Tom Heap

Author 'Land Smart' Now a Substacker Presenter 'Rare Earth' BBC Sounds, Countryfile BBC 1 🎤🎥🔊

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

The paperback is now out! Same wisdom from these folk but cheaper!

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

@plumbers_urban You say heat losses are low on uninsulated concrete floor with 'super-low flow temperatures'. What temperature would you recommend? And might these loses be much higher outside London? As inside London the ambient earth temp tends to be higher cos of the Tube and other activities

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Great to be on the other side of the mic with @ethpitt_ This guy fights fires for a living and tackles climate change on the side. He knows a thing or two about excess heat. https://t.co/OCysREObNn

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

This is a revelation for farmers meaning solar panels can be used as 'fences'. Get crops and watts from the same feld - what's not to like? https://t.co/2XRVrbLSSl

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

I had a great time in this chat with @weplanetint. I think Mark relished putting me on the spot for a change!

[WePlanet @weplanetint]

Is there really not enough land for renewables?

In this conversation, @mark_lynas sits down with Tom Heap—BBC Countryfile presenter, Radio 4's Rare Earth co-host, and author of Land Smart: How to Give People and Nature the Space to Thrive—to tackle one of the most important yet least discussed environmental issues: land use.

Heap makes the case that there's plenty of space for solar (and wind has minimal footprint), especially since solar excels at multifunctional use—combining with housing, car parks, farming, and floating on water bodies. The real land crisis? Livestock occupies a third of Earth's land and over half of agricultural land, delivering 6-16 times less protein per acre than crops. Meanwhile, biofuels require 50-100 times more land than solar for the same energy output, making aviation's biofuel dreams a land use nightmare.

But the conversation goes deeper: rewilding's evolution from absolutist vision to pragmatic spectrum, why regenerative farming must avoid yield penalties, and the troubling vibe shift in climate politics. Despite renewables now being cheaper than fossil fuels and China's coal use peaking, environmental issues have dropped down the political agenda. Heap argues we're in a trough, not permanent decline—but only if we keep talking about it and bust the myths that disempowers action.

Full episode linked below.

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

@BBCRareEarth Where?

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

A shout out...The next @BBCRareEarth is all about nature in our cities and WE WANT YOUR HELP. Please reply with any surprising examples of creating living space for nature amongst living space for us - roundabout rainforest, skip salad plot, alley arboretum?

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Glad to see a possible future PM encouraging people to watch #Countryfile. Check out 5th para.
Streeting denies plotting against PM after leadership claims - BBC News
https://t.co/698jobOVWv

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Six legs, two legs, four legs, two wings and plenty of fins...everyone's migrating https://t.co/JwJLDQPn6Z

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

This week on @BBCRareEarth we're are all about prodigious and perilous feats of migration...the animal kind. With @WillLeoHawkes, David Barrie and Martin Wikelski @maxplanckpress

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

I'm at the @LeistonBookFest this Saturday with a great line up of Nature writers. Always a treat to visit the Suffolk Heritage Coast - a place with an 'exciting' future.

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Most of our world is built of it or or built by it but can #steel ever be green? @BBCRareEarth R4 midday today or @BBCSounds with @EdConwaySky @IStructE @cashley122 and @TataSteelUK Port Talbot

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

At last the #UKWA and govt have caught up with my Landsmart book https://t.co/lt0Eciw5J6 . Solar power on warehouses, is such low hanging fruit it's begging to be plucked https://t.co/n9ghq3AB2a. No new landtake and 89% public support.

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

New @BBCRareEarth all about #geoengineering to tackle climate change - future or folly? on midday @BBCRadio4 + @BBCSounds with @DrSDFitzgerald @RepairClimate @PeterBrannen1 @adavey_RBGE

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

We had great hopes but is the insurance industry now making climate change worse? My ponderings on @SSubstack https://t.co/B7emxeXtcd

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Shocking that the tech companies are so secretive with their energy info and the govt doesn't insist on transparency as a condition of planning permission. Check out 'Powering our robot Overlords' @BBCRareEarth on @BBCSounds https://t.co/NSHZIPHfxI

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Following a livelyresponse to our @BBCRareEarth on #artificial_intelligence I scribbled this on @substack https://t.co/rLmTyCxE26

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

A man of good taste - at the launch of the @sciencemuseum food gallery Director Ian Blatchford said he listens to @BBCFarmingToday every morning. Great new display too.

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

If you fit air-con in your home please also display the banner saying 'I don't give a s**t about climate change'.
Here's why https://t.co/ufMzE7hlI9
Medical need exempted. #lovesweat

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

with @mantruckbusuk @RTXPO_ https://t.co/o2g6negYjo

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Are electric trucks joining the fast lane? https://t.co/4Ex1oh2w6r

[Tom Heap @tomheapmedia]

Are electric trucks joining the fast lane? https://t.co/4Ex1oh2w6r