well, this has to be a scam. And then I realized, oh, this is actually a serious thing. And I thought, I don't know if I've got all these pieces. I went into the school and was able to gather the pieces that I had however they really wanted. The brain scan tangled coat, which I actually just hadn't kept because it was quite a large piece. And they said, okay, we'll take what you've got, but could we also ask you to remake the coat? When you see the exhibition, you can see the link of the brain scans and the artwork from de Kooning that we've paired it with. So I can now clearly see why they wanted that specific piece to be part of something that's trying to celebrate everybody and say everyone has a say in fashion and, you know, everyone can choose exactly what they want to wear and let's celebrate everybody. I think that was a really lovely thing to be part of. People have asked me, like, what, you know, it's like, what dreams are made of, isn't it? Like, did you ever dream that this would happen? I was like, no. Like, I never expected it to go anywhere. Like, you know, so for it to end up in the May, and it's after the exhibition closes In January to 2027, they've asked to keep it and put it as part of our permanent archive.

[Holly Gibbs]

And can you describe what it was like seeing your pieces there on display?

[Nadia Pinkney]

I'd been told that my work was in the exhibition, but I hadn't been told how much or how little would be in the exhibition. And we kind of walked into the first gallery and you could see the work and it had the blurbs. I mentioned both my grandmother and my great grandmother. I think it was almost like an outer body experience, just being in amongst all these amazing artists and designers and thinking, wow, all the people that have already walked past this through the Met Gala, it was just amazing. And I think what was more overwhelming, to be honest, was when other people were looking at the work and reading the blurb and the conversations that those people were having was just amazing to watch, because, you know, somebody would be like, oh, you know, like, my mum had Alzheimer's or my dad had that. And it resonated with them and it opened up this conversation, you know, it's easier not to talk about it. And actually, if the whole thing has meant that one person feels more seen or heard or valued, that's the main goal. It's to raise awareness.

[Holly Gibbs]

What's your message for people who might be designing fashion items? About thinking really outside the box like you did, and taking inspiration from something that is quite sad, but, as you say, making it something that raises awareness.

[Nadia Pinkney]

I think I say this a lot to the kids in my classroom as well. Like, don't let anyone ever tell you no. If you're quite clear and you're quite passionate and you have a vision for something, then you have to run with it. And especially in a creative process, like, it's never straightforward. You're not going to please everybody. And you have to be confident in your own abilities first. And as long as you're trying your best, like I would just say, you know, definitely go for it. Do what you want to do. I mean, worst case, it goes wrong and you stop that project and start a new one.

[Holly Gibbs]

Nadia Pinkney to Switzerland next. And a bus that's taking people nowhere. Yes, you did hear that, right. It's a social experiment which is encouraging its passengers to slow down and connect with people face to face. Rebecca Wood has the details.

[Rebecca Wood]

Up to the mountains.

[Patrick or Frank Ricklin]

With no fixed route, no timetable and no destination, the Line 0 bus in Baden, Switzerland, offers passengers a different kind of commute. The service encourages people to hop on and enjoy the social connection and is the brainchild of conceptual artists and twin brothers Patrick and Frank Ricklin.

[Rebecca Wood]

People don't take it to go from A to B. They take it to experience the journey itself. They sing, they laugh, they speak. One person had a birthday. Suddenly the whole bus was singing. It is a try to bring more humanity back into the daily life. It's a counter idea to what we see as a kind of zombification of society.

[Patrick or Frank Ricklin]

As Frank says, it can give passengers a break from their normal daily routine, a time to put their mobile phones down and connect with others. In real life,

[Holly Gibbs]

everyone's happy and everyone's

[Clint Gottinger]

talking to each other. It's a lot noisier because of it, but it's fun.

[Holly Gibbs]

I'd definitely recommend it. It's just so unplanned and spontaneous. We sang on the bus, we talked to everyone. We turned on our phone, flashlights in the tunnel. It was just amazing. We even had an ice cream party. It was really cool.

[Patrick or Frank Ricklin]

You can ride on the bus for free. And instead of taking tickets, the driver, like Thomas Bossard, collects experiences.

[Rebecca Wood]

It's crazy, but it's a good idea because you go out of the usual work every day and you can do something a little bit crazy too. It's a cool idea, I think.

[Patrick or Frank Ricklin]

But having a real bus driver like Thomas and looking like a normal public bus means the service does sometimes pick up an accidental passenger or two. Here's Frank again.

[Rebecca Wood]

We had a lot of people, they were in the Line zero without knowing it. Funny was that one of this person was a second time in the line 03 four hours later. And then we asked, oh, again, you are in the wrong line. And then she said, no, Now I decided for the line. It's a decision. I wanted to be here.

[Patrick or Frank Ricklin]

The Ricklin brothers Hope that if this creative concept catches on, the bus could make stops in other places too.

[Holly Gibbs]

Rebecca Wood reporting to Canada now and a truck driver's unusual rescue mission.

[Clint Gottinger]

I just backed up to my house and I phoned the wife and I said, bring out some blankets. I got a moose.

[Holly Gibbs]

That's Clint Gottinger. He'd been on his way to help some humans in his tow truck when he spotted a moose that had fallen through some ice. He's been speaking to CBC News.

[Clint Gottinger]

About a kilometer from my house there's a junction and I seen across and there that poor guy was in the ice, frozen the ice there. I drove up beside him and looked, oh, I can't leave him. So, yep, everyone will have to wait. This is a priority. And I'm thinking, yeah, I'm pretty sure I can just slide the deck down to him and I know I got a soft sling I could throw around him. I'm sure we can pop him out. And it worked out great. Pretty leery to walk up to him at first but he was so tired and exhausted. He's been in there for a long time. And I took that nice sling and I threw it around and I wanted to get under his arms and stuff but couldn't quite So I just went around his neck area and so I started winching and pulling and he was helping a bit. About that time my neighbors showed up. We got the sling around his butt and popped him right out. Talked to another neighbor, they saw him there at 8:45 in the morning and I got him out at 5:30 at night. So he was, yeah, he was in there all day. And once I pulled up there this moose sitting on the deck, she come running out with blankets and we set a nice big blanket down on the ground and I stood, set him down nice on there. And then, yeah, he let us put a blanket over top of him. I think once I pulled him out onto the deck he was pretty, pretty happy to get out of there. But I'd go out there once a while, I'd scratch. He let me scratch his cheek in his ear and he liked that. So then about later in the evening there, 8, 9 o' clock I went, checked on him and he was still laying there. I give him some oats but he, he wasn't eating. Then before we went to bed at 11 o' clock in the dark, I went out there and here he was standing. So I thought, well let me see if I can walk up and scratch his cheek again. But he kind of grunted and put his leg up and oh, you're still wild. So we left him. And then the next morning he was still laying there, but across the road more. So he's kind of moving around a little bit. But that was all day Sunday. He hung around once in a while. Look, he'd be standing. Next time he'd be sitting and I'd go out there when he was sitting and he would let me scratch him. And my wife's mad at me, stop walking up to that guy, you're going to get hurt. Then the next morning, he was gone. Remember, like I said, I was on these two toe calls, you know, a long ways away. So as I'm playing with Rebel the moose here, people are phoning, where are you? Where you are, where boats are you? So I had to explain to them, well, something came up once I told them I'm digging a moose out of the ice. They were very understanding. Oh no, that's fine. So my customers were very understanding with that.

[Holly Gibbs]

And the calf, named Rebel, is now arguably the most famous moose in Canada. The rescue has been a hit on social media and people have been commenting saying that there is still kindness in the world. Coming up on the Happy Pods, an

[Sam Lee]

exquisite meditation occurs as the nightingale starts to sing with us and incorporate our human music into their aven song, the

[Holly Gibbs]

improvised concert celebrating nightingales.

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[Holly Gibbs]

you. You're listening to the Happy Pod. A mother here in the UK has been able to hold her daughter's hand again. A year after she passed away from a rare brain condition, 33 year old Georgie donated her hand and her mother Jackie has been to meet the recipient. As Kate Bradbrook reports.

[Jackie Kerwin]

Morning. How are you?

[Kate Bradbrook]

Two women brought together by a series of life changing events. Eight years ago, Kim Smith lost all four limbs to sepsis. Last year, she received a rare hand transplant from her donor, Georgie Peterson. After sending an anonymous letter via the transplant team to Georgie's mum, Jackie, the pair decided to meet.

[Jackie Kerwin]

It's absolutely 1 billion percent Georgie's hand. Yeah. No doubts whatsoever. Freckles. Little Mark here is amazing. Yeah, yeah. To know there's a little piece of us still there. Yeah. I didn't expect to actually end up meeting the family. I just thought, I've got to send a letter and say thank you.

[Podcast Advertiser]

I just. Thank you doesn't seem enough for this

[Jackie Kerwin]

because it's just such an incredible gift that's given me so much independence.

[Kate Bradbrook]

Georgie was 33 and was living with a rare brain condition called PVNH, which caused epileptic seizures and cluster headaches.

[Jackie Kerwin]

Human sunshine. That's how I would describe her. When she was 17 and she was diagnosed, she came to me and said, I've signed the organ donor register and if anything happens, this is my wishes and that she didn't want to be kept alive if it wasn't fully hair.

[Podcast Advertiser]

I've been able to finally hold my

[Jackie Kerwin]

youngest granddaughter's hand and I can actually feel it now.

[Podcast Advertiser]

I don't have feeling like other people

[Jackie Kerwin]

do, but I've got sensations, so I can feel touch and things like that, which is absolutely incredible.

[Kate Bradbrook]

NHS blood and transplants say limb donation is rare and not covered by the organ donor register. If organ donors are a match and are close by, limb donation can be discussed with loved ones.

[Jackie Kerwin]

When I was asked about limbs, kind of paused for a minute. I thought, what is the difference? If I'm given heart, liver, lungs, kidneys, what difference does it make? So. And it'll change somebody's life. So. Yeah.

[Kate Bradbrook]

How do you feel when you're holding her hand?

[Jackie Kerwin]

Like I'm holding Georgie's hand. Feels amazing.

[Kate Bradbrook]

Do you get comfort from that?

[Jackie Kerwin]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Holly Gibbs]

Jackie Kerwin ending That report by Kate Bradbrook here on the Happy Pod. We love hearing from our listeners and we've had someone get in touch about our next story. So thank you to Inga in Poland. An influencer there has raised millions of dollars for a cancer charity by hosting a nine day non stop live stream. Branca Lesodisar has the story.

[Branca Lesodisar]

Broadcasting from a flat in Warsaw, 23 year old Piotr Hanke, better known as Lachvagang, managed to raise £50 million for a children's cancer charity. It all started with a charity single by the Polish rapper Bedo Es. Piotr had promised to listen to a second of the track for every like of the video he'd shared. So when the song went viral, he ended up listening to it on a continuous loop for the whole nine days. The livestream was supported by musicians, celebrities and sports stars, including Coldplay's Chris Martin and Grand Slam champion tennis player Igor Wiatek. Wiatek sent in a video message encouraging others to donate too.

[Holly Gibbs]

I would like to support this by donating 100,000 zloty and two tickets to my Windmill don't match, so I highly encourage you to donate.

[Branca Lesodisar]

Hanka's online marathon began on April 17 and finished on Sunday, April 26. At one point it was being watched by 1.4 million people. Supporters gathered outside the flats as it came to an end, celebrating the huge achievement. The money raised, which was more than three times the previous record for a livestream fundraiser, went to the Cancer Fighters Foundation, a Polish organization that supports children with cancer. The charity has pledged to publicly account for all the money received, so everyone who's been a part of the campaign can see their commitment translate into real help.

[Holly Gibbs]

Branka Lesedisar, reporting. Chile is home to thousands of wetlands. Many are protected by an international agreement that recognises their vital role in cleaning water, supporting wildlife and preventing flooding. But they're under threat, often used as land for new homes or illegal rubbish dumps. Now, though, many local communities are working to restore them. Jane Chambers went along to the central city of Concepcion to find out more.

[Podcast Advertiser]

The city's built on low flat land near rivers and the sea, so water builds up easily when it rains. When I met local resident Luisa Valenzuela, who lives right next door to the Rocuant Andelen wetland, one of the most important and threatened wetlands in Concepcion.

[Luisa Valenzuela]

Living here is difficult, especially in winter, with illegal dumping and construction. The water now rises enough to get into our homes, and sometimes the sewage system overflows. It's really affecting People's quality of life, especially older residents.

[Podcast Advertiser]

The illegal dumping and building means the wetlands are filling up with rubbish buildings and concrete. The water can't soak into the ground. Instead it runs off quickly, which makes flooding worse. A few years ago, Louisa saw something which made her decide to take action.

[Luisa Valenzuela]

I saw trucks dumping rubble near my house and a pair of ducks diving at the truck and trying to defend their home, probably because they had a nest and young ones there. That's when I realized I couldn't just watch. I had to become a voice for the species that live here.

[Podcast Advertiser]

I'm in Louisa's local wetland and she's jumping up and down, showing me how springy the ground is. She wants me to understand that wetlands are giant sponges beneath the surface. Water flows through hidden channels, helping them soak up rain so it doesn't rush into streets and homes. The wetlands then release the water, slowly reducing the risk of flooding and jumping. With her is someone who has a plan to use wetlands as a solution.

[Loretta Arriagada]

Nature based solutions involve developing infrastructure that imitates nature in order to restore the riverbank and reconnect it with the floodplain.

[Podcast Advertiser]

That's Loretta Arriagada, the local coordinator for Audubon, an international non profit environmental organization. She's working with them, Birdlife International and the Development bank of Latin America and the Caribbean on a project called the America's Flyways Initiative.

[Loretta Arriagada]

This project is about restoring wetlands so they can actually work again. Right now, a lot of them are fragmented, they've been cut up by development, so they're not functioning as one system. And if you restore them, they can start working together to manage water.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Loreto thinks government money could be better spent on this issue.

[Loretta Arriagada]

At the moment, most money goes into dealing with floods after they happen. This project is about provision, prevention, fixing the wetlands so flooding doesn't happen in the first place.

[Podcast Advertiser]

Once the funding's there, the project involves removing landfill sites and small illegal dumps. They'll create terraces with drainage so water can soak into the ground and flow naturally. It will also reconnect the wetland's water system and restore the riverbanks so water can move between the river and the wetland, spread out and soak into the soil. This helps reduce flooding during heavy rain and protects nearby homes. Luisa wants Loretto's project to go ahead so that more of her beloved wetland is restored to its former glory. And she wants to show me some of the things she loves about it, including a space in the heart of the wetland. We're just entering the Magic Forest. And there's a sign, a brightly coloured sign with a dragonfly. Tell me about it. Quentum is.

[Luisa Valenzuela]

That sign over there? My granddaughter painted it when she was 5. It says, I love the wetlands because she's learned so much here. She can recognize the plants and understand nature. If we don't take care of these places, the situation is going to get worse. There's already water scarcity and these wetlands are where the freshwater is. So their future is at risk if we don't protect this. I want my granddaughter to be able to say, my grandmother stood up for this. She fought to leave us a better world.

[Holly Gibbs]

That report was by Jane Chambers and you can hear more about efforts to preserve Chile's wetlands on People Fixing the World wherever you get your BBC podcasts. We end with a harmony of arts and nature. That's the sound of a nightingale, a bird known for its beautiful song. So much so that in 1924, a cello player persuaded the BBC to broadcast live from her garden, where a nightingale had begun singing as she practiced. That recording has inspired people to gather at dusk for improvised performances with wild nightingales in southern England. The project called Singing With Nightingales was founded by musician and conservationist Sam Lee. He told the BBC's Anna Foster how

[Sam Lee]

they do it very sensitively because this is their mating song. After 11pm, myself, a guest musician and a small audience, all very sensitively go and sit right at the feet under the blackthorn bush of a wild bird, and there we begin to make a musical conversation, a little bit like that recording there made over 100 years ago. And an exquisite meditation occurs as the nightingale starts to sing with us and incorporate our human music into their avian song.

[Holly Gibbs]

Yeah. Describe to me how they respond to it, because they clearly get something from it, otherwise they could quite happily fly away if they wanted to.

[Sam Lee]

I still disbelieve myself sometimes when I say it, but just a few hours after last night's concert and there we sat under the stars and as the musicians sang and played, we just experienced this way that the bird starts to adapt his voice and come into tune with us and rhythm and really starts to listen deeply to what we're playing and find that harmony, that unison. And the voice amplifies, it grows, and he starts to really come into some sort of rhythm and play with us. It, it, it does beg a belief, I must admit. What we are celebrating is the joy and the survival of the population here. And their, their voices are of such expressiveness. But the sadness is, is that we are listening to a relatively significant, if small percentage of the nation's nightingales that are left. We're just hearing a small fraction of what it used to sound like.

[Holly Gibbs]

And what we played was the sound of a nightingale and a cello. But actually, you've got a real range of different artists, different music who are doing this. And it works every time.

[Sam Lee]

It really does. And the nightingale responds differently to every musician. They are so very good at reading. So when Charlotte Church sang last weekend under the full moon on Mayday, she channeled and the nightingale really found a soulmate. And every player and every instrument has a different sort of interaction. And that's part of the magic. No two nights are alike. And every, every evening, the journey we go on is completely unique and every audience is falls into a complete spell. I think this is what's so important. It's. It's spell making stuff.

[Holly Gibbs]

Sa. And that's all from the happy pod for now. We'd love to hear from you. As ever, the address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. this edition was produced by Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Holly Gibbs. Until next time. Goodbye.

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