The Happy Pod: Escaping death on a glacier

Summary

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Global News Podcast: The Happy Pod – "Escaping death on a glacier"

BBC World Service | September 13, 2025
Host: Ankar Desai

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Episode Overview

This edition of The Happy Pod focuses on uplifting and remarkable stories from across the globe, with the central feature being the harrowing yet inspiring survival experience of a hiker stranded on a Norwegian glacier. The episode also covers scientific discoveries, a traditional matchmaking festival, innovations in food security, wildlife conservation breakthroughs, and a personal crusade for cleaner environments—all highlighting human resilience, ingenuity, and compassion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Escaping Death on a Glacier: Alec Lune’s Survival Story

[01:30–07:48]

• The Incident:
  Alec Lune, an award-winning American journalist and experienced hiker, recounts his near-fatal fall on the Folgefonna glacier in Norway. After losing his phone, food, and water, he survived with severe injuries until rescue six days later.

• Emotional Reflection:
  Lune emphasizes the fragility of life and cherishing personal relationships above all else.

• Critical Factors in Survival:

  • Basic camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad)
  • Approximately twelve granola bars and some peanuts for sustenance
  • Maintaining a survival-focused, task-oriented mindset

• Rescue Details:

  • A previously sent photo to his wife was pivotal for search teams
  • Military helicopter rescue after initial false hope when not spotted
  • A rescuer spent 40 minutes hugging him to keep him warm before evacuation

  Notable Quotes:

  “My only regret really if I die up here is that I didn’t spend more time with my wife and my family. Life is so fragile and you’ve really got to appreciate the small things.”
  – Alec Lune [01:32, 04:29, 07:24]

  “You just don’t think it’s going to happen to you. We’re on this earth temporarily and it could happen to anyone at any time. So safety first and don’t be afraid to turn around.”
  – Alec Lune [07:24]

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2. New Source of Fresh Water Under the Atlantic Ocean

[07:48–11:40]

• Discovery:
  Expedition 501, a global project, identified a massive aquifer containing fresh water 50km off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

• Scientific Implications:

  • Unusually large volumes of low-salinity water found beneath the sea floor
  • Offers potential as a future drinking water resource after appropriate treatment
  • Could be vital as global water demand outpaces supply
  • Raises questions about the age, origin, and future of such water sources

  Notable Quotes:

  “We discovered and documented water that had salinity less than one part per thousand, so meeting fresh drinking water criteria below the ocean... significant volumes of it.”
  – Brandon Dugan, Chief Scientist [08:32]

  “It would require standard treatment, but it looks like it would be a viable source after treatment because it’s similar to things that we see in nearshore environments or even onshore.”
  – Brandon Dugan [10:44]

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3. Europe’s Largest Matchmaking Festival in Lisdoonvarna, Ireland

[11:40–15:51]

• Event:
  The Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival, running since 1857, attracts 20,000+ people yearly seeking love and friendship through dance and tradition.

• Matchmaking Icon:
  Willie Daly, Ireland’s last traditional matchmaker, uses his family’s "lucky book" to help hopeful singles find partners.

• Cultural Insights:
  Despite modern dating apps, the festival thrives on in-person connections, spontaneity, and rural charm.

  Notable Quotes:

  “It’s a kind of a magic…people walk up to girls they haven’t met before…They just say, ‘Will you marry me?’”
  – Willie Daly [12:59]

  “A bird in your hand is worth two in the bush. There’s nothing wrong at the computer…I think it’s good where it works.”
  – Willie Daly [15:27]

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4. Koalas and the Fight Against Chlamydia

[19:52–22:59]

• Conservation Problem:
  Half of koalas in Queensland and New South Wales are infected with Chlamydia, a disease causing blindness and infertility, critically threatening populations.

• Breakthrough Solution:
  Professor Peter Timms discusses a newly-approved single-dose vaccine that’s shown to reduce disease rates by over 50% in long-term studies.

• Logistical Challenges:

  • Vaccination starts with those in wildlife hospitals or affected by habitat disruption
  • Wild koalas to be reached via targeted studies and interventions

  Notable Quotes:

  “It causes eye disease, it can lead to blindness, but of course the most important thing is in females where it causes reproductive tract disease or it makes them infertile…can often be the tipping point in whether populations survive or don’t.”
  – Professor Peter Timms [20:23]

  “The vaccine…stops or reduces, at least it’s not perfect, infections becoming disease. So disease is the thing we’re trying to stop here.”
  – Professor Peter Timms [21:06]

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5. Parthenogenesis: The Miracle of Eight Cloned Iguanas in England

[22:59–24:33]

• Extraordinary Birth:
  At the Exotic Zoo in Telford, a female casque-headed iguana—without access to a male—laid eggs that hatched into eight healthy babies through parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction).

• Biological Rarity:
  The hatchlings are genetic clones of their mother; such events are exceedingly rare and scientifically fascinating.

  Notable Moments:

  “We weren’t expecting that it was going to happen…When out come eight healthy little, very cute babies. It just reminds us how amazing nature can be.”
  – Scott Baker, Zoo Director & Ankar Desai [23:49–23:52]

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6. Solar Tractors and Deep Bed Farming in Malawi

[24:33–28:50]

• Food Security Crisis:
  Malawi, where 80% of the population farms, faces food shortages due to climate change.

• Innovative Solutions:

  • Deep bed farming breaks up hard ground, improving water retention and root growth—boosting maize yield up to 40% for smallholders.
  • Introduction of the Aftrac: a UK-designed, solar-powered, walk-behind tractor prototype, further easing soil preparation.

• Impact on Lives:
  Farmers like Wilfred report harvesting up to 10 times more maize on the same land, allowing for surplus sales and improved livelihoods.

  Notable Quotes:

  “On a small piece of land… I got about 10 bags, 50kg bags, which I wouldn’t have before.”
  – Wilfred, Farmer [25:48]

  “By having this tractor you can increase food yields significantly, meaning you’re moving people from food poverty…to a point where they can grow enough food to also sell surplus.”
  – Toby Williams, Aftrac Engineer [27:47]

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7. One Man’s Global Litter-Picking Mission

[28:50–30:34]

• Personal Endeavor:
  Tobias Reich, motivated by feeling powerless against plastic pollution, began cleaning beaches around the world and sharing his progress on social media.

• Community Impact:
  His #LitterPickingCulture movement emphasizes the collective difference small actions can make—if everyone picked up just 2kg of litter annually, the global problem could be eliminated.

  Notable Quotes:

  “With my journey I finally had the opportunity to take action on this problem. I cleaned the whole beach alone. One thing came to another. I keep picking. …If you choose the right project and don’t overwhelm yourself…you save a place, a beach, a lake, a river.”
  – Tobias Reich [29:16]

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Additional Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Survival:

  “I just knew that it was probably going to be four days until anybody realized something had gone wrong. And I just kind of went into like robot mode where I just focused on what I needed to do next.”
  – Alec Lune [04:29]

• On Being Rescued:

  “One of the rescuers just hugged me for 40 minutes just to try and warm me up a little bit.”
  – Alec Lune [06:00]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Surviving on the Glacier: 01:30–07:48
• Atlantic Deep Water Discovery: 07:48–11:40
• Irish Matchmaking Festival: 11:40–15:51
• Koala Vaccine Breakthrough: 19:52–22:59
• Cloned Iguanas in UK Zoo: 22:59–24:33
• Deep Bed Farming & Solar Tractor in Malawi: 24:33–28:50
• Global Litter-Picking Efforts: 28:50–30:34

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Tone & Style

The episode blends earnest storytelling with light-hearted anecdotes, expert insights, and personal testimonials—a hopeful, sincere, and occasionally humorous tone reflecting the resilience and innovation of people and nature around the world.

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This summary captures all key stories and moments from the episode, allowing listeners and non-listeners alike to appreciate its major themes of survival, ingenuity, love, conservation, and the power of individual action.

Transcript

[Alec Lune]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

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[Ankar Desai]

The Happy Pod from the BBC World Service. I'm Ankar Desai and in this edition learning what really matters the hard way.

[Alec Lune]

I thought My only regret really if I die up here is that I didn't spend more time with my wife and my family. Life is so fragile and you've really got to appreciate the small things.

[Ankar Desai]

A hiker who nearly died in a fall on a glacier urges others not to repeat his mistakes. Also, a surprising new source of fresh drinking water and a vaccine to protect one of Australia's best loved animals against a disease that's threatening their survival.

[Peter Timms]

Most of those populations have around 50% infection and disease rate that causes eye disease. It can lead to blindness. But of course the most important thing is in females where it makes them.

[Ankar Desai]

Infertile and and I'm off to listen.

[Willie Daly]

Vernon at the end of the year. I'm up for the bit of crack now, the girls and the beer. I'm fairly shitty for a man of.

[Ankar Desai]

The man Helping couples find love at Europe's largest matchmaking festival. We start with an amazing story of survival against the odds. Just over a month ago, Alec Lune was in Bergen in Norway when he decided to set off on a solo trek on a glacier in the Folgefonna National Park. Four days later, Alec, who's an Award winning American journalist and an experienced hiker failed to turn up for his flight home. He'd fallen and seriously injured himself, losing his phone, food and water. Even after the alarm was raised, a storm meant it took two more days to find him. As Alec told my colleague James Kumarasami, the stunning scenery meant he'd been trying to continue his trek despite a broken shoe, which he'd repaired with tape.

[Alec Lune]

It was just beautiful. It was this lake of meltwater full of these tiny little kind of icebergy bits of ice. The ice was obviously really blue, like you see in photos of glaciers. After that, it was getting a bit late, but I wanted to try and make it over to the next valley. When I was on this very steep slope, I don't remember exactly how it happened. I remember taking a step and slipping and then I started sliding down the mountain and then I started rolling down the mountain and then I was really pinballing down the mountain when I was falling. I just remember having that. This thought that this is really bad. I ended up crashing into a rock so hard that it broke my femur, fractured my pelvis, and fractured a couple vertebrae in my back as well. My only communication that I had was my phone and my phone fell out of my pocket and it was just too hard to get up the slope. The pain was just, you know, really intense.

[Ankar Desai]

So you then had several days there. I mean, just how did you survive? What did you have to survive on?

[Alec Lune]

So I had my tent, my sleeping bag, my sleeping pad, which was really critical. And then I had maybe a dozen granola bars that were in the pockets of my backpack for kind of snacking on and a couple peanuts. I just knew that it was probably going to be four days until anybody realized something had gone wrong. And I just kind of went into like robot mode where I just focused on what I needed to do next. You know, I need to blow up my sleeping pad, need to get out my sleeping bag and try not to think about what ifs. I realized that I might die up there. And I thought about that and I thought my only regret, really, if I die up here is that I didn't spend more time with my wife and my family. I just thought to myself, you know, I would do anything and I'm going to do anything to get back to my wife and family.

[Ankar Desai]

And it was. It was thanks to a photo you sent to your wife that they were able to locate you, is that correct?

[Alec Lune]

I had sent her a photo of me in front of the higher tongue of the glacier. So that helped a bit. And then also my journal in my phone. Once she got into my computer, she could see the notes that I had made all the way up to the point where I fell. So that helped the police also understand where to start looking. And the military, because in the end it was the military helicopter that rescued me.

[Ankar Desai]

What was that like? What was that moment like?

[Alec Lune]

You know, I was starting to really doubt, starting to really lose hope, starting to really, really doubt my chances. And then I heard the sound of a helicopter and it was getting closer and closer. And finally I saw this helicopter flying up the valley. You know, my. My heart leapt and I just started waving to that helicopter and yelling at it. But then after a while, the helicopter didn't see me and it just flew away. I thought, okay, either the helicopter is going to go refuel or I just missed my one chance. And luckily, half an hour, 40 minutes later, the helicopter came back, started scanning the slope again and I was waving. And finally the door of the helicopter opened and somebody waved back at me. And that's when I knew that it was finally all going to be over. It lowered two rescuers down to me on a rope and they just started putting their clothing on me to try and warm me up. And they put like a safety blanket around me as well. The helicopter had to go back for more fuel before it could take me off the mountain. One of the rescuers just hugged me for 40 minutes just to try and warm me up a little bit. So that, that was kind of the shape that I was in.

[Ankar Desai]

What have you learnt about yourself?

[Alec Lune]

You know, I'd say the main lesson I learned is just that life is so fragile and you've really got to appreciate the small things and appreciate your family. That's just the most important thing. You just don't think it's going to happen to you. We're on this earth temporarily and it could happen to anyone at any time. So safety first and don't be afraid to turn around.

[Ankar Desai]

Alec Loon speaking. There. Now to a rather unusual discovery. A huge reserve of drinking water deep under the Atlantic Ocean. It's what's known as an aquifer, a naturally occurring underground area where fresh water accumulates. But while they've been found in shallow seas before, this one is around 50km off the coast of Cape Cod in the northeastern US. The UN predicts that global demand for fresh water will exceed supplies by 40% in five years. So finding new sources could be hugely important. It was discovered by Expedition 501, a $25 million global collaboration backed by the U.S. the BBC's Grouper party spoke to one of the chief scientists, Brandon Dugan.

[Brandon Dugan]

We started drilling down into the sediments, looking at the water in the pore space of those sediments. And we discovered and documented water that had salinity less than one part per thousand, so meeting fresh drinking water criteria below the ocean, and so significantly fresher than the ocean and significant volumes of it. Hundreds of meters of the sediments beneath the ocean have this freshened water in it.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

And Brandon, how unusual is it for fresh aquifers to be located under the seabed? Or is it simply the case that we've just not looked up until now?

[Brandon Dugan]

Nobody studied it directly, so we knew that it could exist. But this far offshore, 30km, 40km, 60km offshore, we didn't know exactly how fresh that water was or how old it was. And so the exciting thing here was we went out with the intention of really focusing on the water and how fresh it was. And now we have data and information that we can figure out. When did it get into the sediments and how is it going to be responding to sea level today where it's bound by saltwater? It's exciting in the fact that we've documented how far it goes offshore. Nearshore systems, so tens of meters or hundreds of meters are pretty well understood. These systems that go offshore tens of kilometers or even more, 50km, are not well understood. Now we have the information to really understand where that water came from and when it came there.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Paint us a picture. What does it look like at source?

[Brandon Dugan]

Imagine if you'd go to the beach and you start digging a hole and all of a sudden you get down into the wet sand and then you just let that hole sit there. You'd see water flow in it. And so we're looking at the water in the pores between all of those sand grains and clay grains. If you wanted to put it in sort of a volumetric system, it's a large expanse through many different types of rocks and sediments, but it is filling up these pores between them, so it has a solid around it, like on the beach.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

How urgently do we need new water sources and to that, how significant could this find be?

[Brandon Dugan]

I think it's very significant in terms of it's a new alternative source for potential freshened water. But I think we need to look at many solutions to address the water stresses that we see around the world.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

You are gathering data, as you just highlighted, and there are still lots of questions to be answered.

[Myra Anubi]

Acid.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

And one of them is, is it Drinkable. How feasible might it be for human use?

[Brandon Dugan]

We know from a, from a salinity standpoint that some of the water has a low enough salt content that it could meet freshwater standards for drinking or, or human use. But like any water that you would use for human use, it would have to go through treatments for any viruses or microbial activity that are out there. So there would still have to be general water treatment for this water. As we moved farther offshore from our 30 kilometer offshore site to our 70 kilometer offshore site, the water started to get a little bit saltier. And so that would also need treatment to remove some of the salt and to do general pathogenic and virus treatment for human consumption. So it would require standard treatment, but it looks like it would be a viable source after treatment because it's similar to things that we see in nearshore environments or even onshore.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Brandon, have you tried any?

[Brandon Dugan]

I have not tried any. We all wanted to try it, but we all understood that the, the most important thing was to answer our science questions and make sure we're operating in a very sterile and safe environment.

[Ankar Desai]

Brandon dugan from Expedition 501. Thousands of single people from around the world have gathered in a small town in the west of Ireland in the hope of finding love the old fashioned way. Europe's biggest singles event takes place every September in Lis Dun Varna, a month long gathering that's been going on for nearly 170 years and is thriving despite the plethora of modern options open to those seeking a soulmate. Ireland's last traditional matchmaker is on hand to help romance blossom. Aided and abetted by music and dancing in every bar in the village. As Bernadette Kehoe has been finding out.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Soon after midday on every day of the matchmaking festival in the normally quiet town of Listo in Varna, couples take to the dance floor in huge numbers and carry on swinging around the floorboards until the early hours. Willy Daly is at the heart of the action and I'm off to listen.

[Willie Daly]

Verna. At the end of the year, I'm up for the piece of crack. Now.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Every year, Willie sets up a makeshift office in one of the pubs where the unattached can come to seek out his services. And he claims to have matched 3, 000 couples.

[Willie Daly]

It's a kind of a magic, the village, like, you know, that people walk around people, you know, fellas walk up to girls that haven't met them before. They don't say, how are you? Are you enjoying any place of the music? They just say, Will you marry me?

[Bernadette Kehoe]

It sounds all very impulsive, Willie.

[Willie Daly]

It is, but it's fantastic because in another town or another city, if you walked up the fence and said, will you marry me? That probably have your rest.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Since 1857, crowds have descended on rural. Listen, Varna. Every September, traditionally the month that the harvest would be safely in and bachelor farmers in search of a wife might start to think about a companion for the cold winter nights ahead.

[Willie Daly]

You know, the pace is alive with romance. People are always in a romantic mood and a happy mood to see the prospects of maybe finding love. Finding the one that's a big trend for a lot of people in life is finding the one.

[Alec Lune]

You know.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Willy, now in his advanced years, learned the art of matchmaking from his father and grandfather and is never far away from his precious lucky book where generations of his ancestors tucked away profiles of those seeking love. Based on discreet conversations that once went on at horse fairs, cattle fairs, weddings and even funerals, Willy believes the well thumbed book can bring luck to those seeking love.

[Willie Daly]

How the book works is you touch the book with four can straws, you rise between seven and 14 seconds and you will be in love and married in six Irish months. Now, if you're single, very single, don't want to maybe get married, be young, you touch the book with one hand and you'll be in love and happy.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

And whilst romance may be Lisinvana's main theme, it's not all about lonely hearts colliding.

[Willie Daly]

There's a very big connection of people meeting, you know, maybe not panicking about marriage, maybe have been married, maybe widows, but they come and they make a lot of friends and they come again and it's a very big part of it is dancing. A lot of people come now from America, they come from Germany, quite a substantial amount each year come from England as well.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

Of course, modern dating apps now offer single people plenty of online opportunities to endlessly swipe right or left. But the matchmaker in chief says nothing can replace a real life encounter.

[Willie Daly]

I do be shocked at the amount of interest that's in it by young people who have tried other systems, you know, but they just find that they're not for real. I suppose the matchmaking, if you introduce someone to them, you know, there's an old saying, a bird in your hand is walked through in the bush. There's nothing wrong at the computer. I think it's good where it works.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

20,000 people flock to listen Varna every year, proving that an old fashioned encounter on the dance floor can't be beaten even in the age of technology.

[Ankar Desai]

Bernadette Kehoe reporting. Coming up in this podcast, we weren't expecting that it was going to happen.

[Peter Timms]

So obviously you can imagine our surprise.

[Ankar Desai]

When out come eight healthy little very cute babies. It just reminds us how amazing nature can be. The iguana who's had eight babies all by herself.

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[Ankar Desai]

Of all Australia's amazing animals, few capture human affection in quite the same way as the fluffy eared, ever sleepy koala. As well as bushfires and loss of habitat. They've been under threat for decades from a serious outbreak of the sexually transmitted disease Chlamydia which is responsible for 50% of koala deaths. Now though, a new single dose vaccine has been approved which is hoped will make a big difference. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Peter Timms, professor of Microbiology at the University of the Sunshine coast, who is behind the research.

[Peter Timms]

Koalas are in the Queensland and New South Wales area and most of those populations have around 50% infection and disease rate. So it's a pretty major challenge for them. And therefore at that level populations or smaller sub populations are sort of going locally extinct. So it's a pretty big deal and it's a pretty nasty disease as well. It causes eye disease, it can lead to blindness, but of course the most important thing is in females where it causes reproductive tract disease or it makes them infertile. So if you put all that together, it can often be the tipping point in whether populations survive or don't.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

So we've got this new vaccine. How effective is this and also how are you going to catch all these wild koalas to administer?

[Peter Timms]

We do know that the vaccine is safe, we've done lots of work and that's obviously an important step. But as well as that it reduces infection levels but the most important thing it does is it stops or reduces. At least it's not perfect infections becoming disease. So disease is the thing we're trying to stop here. Some fairly long studies now that show that across a 10 year period we've been lucky enough that shows that the number of koalas that are getting disease is reduced very significantly, more than 50, 60%. The second part is how will we give the vaccine to koalas? So we have a multi stage approach here. We'll certainly give the vaccine to animals that come into wildlife hospitals. So unfortunately lots of koalas do come into wildlife hospitals and treatment places around the country. Thousands and thousands of them actually. That's because they're getting hit on the road by cars, unfortunately. Or 50% of the animals that come into wildlife hospitals come in with disease. So that's already an obvious group of animals we could help with vaccination. But as well as that, there are wild koala population studies that are being done because people build roads and houses, unfortunately, and that requires animals being displaced. So again, there are hundreds if not thousands of koalas in that. So to begin with we'll be vaccinating those animals that I guess we've helped put it at risk from chlamydia.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

At one point though. Why is chlamydia so prevalent among koalas? I'm guessing from that that maybe they don't mate for life. Why are they affected so badly?

[Peter Timms]

We used to think that they were not very good at mainly immune response, but we know now from our vaccines that's not true. They do breed pretty well with, you know, key male koalas that might be infected. So, you know, perhaps that's part of the study as well. And also we do know the other thing is that stress is not good for koalas. It does affect disease and we know that drought and bushfires and also urbanization together combine to sort of put quails in a tipping point. So it's a good question we only know half the answer to at this point.

[Ankar Desai]

Professor Peter Timms from the University of the Sunshine coast in Australia, staying with wildlife, a zoo here in England says it's witnessed one of the rarest events in the animal kingdom. After the immaculate conception of eight baby iguanas. The hatchlings emerge from eggs laid by female casque headed iguana who had never had access to a mate. The lizard species is native to Central and South America and zookeepers say there are few documented cases of this type of reproduction worldwide. Phil Mackey went along to find out more.

[Alec Lune]

Staff at the exotic zoo in Telford were surprised when Carol, a four year old cask headed iguana, laid eight eggs. Because they don't have any males in their collection, they put the eggs in an incubator to see what would happen. After three weeks, the eggs began to hatch. Scott Baker is the zoo's director.

[Ankar Desai]

We weren't expecting that it was going to happen.

[Peter Timms]

So obviously you can imagine our surprise.

[Ankar Desai]

When out come eight healthy little, very cute babies. It just reminds us how amazing nature can be.

[Alec Lune]

Because the iguanas were born through parthenogenesis, a type of asexual reproduction, they're exact clones of their mother. What with it being midweek and the schools back, it's quiet at the zoo, but there was still some excitement from the visitors who were able to come.

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[Peter Timms]

We haven't seen one before.

[Greenlight Advertiser]

Really fascinating how it can clone itself almost.

[Alec Lune]

The hatchlings are about the length of a typical smartphone and are lime green in color with a black stripe along the length of their bodies. They can live up to 10 years in captivity and will eventually be found new homes in other zoos.

[Ankar Desai]

Phil Mackey with that story. Like many countries around the world, Malawi in southeastern Africa often struggles to produce enough food to feed itself. Around 80% of the population is involved in farming. But climate change has contributed to famines and cyclones in recent years. Now though, a new method has been allowing farmers to dramatically improve their yields with help from a special solar powered tractor. Myra Anubi reports from northern Malawi.

[Myra Anubi]

Driving across Malawi, there are green fields of maize as far as the eye can see. It's a country's staple crop. However, you can also see some of the maize is failing and that will be disastrous for those farmers. But in one village called Eshekweni, they might have a solution. As I arrive, I'm greeted by a group of farmers singing about a method they're using called deep bed farming and how they are not going back to their old ways. Wilfred is a farmer who's been using deep bed farming in his maize fields for a few years now. Can you tell me how much more crop you've gotten from deep bed farming.

[Alec Lune]

On a small piece of land? Very small piece of land.

[Prolon Advertiser]

I got about 10 bags, 50kg bags, which I wouldn't have before.

[Willie Daly]

Before.

[Myra Anubi]

How much would you have gotten before from that small piece of land?

[Prolon Advertiser]

One bag.

[Myra Anubi]

No, one bag. Really?

[Willie Daly]

Yeah.

[Alec Lune]

So this kind of farming is good.

[Myra Anubi]

Deep end farming is all about digging deeper than Usual breaking up the hard ground or hard pan that you typically find in Malawi. Godfrey Komwenda is from tne, the organization that's developed this method.

[Willie Daly]

When there is hardburn, that means the water will not be infiltrating down the.

[Brandon Dugan]

Soil and even the root vomit will not be there. So when it comes to breaking the heartburn, we are encouraging farmers to break.

[Peter Timms]

At 30cm deep to allow water to infiltrate.

[Myra Anubi]

The hard pan is basically that hard ground before you get to 30 centimeters.

[Brandon Dugan]

Yes. So if you are broken below 30 centimeters it is good.

[Peter Timms]

In terms of now constructing a bed.

[Myra Anubi]

The beds the farmers can make now are deep. This allows roots to grow properly and holds the rainwater in. But digging deep is back breaking work and there's precious little mechanization on farms in Malawi. So that's where an innovation from the UK could help. This is aftrac, a solar powered tractor designed by engineers at Loughborough University.

[Alec Lune]

So our tractor is a very small unit, it's got only two wheels and you walk behind it and you lower the digging chain into the earth and, and digs up the earth to a depth of about 400 to 500 millimeters.

[Myra Anubi]

Toby Williams is one of the designers behind this tractor. So far it's just a prototype, but Toby and his team have won a million dollar prize to develop it and hope to build the latest version in South Africa soon. He believes that along with deep red farming, it can make a big impact.

[Alec Lune]

So by having this tractor you can increase food yields significantly, meaning you're moving.

[Ankar Desai]

People from food poverty where they're below.

[Alec Lune]

Subsistence and they're just trying to grow food for themselves to a point where they can grow enough food that they can also sell surplus. Maybe they can try and take on cash crops in the future, which means.

[Ankar Desai]

They'Ve now got an income.

[Myra Anubi]

Wilfred hasn't used a tractor yet on his farm, but he has felt the impact from deep bed farming.

[Alec Lune]

When I harvested the maize from the.

[Prolon Advertiser]

Deep beds, because I had many bugs.

[Alec Lune]

I sold some of them.

[Prolon Advertiser]

The money that I got I used.

[Alec Lune]

For my rakesh arisens like what Good.

[Prolon Advertiser]

Food like meat, rice and other. I changed my life.

[Myra Anubi]

Studies have shown deep end farming can improve yields by 40%. The method is now being promoted by the Malawi government and so far around 35,000 farmers have been trained to do it. And it's hoped that that possibly with a bit of help from the solar tractor, deep farming can help the country be food and income secure.

[Ankar Desai]

And you can hear more on People Fixing the World or wherever you get your BBC podcast from. And finally, we often ask you to get in touch with your positive stories. And Amber Cassidy has done just that. She emailed to tell us about her old friend Tobias Reich, who's been traveling the world picking up litter wherever he goes. Amber says the photos he posts on social media showing the bags of rubbish he's collected always make her smile. So we gave Tobias a call to find out why he does it.

[Willie Daly]

You feel so powerless that you cannot do anything about it. I was just thinking about it and not taking action. But with my journey, I finally had the opportunity to take action on this problem. Well, I'm just one human. I cannot change the world. But one day in Portugal, I started beachkin up and I was pretty surprised how much one human can do. I cleaned the whole beach alone. One thing came to another. I keep picking. It's not always happiness. Sometimes you get really, really frustrated. But of course, if you choose the right project and if you don't overwhelm yourself with the problem, then you have success. Moment of success. You save a place, you save a beach, you save a lake, you save a river. Or you talk to many, many people. They come spontaneously and help you. This is a very positive feeling that makes me very optimistic that it's actually pretty easy to change to people's mind.

[Ankar Desai]

Tobias says he's already collected around 5 tons of plastic waste and if everyone in the world picked up just over 2 kilos a year, it would eliminate the problem. You can follow his efforts under the hashtags litter picking culture or at the collectors 2.2kg. And that's all from the Happy Pod for now. But if you have a happy or inspiring story you think we should cover, we'd love to hear from you. Just send us a voice note or an email to globalpodcastbc.co.uk and you can now watch some of our interviews on YouTube. Just search for the Happy Pod. This edition was mixed by Masoud Ibrahim and the producers were Harry Bly and Rachel Bulkley. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Uncle Decide. Until next time, goodbye.

[Greenlight Advertiser]

Hey, this is Sarah. Look, I'm standing out front of a.m. p.m. Right now and well, you're sweet and all, but I found something more fulfilling, even kind of cheesy. But I like it. Sure you met some of my dietary needs, but they've just got it all. So farewell oatmeal. So long you strange soggy Break up.

[Alec Lune]

With bland breakfast and taste AM PM's.

[Ankar Desai]

Bacon, egg and cheese bit biscuit made.

[Bernadette Kehoe]

With cage free eggs, smoked bacon and.

[Ankar Desai]

Melty cheese on a buttery biscuit.

[Alec Lune]

Am P M. Too much good stuff.