Drilled

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Drilled is a true-crime climate change podcast exposing how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists and led by Amy Westervelt, each season unravels new evidence of deception,…

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Episodes

New episodes usually drop on Fridays.Latest 200 episodes in the feed

Oct 30, 2026 · 1 hr 0 min

Everything You Need to Know about COP 31 | The Spill

The 31st annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (known as COP31) kicks off in Türkiye in a couple weeks. Drilled climate reporters — and COP veterans — Nina Lakhani, Amy Westervelt, and Royce Kurmelovs download everything you need to know as the talks commence. Plus, Nina interviews climate activist Harjeet Singh about what the climate movement will be fighting for in Türkiye. Reading…
Oct 23, 2026 · 1 hr 4 min

Three Climate Journalists Take on Digger | The Spill

Climate journalists Amy Westervelt, Nina Lakhani and Alleen Brown share whether they loved or hated the polarizing, big budget, box office flop, Digger. Plus a discussion on the role of pop culture in confronting the climate crisis and some of the team's favorite socially conscious music and movies. In the second half of the episode, Ugandan environmental journalist Diana Taremwa-Karakire talks about what it's like…
Oct 16, 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

The Paradox of Mining Lithium to Save the Planet | The Spill

Most proposals to keep fossil fuels in the ground rely on taking new minerals out of the ground — especially lithium, a major component in the batteries powering electric vehicles. In Thea Riofrancos' book, Extraction, she visits the communities most impacted by lithium mining, explores the mineral's politics and history, and proposes a pathway toward harm reduction. Reading list from today’s show: 1.…
Oct 9, 2026 · 37 min

How Tech Billionaires Broke Democracy | The Spill

Tech billionaires have increasing influence over all aspects of our lives, and it's not by accident. Amy Westervelt and Gil Durán both recently published books examining the ideas and individuals driving the phenomenon. They discuss what it has to do with the climate crisis and the deterioration of democracy. Reading list from today’s show: 1. Gil Durán's new book, The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley…
Oct 2, 2026 · 47 min

Garifuna land defenders vs. Survivor (as in the TV show) | The Spill

Amy Westervelt, Nina Lakhani and Alleen Brown chat about Standing Rock 10 years later, Global Witness's latest report on assassinations of land defenders, and why Palestinians in Gaza are land defenders, too. Meanwhile, Afro-Indigenous Garífuna leaders in Honduras have set up an occupation in front of the country's Supreme Court, in defense of their land rights. Nina interviews Karen Spring, coordinator of…

Earlier episodes (195)

Sep 25, 2026 Carbon Credit Markets Have a Human Rights Problem | The Spill
Drilled global climate justice reporter Nina Lakhani interviews Elisa Morgera, the UN Special Rapporteur on Climate Change about Morgera’s latest report on the fundamental shortcomings of credit markets. Posed as a solution to the climate crisis, carbon credit markets have for years failed to deliver, while violating the human rights of the people most impacted by the climate crisis. Meanwhile, states have…
Sep 18, 2026 The Climate Movement Fights Back | The Spill
In this week's episode Alleen Brown speaks with Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of The Sunrise Movement about being infiltrated by the feds, why fighting authoritarianism is a climate fight, and more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 11, 2026 Welcome to "The Spill," Our New Weekly Newscast
Amy Westervelt, Nina Lakhani and Alleen Brown on the world on fire, how the media is covering the climate crisis, what's happening with the industry as a whole, and how it all relates to rising authoritarianism. The Spill is our new weekly show to bring you news, rants, and interviews in between narrative seasons. Reading list from today's show: Amy's book: geni.us/broughttoyouby The Guardian on fossil fuel…
Sep 8, 2026 Episode 3: The Story of a Decade-Long Investigation
Alleen could only put together a story like this because she's stayed on the beat for a decade, building relationships and hunting for documents. At the 10-year anniversary of the Standing Rock movement, she gives us a look at why it's important for democracy for journalists to go deeper than breaking news. Speaking of which...Buy Amy's book! https://geni.us/broughttoyouby For a look at the primary documents…
Sep 1, 2026 Episode 2: The Real Outside Agitators of Iowa
The pipeline has been built, the protest camps disbanded, but the fight isn't over. As pipeline opponents set up a new camp in Iowa, the Tiger Swan propagandists follow them, this time with the help of an undercover infiltrator. A WhatsApp chat reveals the private spies' machinations. For a look at the primary documents underpinning this episode, head to https://drilled.media/. This mini-series was reported in…
Aug 25, 2026 Episode 1: North Dakota’s Facebook Mercenaries
As protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline began to grow in North Dakota, a new seemingly grassroots Facebook page emerged. In this episode we meet the hired gun behind it, Robert Rice, who was working for the pipeline company's private security company, Tiger Swan. For a look at the primary documents underpinning this episode, head to the Drilled site. This mini-series was reported in partnership with High…
Aug 11, 2026 Welcome to The Propagandist
10 years ago, rural North Dakota became the hub of one of the largest Indigenous-led protests in decades, and one of the largest climate protests ever in U.S. history: Standing Rock. What started as a protest against a pipeline turned into a political flashpoint thanks to social media. The pipeline company's private security contractors exploited the moment, using propaganda to fan the flames of long-simmering…
Jun 16, 2026 A Tipping Point
Treating climate solutions like an infinite money cheat might not be a great way to actually solve the problem, though it's sure to make plenty of "green" entrepreneurs rich. It makes sense that businessmen would stay focused on profits, but why do climate advocates keep supporting these ideas? This season is a collaboration with the Intercept Brasil. You can get the show in Portuguese on their feed as well, and…
Jun 9, 2026 The Saudi Arabia of Biofuels
With the sustainable aviation fuel industry set to explode, carbon capture has thrown the corn ethanol industry a lifeline...but what does another corn ethanol boom mean for everyone else? This season is a collaboration with the Intercept Brasil. You can get the show in Portuguese on their feed as well, and companion stories at: https://www.intercept.com.br/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 2, 2026 Into the Amazon
Industrial agriculture has wrapped itself in a green cloak in Mato Grosso, promising jobs, money and endless opportunities, all in the name of "sustainability." But the good times are only happening for a select few. Local residents are dealing with extreme weather, lack of access to fresh food, and a pesticide overload that has increased the risk of birth defects and lowered lifespans. Meanwhile, Bruce and the…
May 26, 2026 The Brazilian Midwest
Bruce's Brazilian business partners run the state of Mato Grosso and the town the company is headquartered in. So while he fights endless pushback to his pipeline project in Iowa, business in Brazil is booming. This season is a collaboration with the Intercept Brasil. You can get the show in Portuguese on their feed as well, and companion stories at:  https://www.intercept.com.br/ See omnystudio.com/listener…
May 19, 2026 The Ethanol Kingpin of Iowa
Bruce's venture in Brazil isn't the first time he tried to go global. What an earlier attempt tells us about him, his business, and what's ahead for both Iowa and "the Brazilian Midwest." This season is a collaboration with the Intercept Brasil. You can get the show in Portuguese on their feed as well, and companion stories at: https://www.intercept.com.br/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 12, 2026 The Carbon Gold Rush
As his American company Summit Carbon Solutions struggles with backlash to a carbon capture pipeline linking corn ethanol plants across the Midwest, Bruce Rastetter is not slowing down. Instead, he’s celebrating some big wins for his Brazilian company, FS Fueling Sustainability, from new ethanol-friendly climate policy to government funding for their carbon capture project. Pushkin+ subscribers can hear…
May 5, 2026 Welcome to Carbon Cowboys
For decades we’ve heard that “the markets” will solve the climate crisis. On Drilled: Carbon Cowboys, we put that theory to the test, following Bruce Rastetter, a corn ethanol kingpin-turned-carbon entrepreneur from Iowa to Brazil, and asking the big questions: Are these “climate solutions” actually reducing emissions? Is CO2 increasing or decreasing as carbon becomes a commodity? Or…
Apr 28, 2026 Fossil-fueled Fascism
The U.S. invasions of Venezuela and Iran are more of the same imperialism in service of oil majors. As the climate crisis makes its presence more urgently felt, fossil fascism dictates a doubling-down on extraction and colonialism, and the vilification of those who oppose or stand in the way of that plan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 21, 2026 On Petromasculinity and Protest
Repression of protest has ramped up in the U.S., but everything that's happening now began with the backlash to the Standing Rock protest back in 2016. In today's episode we look at the connections between fossil fascism, petromasculinity, and protest. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 14, 2026 Never Let a War Go to Waste
Lots of people are talking about the similarities between Iraq and Iran, but in this episode we place the two in the context of another war—World War I—and the historical arc of fossil fascism. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 17, 2026 Drilling Deep: Karen Hao on How Big AI Is Gambling with the Planet’s Chips
What is “artificial intelligence”? Is it a fancy technology? A management consulting buzzword? A PR effort to inflate corporate share prices? A political project designed to shape the world more to the liking of the billionaire class? A way to replace needy human workers with machines? Perhaps it’s all of that—and more. In her groundbreaking book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam…
Mar 3, 2026 10 Years After Berta Cáceres’s Murder, Why Is Honduras Still So Dangerous for Environmentalists?
This week marks the 10-year anniversary of the hired hit that took Berta Cáceres’s life and robbed both the Honduran and global environmental movements of a uniquely effective leader. Cáceres was targeted by a dam company, with an assist from the police, military, government officials and international banks because of her effective organizing on behalf of her people, the Lenca. Nina Lakhani…
Feb 9, 2026 Just Because the U.S. Says It's Legal Doesn't Make It So: Companies Trading in Illegally Seized Venezuelan Oil Face Legal Risk
Fernanda Hopenhaym, member of the  UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights  walks Drilled senior global climate justice reporter Nina Lakhani through the many legal pitfalls companies getting involved in the United States seizure of the Venezuelan oil industry might be facing. Check out the longer story on our website.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 3, 2026 How Climate Protest Backlash Led to Present-Day Repression
It's easy to feel like climate "doesn't matter" as the United States descends into fascism, as if climate and democracy are somehow separate issues. Researcher Oscar Berglund and Amy Westervelt connect the dots between the global backlash to climate protest and the broader repression we're seeing in supposedly democratic countries around the world.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 2, 2026 A "Green Transition"? If Only It Were That Simple
In More and More and More , Jean-Baptiste Fressoz shows that the human history of energy is one of accumulation, not substitution. Here, he talks to reporter Adam Lowenstein about how the "energy transition" frame got so entrenched, why clean-energy innovation is not the same thing as decarbonization, how the fossil fuel industry helped launder pipe dreams of dysfunctional technologies into mainstream climate…
Jan 20, 2026 Introducing Lawless Planet: "Surveillance and Sabotage on the Dakota Access Pipeline"
When activists Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya take drastic measures to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, they have no idea that a shadowy private security contractor called TigerSwan has them in its sights.  Special thanks to: Alleen Brown and The Intercept ( https://theintercept.com/2018/12/30/tigerswan-infiltrator-dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock/ ) You Strike A Match by Julia Shipley…
Jan 12, 2026 Drilling Deep: John Vaillant on Climate Change and Wildfire
Wildfires are becoming more intense, frequent, and destructive as the climate heats up. Drilled reporter Royce Kurmelovs and Canadian author John Vallaint, author of Fire Weather , discuss the climate-fire nexus.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 29, 2025 The Norwegian Paradox: Norway's Fossil Fuel Dilemma
In this bonus episode of The Black Thread, we examine a single legal case that distilles the Norwegian paradox perfectly: the planned electrification of the Melkøya gas processing plant. It's a key conflict site where Norway's net zero transformation clashes with its fossil fuel industry, Indigenous rights, youth climate activism, worker safety, and even criticism from the United Nation. Additional…
Dec 28, 2025 How Climate Activists Successfully Fight Obstruction
Despite growing repression worldwide, climate activists continue to stick it to obstructionists and drive change. In this season's finale, Jennie Stephens (University of Ireland Maynooth) and Sharon Yadin (University of Haifa) share the effective strategies that activists can use to push back against the forces that block climate action. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 10, 2025 How Litigation Works to Fight Climate Obstruction
It's bleak out there and while climate obstruction can feel overwhelming, there are efforts being made to fight back against it. One of them is litigation and holding corporations legally accountable. Joana Setzer (London School of Economics) speaks to how climate litigation is being used to challenge companies, enforce climate commitments, and push for climate action globally.   See omnystudio.com/listener…
Dec 2, 2025 Drlling Deep: Uruguay's Renewable Energy System with Natasha Hakimi Zapata
More than a decade ago—when wind and solar power were far more expensive than they are today—Uruguay, long plagued by droughts and energy shortages, transitioned its entire economy such that 98% of its electricity now comes from renewable sources. They did it in just two years, and used the savings to slash the country's poverty rate from 40% into the single digits. Natasha Hakimi Zapata covers…
Nov 25, 2025 COP Out: What the Heck Happened at COP30?
We're bringing you episode 5 of Dana R. Fisher's COP Out podcast, from the Center for Environment, Equity and Community at American University, featuring our own Amy Westervelt and legendary climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe talking about what happened at this year's COP, whether the process is fixable, and how to get the benefits of global convening without all the headaches. Check out the rest of Dana's…
Nov 25, 2025 How and Why Climate Adaptation Measures Get Blocked
Working against regulations on emissions might protect the economic interests of those with money to lose, but why would anyone fight against adapting to survive climate disaster? In the negotiating rooms at COP 30, adaptation was one of the biggest debate areas. Laura Kuhl (Northeastern University) and Stacy-Ann Robinson (Emory University) explain why adaptation policies face scrutiny and opposition. See…
Nov 24, 2025 Carbon Bros Mailbag: Navigating Traditional Male Spaces and the Benefits of Solidarity
Daniel Penny and Amy Westervelt return for the Carbon Bros mailbag episode, answering listener questions from around the world about masculinity, traditional male spaces, vocational therapy, solidarity, and the role of gender in engaging in climate action.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 17, 2025 Drilling Deep: Jessica Green on Why We Need More Confrontation at COP
After four decades of the United Nations climate conference COP, progress on global climate action remains slow. So what isn't working? How is it possible that so much fanfare, so many words, and so much work—much of it genuine and good-faith—has amounted to such little progress? University of Toronto political science professor Jessica F. Green has some ideas. In Existential Politics: Why Global…
Nov 10, 2025 The Corruption of COP: Inside Climate Obstruction at the UN
The United Nations' climate processes were created to drive global climate action, but from the beginning they've faced organized efforts to delay progress. As COP 30 begins, Kari de Pryck (University of Geneva) and Eduardo Viola (Institute of International Relations, Brazil) join Amy to analyze how COP and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change get hijacked by those opposed to climate action, what it means…
Nov 5, 2025 Norway Beyond Oil: Climate, Policy, Society
We look ahead to Norway's future, exploring how the country might begin to loosen oil's grip on its politics and identity. Hear how different voices envision aligning the country's actions with its values, its reputation, and the realities of climate change.  Additional resources: Communicating Climate Change   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 4, 2025 How Climate Obstruction Works at the Local Level
Local governments are a double-edged sword when it comes to climate policy, with the power to either do far more or far less than national governments. They can be an agent of change or an agent of obstruction. Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo (Christopher Newport University) and Joshua A. Basseches (Tulane University) walk us through how subnational governments, like states and municipalities, work and how they engage in…
Oct 29, 2025 Climate Obstruction in the Global South
The United States is a global leader of climate obstruction, but it's not the only guilty country. M. Omar Faruque (Queen’s University, Canada) and Ruth E. McKie (De Montfort University) look at how and why climate obstruction occurs in the Global South, exploring the political, economic, and institutional factors that lead the countries most vulnerable to climate change, and least responsible for emissions,…
Oct 27, 2025 Challenging the Narratives
Do the facts behind the narratives being told by Norway's fossil fuel industry, and government, add up? We hear experts critique some of the stories that keep Norwegian oil and gas pumping, while industry representatives explain the logic behind the rhetoric. Additional resources: Communicating Climate Change See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 25, 2025 Drilling Deep: Karen House on Saudi Arabia Under Mohammed bin Salman
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliott House , author of The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia , joins Adam Lowenstein to discuss how the crown prince has reshaped Saudi Arabia. They explore if MBS's gamble on economic and social freedoms alongside ciivil and political repression is politically, or environmentally,…
Oct 24, 2025 Abdul El-Sayed on Climate Complexities and Benevolent Masculinity
In this extended conversation, climate policy expert Abdul El-Sayed explores the complexities of the climate crisis and the role of masculinity in shaping how men engage, or fail to engage, with climate solutions. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 22, 2025 Petroganda: How the Oil Industry Is Shaping Norway's Politics and Culture
A growing number of experts and commentators suggest "petroganda"—the pervasive phenomenon of oil industry manipulation—is at work in Norway, influencing the country's politics, culture, and support for the oli industry. We discuss how "petroganda" guides the information that the public receives, or doesn’t receive, about the relationship between oil and climate change and learn how the story of…
Oct 21, 2025 How the Animal Agriculture Industry Blocks Methane Regulation
For decades, the meat and dairy industries avoided scrutiny for the planet-heating emissions they pump into the atmosphere. As governments began considering methane regulation, the animal agriculture sector starting working on efforts to resist such regulations. Siliva Secchi (University of Iowa) and Kathrin Lauber (University of Edinburgh) expound the concept of "agricultural exceptionalism" and the strategies the…
Oct 14, 2025 How the Coal, Utilities, and Transportation Industries Block Climate Policy
The coal, utilities, and transportation industries have all played a major role in stopping governments from regulating emissions or transitioning to cleaner energy. Examining how those effort have taken shape around the world, Jen Schneider (Boise State University) and Gregory Trencher (Kyoto University) break down the strategies these industries use to influence policymakers, resist decarbonization, and slow…
Oct 13, 2025 Introducing The Black Thread: The Norwegians
Over the next few weeks, we're sharing a new mini-series, The Black Thread, about Norway's complicated relationship with its identity as both a progressive leader and oil state. Social norms and cultural values shape Norwegian's identity as a good, caring, nature-loving people. What happens when those values come into conflict with the reality of Norway's outsized influence on climate change? Additional resources:…
Oct 12, 2025 Facing Climate Despair: How to Cope with Wen Stephenson
The climate crisis can feel overwhelming—to witness venture-capital-fueled AI domination, democracy’s steady drift toward authoritarianism, state-sanctioned genocide, and the collapse of one climate boundary after another is to encounter a profound sense of despair. But what if the path forward lies in accepting, rather than resisting, this despair? In his new book,  Learning to Live in the Dark:…
Oct 7, 2025 How the Fossil Fuel Industry Sabotages Climate Action
The fossil fuel industry has undoubtedly played a central role in obstructing climate action through lobbying, impacting political influence, and spreading disinformation. Academic Kristoffer Ekberg (Lund University), nonprofit researcher Kert Davis (Center for Climate Integrity), and DeSmog global managing editor Geoff Dembicki walk us through how fossil fuel industry strategies have undermined climate policy,…
Oct 3, 2025 How The Media Drives Climate Obstruction
Climate obstruction would not be nearly as effective as it is without the influence of the public relations industry and the willful ignorance of mainstream media. Melissa Aronczyk (Rutgers University) and Max Boycoff (University of Colorado) explain why getting a handle on the media's role in climate obstruction is critical to solving the problem. Melissa and Max examine how strategic communication and media…
Sep 30, 2025 Why Misinformation Works: The Psychology Behind Climate Disinformation
Why does misinformation spread like wildfire—and why is it so hard to correct? Climate communication researchers John Cook (University of Melbourne) and Dominik A. Stecula (Colorado State University) explain the psychology of misinformation, drawing on years of research around climate denial, political polarization, and media dynamics. Additional resources: Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment  See…
Sep 23, 2025 How Rightwing Populism and Accelerationism Fuels Climate Denial
Jesse Bryant (Yale University) and Dieter Plehwe (University of Kassel) examine the growing connection between right-wing populism, climate change denial, and resistance to climate policy. They explore how rising authoritarian politics in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe are reshaping public discourse and obstructing meaningful climate change. Additional resources: Climate Obstruction: A Global…
Sep 16, 2025 Why Political Will is the Real Barrier to Climate Action
Despite at least a decade of scientific certainty, proposed technological solutions, and policy measures, the world still hasn’t acted on the climate crisis. The problem is a lack of political will—and how it’s been intentionally obstructed at every turn. As we gear up for the 30th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 30) , Amy Westervelt digs into a new book, Climate Obstruction: A Global…
Sep 12, 2025 Drilling Deep: The Golden Age of Oil-Funded Influence with Casey Michel
Reporter Adam Lowenstein talks with Casey Michel, author of Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World about the influence of oil money on United States climate policy. Michel also recently wrote a fascinating piece in The Atlantic , applying what he learned in researching and writing the book to what he's seeing during the second Trump administration. See…
Sep 8, 2025 The "Carbon Dominance" Strategy Behind Trump's Anti-Renewables Actions
Killing a nearly-completed offshore wind farm makes no sense, even for a climate denier who thinks windmills kill whales. Political economist Mark Blyth walks Drilled reporter Royce Kumerlovs through the Trump administration's "carbon dominance" strategy, a deliberate effort to protect fossil fuel power and block renewable energy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 5, 2025 Integration: Bringing Men Into the Climate Movement
The bros of the manosphere love to talk about "integrating" a man's warrior and civilized selves, but what would it look like to integrate men, and new ideas of masculinity, into the climate movement? Who is already doing this work, how can new models of masculinity support climate action, and where are the real opportunities for repair and progress? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 22, 2025 Why Is the Fossil Fuel Industry Funding Anti-Trans Politics?
Special guest Vivian Taylor, a researcher on both trans rights and climate policy, joins us to share the the shocking connections between fossil billionaires and anti-trans campaigns. Turns out, it’s easy to distract people with genital inspectors so you don’t have to deal with methane leakage inspectors. We break down the overlap between anti-trans, anti-climate, and other right-wing movements, the…
Aug 19, 2025 The SLAPP Heard 'Round the World: Standing Rock Verdict
The verdict in Energy Transfer's lawsuit against Standing Rock activists and Greenpeace is announced, more than doubling the damages. At a time when repression of protest is accelerating in the United States, Energy Transfer's lawyers claim it's a victory for free speech. As the trial wraps up, we look at what this verdict means for Indigenous rights, climate activists, and the decline of individual free speech…
Aug 17, 2025 Climate Hysteria and “Boy Math”: Masculinity, Tech Fixes, and Gendered Climate Solutions
Stop listening to hysterical Swedish teenagers and start listening to reasonable men! Some dudes do have solutions to the climate crisis; they just don’t involve messy interpersonal stuff, changing their lifestyles, or reorganizing the global economy. Gendered narratives, from doomerism to colonies on Mars, have shaped popular responses to the climate crisis but these "boy math" solutions promise easy fixes…
Aug 14, 2025 Sacred Sites: Defending Indigenous Spaces
One of the charges Energy Transfer has made against Greenpeace is that the organization "defamed" the company by claiming the Dakota Access Pipeline was disturbing sites the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe views as sacred. The Sioux Tribe stands behind this claim and shares why protecting sacred sites is central to Indigenous rights.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 1, 2025 How "Energy Dominance" Became a Gendered Climate Narrative
“Energy dominance” became a defining slogan of the Trump administration—but who or what are they trying to dominate with all that oil and gas? Amy and Daniel trace how gender became so embedded in our collective understanding of nature. From the shift away from earth-centered spiritual traditions like worshipping Gaia and Indigenous earth-mother figures to the rise of extracting "natural…
Jul 27, 2025 The Testosterone Pipeline: How the Manosphere Fuels Climate Denial
Manosphere influencers like Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan, and Jordan Peterson aren’t just shaping ideas about masculinity—they’re also blasting their followers with climate denial. The fossil fuel industry has known since at least the 1990s that certain types of men are more susceptible to climate disinformation than other segments of the public. Climate denial has now seeped into the manosphere,…
Jul 22, 2025 Back to the Water: Pipeline Impacts and Indigenous Concerns
Energy Transfer has successfully kept key details out of the court, including the tribe's concerns about the Dakota Access Pipeline's impact on their water source. We uncover the pipeline spills, risks, and issues it has already caused. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 8, 2025 Introducing: The Outlaw Ocean | A war on migration, funded by the EU (Libya Pt. 1)
Where the law of the land ends, the story begins. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Ian Urbina returns with a new season of his riveting podcast anthology, The Outlaw Ocean, which explores the most lawless place on earth — the vast unpoliceable ocean.  In this episode, the Libyan Coast Guard is doing the European Union’s dirty work, capturing migrants as they attempt to cross the Mediterranean into…
Jul 7, 2025 Hanna E. Morris on Apocalyptic Authoritarianism and Media Bias
In her new book Apocalyptic Authoritarianism: Climate Crisis, Media, and Power , University of Toronto media scholar Hanna E. Morris argues that some climate journalists, striving to preserve a self-determined “moderate center,” are deploying some of the same tropes and reinforcing some of the same narratives as the extreme right. Even as they see themselves defending democracy and confronting the…
Jun 26, 2025 Coming Soon: Carbon Bros—Men and Climate Denial in America
You’ve heard it from cable news pundits, Democratic strategists, and your favorite YouTuber: young men swung the last United States election for Trump. Understanding what's driving the "manosphere" and how to reach the young men in its grips is on everyone's minds, but we're zooming into a speciific corner of it: the intersection of male grievance culture and climate denial. Why are American men less likely…
Jun 25, 2025 The Charge: What Greenpeace Is Accused Of
Energy Transfer has quietly dropped Cody Hall and Krystle Two Bulls, the other Indigenous activist originally named in their massive lawsuit, exclusively targeting Greenpeace . Allen breaks down the charges against Greenpeace, the evidence Energy Transfer is using, and the legal strategies behind the SLAPP suit.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 10, 2025 The Trial Begins: Jury Selection
Alleen arrives in North Dakota for jury selection in the lawsuit targeting Standing Rock activists and is shocked watching it play out. Recording in the courtroom is prohibited and jurors who state their open bias against activists—or are even connected to the fossil fuel industry—are allowed to serve. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jun 3, 2025 How We Got Here: Standing Rock, Greenpeace, and the $666 Million Lawsuit
Greenpeace , only tangentially involved in the Standing Rock protests, faces a staggering $666 million bill for damages...despite the fact that the Dakota Access Pipeline was built, and has been making Energy Transfer millions of dollars for years. Indigenous water protector Cody Hall, who was a key figure during the protests and initially targeted in the lawsuit, walks us through the 2016-2017 events and how the…
May 30, 2025 "All Hell Breaks Loose": How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town
A decade ago, residents of a small Texas town near a naval base enjoyed quiet, ocean-adjacent living. Today, the same town has become one of the country’s top oil export hubs—and a fenceline community surrounded by terminals and industrial activity. Reporter Alex Ip, author of an investigative series from The Xylom, explains how Big Oil’s expansion disrupted the town, shut down the naval base, and…
May 22, 2025 Coming Soon: SLAPP'D—Corporate Power vs. Indigenous Rights
Investigative reporter Alleen Brown follows the story of an Indigenous nation fighting for its water rights, an international environmental movement finding its voice, and an industry attempting to crush its political opposition. Uncovering how industries use SLAPP suits—lawsuits to intimidate and silence activists—we look at the intersection of environmental justice, Indigenous rights, and corporate…
May 20, 2025 Malcolm Harris on Realism and Radical Possibilities in the Climate Crisis
In his new book What's Left: Three Paths Through the Planetary Crisis , Malcolm Harris challenges us to confront the climate crisis as the complex, urgent problem it truly is and tackle it at the scale it deserves. Malcolm speaks with reporter Adam Lowenstein about what that looks like and why embracing the full scope of the crisis can feel surprisingly liberating.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
May 16, 2025 From Damages: New Evidence and Updates on U.S. Climate Liability Cases
A new report from the Union of Concerned Scientists compiles documentary evidence on the role of fossil fuel companies in obstructing climate policy. We walk through the latest findings in the report, and get an update on climate cases in the United States.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 7, 2025 How the U.S. Helped the World Label Environmentalists as "Terrorists"
In the finale of our Real Free Speech Threat season, we examine how the United States military and its national security agencies have stoked a global crackdown on environmental protest, and bring you the inspiring story of one Filipino land defender who's been targeted by the state for years and is still fighting.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 29, 2025 Coming Soon: The Man-o-Sphere
Later this year we’ll be bringing you a season in collaboration with the podcast Non-Toxic , hosted by journalist and culture critic Daniel Penny, about the intersection between masculinity and climate. Meet Daniel and learn about his work and what you can expect from this season.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 21, 2025 New Research on Fossil Fuel Sponsored Content and Media Misleading Practices
The fossil fuel industry has long shaped public perception through advertorials and sponsored content created by the media outlets themselves. These op-eds, slide shows and videos, and podcasts are produced by media outlets' internal brand studios, not their editorial staffs. But these services are explicitly marketed as a way to make corporate content mirror the editorial content in style and approach, and when it…
Dec 2, 2024 Shell’s Climate Case: The Win, the Loss, and What It Means for Future Global Climate Litigation
In November, a Dutch court ruled in Shell's favor on an appeal in a big international climate case, but it wasn't quite the win for Shell that the media made it out to be. While Shell won on appeal in some areas, the court reaffirmed a critical point from the original case: that Shell is legally required to reduce its global emissions.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 12, 2024 From Fuel to Fork: How the Oil and Gas Industry Drives Food-Based Emissions
The food we eat is more deeply tied to fossil fuels than most people realize. Fuel to Fork co-hosts Anna Lappé and Matthew Kessler talk through the history of fossil fuels and food and why it's remained hidden for so long. Find Fuel to Fork here .   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 1, 2024 How Climate Language Shapes Climate Politics with Genevieve Guenther
In her new book, The Language of Climate Politics , Genevieve Guenther digs into six key rhetorical devices that are being used to slow or block climate action. For an academic book, it's made some folks on the Internet awfully mad. Amy and Genevieve discuss the arguments at hand, why they've ignited online backlash, and what Genevieve’s research reveals about the political battles over climate policy.  …
Sep 24, 2024 Climate Week 2024: Taking on the Mad Men of Big Oil
Long before outright climate denial, the fossil fuel industry relied on sophisticated PR and advertising campaigns to shape how the public understood the economy, the environment, and energy itself. In this Climate Week 2024 episode, we revisit The Mad Men of Big Oil—our 2020 investigative season on the public relations industry’s role in fueling climate disaster. The series helped inspire campaigns to…
Sep 20, 2024 How Fossil-Funded University Research Shapes Climate Policy
Universities can play a powerful role in shaping climate research and public policy. Drilled reporter Molly Taft joins us to talk about newly released information on fossil fuel funding of university research, and shares interviews with climate disinformation researcher Geoffrey Supran , who authored one of the recent studies, and with philosopher of science Craig Callender at the University of California San…
Sep 9, 2024 Climate and Project 2025: Mary Annaïse Heglar & Amy Westervelt on Spill
What does Project 2025 mean for climate policy and what should we expect to hear (or not hear) about climate in this week’s presidential debate? In Spill, our climate talk show, Mary Annaïse Heglar and Amy Westervelt break down the political moments shaping climate action in the United States.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 15, 2024 The Battle Over the Clean Air Act
In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts vs. EPA that when the United States Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970, climate science was “in its infancy,” implying that government officials could never have intended for the legislation to cover the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. In 2022, SCOTUS doubled down on that idea, ruling in West Virginia vs. EPA that since the Clean Air Act…
Jul 30, 2024 How Big Oil Sold a “Climate Solution” and Stuck Taxpayers with the Bill
Carbon capture has always seemed flawed as a climate solution, but in a blockbuster investigation co-published with Vox, we discovered just how scammy it really is. Carolyn Raffensperger , executive director of the Science and Environmental Health Network walks through the many issues with carbon capture technology, from the lack of climate benefit to the massive public health threat it creates.   See…
Jul 17, 2024 Silencing Activists: How an El Savador Cold Case Murder Became a Tool to Criminalize Activism
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass an outright ban on mining to protect the country's water and people. Now, self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world" Nayib Bukele seeks to lift the ban in an effort to boost the economy, which took a major hit thanks to his embrace of Bitcoin as the national currency in 2021. The activists who helped pass the ban are standing in his way. The…
Jul 9, 2024 From Damages: Could Oil Companies Be Charged with Murder?
With the Supreme Court reshaping the legal landscape, we've been getting a ton of emails about what legal strategies might be available for climate accountability. In this episode of Damages, our climate litigation podcast, we share how Public Citizen has been working to explore the idea of using criminal law to hold oil companies accountable for climate change. Aaron Regunburg , Public Citizen's senior climate…
Jul 3, 2024 The Great “Greening” of LNG: How Fossil Fuel Lobbying Fuels Climate Delay
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is increasingly marketed as a “green” or “clean” energy solution, but the reality tells a different story. As part of our ongoing series looking into new climate problems the fossil fuel industry is peddling as solutions, we uncover the role of a particularly active lobbying group pushing LNG as a climate solution.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
Jun 25, 2024 How Management Consultancies Data-Wash Climate Solutions
Fossil fuel companies can't push ideas like "low carbon gas" or oversell technologies like carbon capture alone. Management consultations play a critical, and often overlooked, role in shaping climate narratives. Reporter Maddie Stone investigates multinational consultancy ICF, which is well known for its government climate work, and also produces reports the fossil fuel industry uses to promote oil and gas…
May 18, 2024 The Coordinated Attack on Shareholder Activism
The backlash against ESG continues, with a string of lawsuits aimed at shutting down shareholder activism. Andrew Behar, CEO of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow , joins us to explain what's going on, and why anyone who cares about basic rights needs to be tuning into the ESG fight.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 16, 2024 Climate News Update: New Carbon Majors Report and Swiss Elders' Historic Win
The landmark Carbon Majors report has been updated with some surprising new data and the European Court of Human Rights has sent down an historic ruling that will shape how EU legislators look at energy and climate.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 3, 2024 Sainte-Soline and the Government Crackdown on France’s Earth Uprisings
In France, the working-class Yellow Vest movement, racial equality groups, and progressive climate activists have joined forces in a multi-racial, cross-class coalition called Earth Uprisings. The response has been shockingly violent and extreme. Reporter Anna Pujol-Mazzini takes us there. Check out Fatima Ouassak's new book Pour Une Écologie Pirate.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 20, 2024 The United States Anti-Renewables Movement, Explained
Isaac Slevin, lead author of Brown University's Against the Wind report on opposition to wind energy on the east coast of the United States, walks us through the opposition and how these anti-renewable tactics are now influencing movements in Australia.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 5, 2024 Shell, Oil Colonialism, and the Ongoing Struggle of Nigeria’s Environmental Activists
Decades after the Ogini 9 were executed for opposing Shell's operations, Nigeria continues to grapple with the environmental and political fall out of oil extraction. With Shell shutting down onshore activities in 2023, they leave behind poisoned water, various political and economic crises, and a country that is measurably worse off than when its oil industry began. Meanwhile, the government continues to target…
Feb 20, 2024 What Ecuador's Yasuní Referendum Really Means for Oil, in Yasuní and Beyond
Last year, headlines all over the world proclaimed victory for the environment: finally, after more than a decade of promises, there would be no more drilling in Yasuní National Park, a large swath of the Ecuadorian Amazon. But as Macy Lipkin reports, all wasn't what it seemed.     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 19, 2024 Introducing: Hazard NYC
Check out the limited-run series Hazard NYC from The City, all about how climate change intersects with Superfund sites in New York City. Start with episode one here .     See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 13, 2024 The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Protest with Dana R. Fisher
Sociologist Dana R. Fisher draws on years of research in her new book, Saving Ourselves , to explore what makes climate protests effective, what a protest "working" even means, where the climate movement is likely to go next, and where it needs to go to achieve real climate action.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 31, 2024 The "EcoTerrorist" Panic
The United States' governments definition of "ecoterrorism" has long fueled backlash against environmental activists. Investigative reporter and Drilled senior editor  Alleen Brown uncovers how the Department of Homeland Security warned Atlanta officials about the threat posed by "Defend the Atlanta Forest" for months before police raided the forest, ultimately killing one protestor, and charging dozens more…
Jan 23, 2024 Meet the United Nations' First Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders
Michel Forst became the United Nations' first Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders in 2022, monitoring the increasingly onerous laws and aggressive tactics being used against climate protestors. France reporter Anna Pujol-Massini talks to Forst about his position, his urgent warnings about climate activism in the United Kingdom, and what power he has to do something about the crackdown on climate protest.…
Jan 16, 2024 How UK Courts Became the New Battleground for Climate Protest
A decade after United Kingdom courts made history with the first "climate necessity" ruling in history, the UK government has passed new laws that not only restrict what protesters can do, but also how protesters are allowed to defend themselves in court. In some courtrooms, the climate necessity defense has been effectively outlawed. How did that happen, how did it happen so quickly, and what does it mean for the…
Dec 19, 2023 What Happened At Bayou Bridge? The Other End of the Dakota Access Pipeline
While protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation drew international attention, the southern end of the pipeline saw a quieter, but no less intense crackdown. Cops moonlighted as pipeline security while suppressing free speech and the right to protest. Reporter Karen Savage shares what happened at Bayou Bridge, and what lessons we can take away from the climate movement…
Dec 7, 2023 Seven Years Later: The Dakota Access Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closes the comment period on its draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, a 1,172-mile pipeline that’s been pumping 500,000 barrels of oil per day since May 2017. The pipeline runs from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota to southern Illinois, crossing the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Over the past six years, every court in the country has…
Dec 5, 2023 Modern-Day Bead Trading: How the Fossil Fuel Industry Co-opts Indigenous Protest in Canada
Reporter Martha Troian brings us to Canada, where the Wet'suwet'en people have been fighting for years against a gas pipeline they never authorized on their territory and examines how fossil fuel companies employ "redwashing" to manipulate public perception.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 14, 2023 Living on the Frontlines of War and Climate Crisis: Abeer Butmeh in Palestine
Abeer Butmeh , coordinator of the Palestinian NGOs Network, one of the most important Palestinian environmental organizations, spoke to senior editor Alleen Brown about battling for short-term and long-term survival when your identity itself is criminalized.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 1, 2023 Messy Conversations: Magatte Wade on Africa, Climate, and Free Speech
Magatte Wade of the Atlas Network’s Center for African Prosperity joins us to discuss the intersection of poverty, climate, and property rights. We also dive into the nuances that too often get left out of climate conversation. Additional resources: Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) DeSmog profile of ARC DeSmog coverage of ARC 2023 forum Narasimha Rao's Decent Living Energy Project Drilled Guyana…
Oct 17, 2023 The Tomato Soup “Controversy”: Do Disruptive Climate Protests Actually Work?
Climate activism has shifted over the past few years—it's more constant now and includes more direct action than ever before. Some of that action has sparked backlash from critics, including climate scientists and advocates, worried that protest will turn the public away from the urgent need to act on the climate crisis. Social science researchers who study structural change and protest say there's no…
Oct 10, 2023 Why Indigenous Land Defenders Face Repression
From Ecuador to North Dakota, British Columbia to New Zealand, the backlash against Indigenous-led environmental protest is always particularly harsh, infused with colonialist entitlement to land, water, and other resources. Historian Nick Estes walks us through what that looks like in the United States, and the great team behind the documentary The Territory brings us a recent example from Brazil. Check out the…
Oct 9, 2023 Guyana Gas-to-Energy Project: Who Really Benefits?
A new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) looks at the details of Guyana's planned "Gas to Energy" project and finds mostly benefits for ExxonMobil and more debt for Guyana. Read the full report here .   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 3, 2023 Joanna Smith on "Conspiring Against the United States" with Finger paint
In April 2023, Joanna Oltman Smith walked into the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. with fellow activist Tim Martin, and smeared water-soluble kids' finger paint on the glass display case containing a Degas statue called "Little Dancer." The two read off a statement about the importance of protecting actual, living children as well as we do sculptures of them. Smith and Martin figured they would be charged with…
Sep 26, 2023 Living with Loss: Climate Damage in Nigeria
Climate activists warn about the future—but for many communities, climate loss is already routine. Mo Isu from Inherited looks at the cycle of loss and rebuilding in the rural Niger Delta region of Nigeria as the country weathers extreme seasonal flooding. After meeting a flood survivor in his hometown of Lagos, Mo travels twelve hours to Lokoja—the town where Nigeria’s largest rivers…
Sep 19, 2023 How Think Tanks Paved the Way to Criminalize Climate Protest
Climate activists warn about the future—but for many communities, climate loss is already routine. Mo Isu from Inherited looks at the cycle of loss and rebuilding in the rural Niger Delta region of Nigeria as the country weathers extreme seasonal flooding. After meeting a flood survivor in his hometown of Lagos, Mo travels twelve hours to Lokoja—the town where Nigeria’s largest rivers…
Sep 11, 2023 Vietnam's Tax Evasion Charges Are Used to Jail Climate Activists
President Biden made his first trip to Vietnam as President this week, with the intention of "upgrading" diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam. Not on the agenda? Vietnam's move to use trumped-up tax evasion charges to suppress civil society groups, including five climate activists that have been imprisoned since 2021. Read The 88 Project's report on this practice .   See…
Sep 5, 2023 Australia’s State-by-State Crackdown on Climate Protest
Since Queensland passed the "Dangerous Attachment Devices" law in 2019 in response to anti-coal protests, Australian states have rapidly adopted similar measures targeting climate activism.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 29, 2023 The Corporate Push to Criminalize Speech
There's a lot of discourse happening about free speech in the context of "cancel culture", but precious little coverage of the global push to criminalize protest, particularly environmental and climate protest. We examine how extractive industries began agitating governments to crack down on protest, what tactics they use, and why they've been effective.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 29, 2023 Disha Ravi on Becoming the Face of "Radical" Protest in India
At just 22 years old, climate activist Disha Ravi—co-founder of Fridays for Future India —was arrested, flown across the country, and jailed for her activism. She joins us to explain the night the police showed up at her home, how it's still impacting her two years later, and why she refuses to let it stop her activism or force her out of India. An extended version of this interview will run in…
Aug 22, 2023 How the Media Has Helped to Criminalize Climate Protest with Evlondo Cooper
Media Matters senior researcher Evlondo Cooper breaks down how the media has covered climate activism, shaping mainstream perception and helping the fossil fuel industry in its quest to criminalize climate protest. Additional resources: National news' scant coverage of climate protests largely overlooked the scientific urgency driving controversial climate actions   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy…
Aug 15, 2023 Coming Soon: The Real Free Speech Threat
Around the world, environmental protesters are facing escalating repression—from harsh laws with life-altering prison sentences to fines to protesters arreseted near "critical infrastructure" to violent attacks. Corporations are suing protestors and NGOs, comparing protest to organized crime. Governments are growing increasingly comfortable branding environmental protestors as “domestic…
Aug 1, 2023 The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case
In more than 30 climate cases making their way through United States courts today, oil companies are using an argument they've been laying the legal groundwork for since the 1970s: that since everything they've ever said about climate change was in the interest of shaping policy or blocking regulation, it's protected speech, even if it was misleading. We explore how those cases are playing out and the likelihood…
Jul 25, 2023 A Legal Strategy: How Mobil Oil Fought for Corporate Free Speech
Mobil Oil worried that its advertorial campaigns positioning Mobil as a personality in and of itself might be labeled "propaganda" by TV networks and deemed unfit to run. In response, Herb Schmertz, VP of Public Affairs for Mobil Oil, looked to the courts for protection. The "corporate free speech" movement moved through the courts, getting a big assist from tobacco lobbyist-turned-Supreme Court Justice Lewis F.…
Jul 18, 2023 The Panic: How Mobil Oil Changed Advertising Forever
In the 1970s, Mobil Oil invented the advertorial and was aggressively pursuing an entirely new type of marketing, branding the company as a person itself with a unique personality and opinions that demanded attention. When public backlash threatened to undermine their approach, they launched a campaign that would change the course of United States culture, policy, advertising, and history. See…
Jun 20, 2023 "Cancer Alley" Fiights Back
Louisiana's "Cancer Alley"—a stretch along the Mississippi River where petrochemical plants have created some of the worst air and water pollution America—has become a battleground. ExxonMobil, Chevron and other petrochemical giants are increasingly organizing against grassroots environmental justice activism in Louisiana that are part of the Beyond Petrochemicals campaign. The companies have joined…
Jun 13, 2023 The Anti-ESG Campaign Gets a Boost from RAGA
Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its intention to make Environmental Social and Governance metrics actually meaningful to investors, polluting industries have suddenly turned on ESG. Now that fight has a legal strategy, being carried out by the Republican Attorneys General Association. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 30, 2023 Jake Bittle on the Complexities of Climate Migration
Jake Bittle's book The Great Displacement looks at how extreme weather events are likely to drive Americans to move from one part of the country (or their state) to another. He talks through the complex web of factors that drive migration, and how policies might be changed to ease the burden on people and communities. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 23, 2023 Rethinking Electrification
Electrification offers an opportunity to rethink how we use energy and how we get around. Researcher Thea Riofrancos wants to see the United States seize that opportunity and set the country on a path to a better, more equitable future. Subscribe to our newsletter!   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 9, 2023 A Verdict
The day after our season finale last week, we got some incredible news from Guyana: the High Court ruled against the oil company and the government in the big insurance case Melinda Janki filed. We caught up with Janki shortly after the verdict was released for this conversation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 2, 2023 The Turning Point: What's Next for Guyana?
Will Guyana become the fossil fuel industry's newest profit center or can it chart a different path? In the last episode of our "Light, Sweet Crude" season we look at what's next for Guyana, and for other Global South countries grappling with poverty and climate change at the same time.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 25, 2023 The Global Oil Rush
What's happening in Guyana isn't an isolated case. It's part of a global oil rush, as oil companies race to tap as many remaining fossil fuel reserves as they can. Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell discusses his story about what the global oil rush looks like in another part of the world: Namibia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 18, 2023 ExxonMobil's Greenwashing Playbook
When we started reporting on Guyana's oil boom, we reached out to local environmental groups to hear their concerns about this new polluting industry. But we discovered something unsettling: every environmental organization we could find had taken money from ExxonMobil or its partners. Several have even made promotional videos praising the project. They argue that oil money is no dirtier than any other funding…
Apr 11, 2023 Global Poverty and Global Warming
The tension between addressing global poverty and acting on the climate crisis is one the fossil fuel industry has been stoking in recent years. We asked Dr. Narasimha Rao to join us this week to get into the details of that conversation, where there are and aren't tradeoffs, and what his Decent Living Energy Project at Yale can tell us about how to solve both global crises at once. See omnystudio.com/listener for…
Apr 4, 2023 Constitutional Violation: Guyana's Climate Lawsuit
Melina Janki has filed seven separate legal cases aimed at blocking oil drilling in Guyana, but only one explicitly names climate change as a problem the project is guaranteed to exacerbate. It's a constitutional challenge invoking Guyana's constitutional right to a healthy environment, an amendment Janki herself helped write. Plaintiffs Dr. Troy Thomas and Quedad DeFreitas argue that the government’s choice…
Mar 28, 2023 Unlimited Liability: The Guyanese Lawyer Taking on ExxonMobil
One person in Guyana understands both the inner workings of Big Oil and the intracacies of Guyanese governmental law better than almost anyone. Melinda Janki was raised in Guyana, but went to Oxford University and then worked as in-house counsel for oil giant BP before making her way back to Guyana. She returned home with a mission to help strengthen the country's environmental laws. In 2018, she began filing suits…
Mar 21, 2023 The Contract: Inside ExxonMobil's Guyana Oil Deal
After a year of pressure from local press and civil groups, the Guyanese government finally released its oil contract with ExxonMobil to the public. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls it an unfair deal for Guyana. Some local leaders implore the government to renegotiate the contract, but others say that's a fool's errand and fighting the contract should be done in court. Additional resources: The Quest to…
Mar 14, 2023 The Bloom: Finding Oil in Guyana
Five years ago, Kiana Wilburg was a new reporter when ExxonMobil executives and Guyanese government officials announced they had found oil 40 miles offshore. Wilburg and her newsroom had to rapdly learn about the oil industry and this suddenly influential company that was now in their country. They were left with one question: what kind of a deal had their country signed onto? Visit https://brilliant.org/Drilled…
Feb 28, 2023 New Season Coming Soon: Light, Sweet Crude
On paper, the small South American country of Guyana is the fastest-growing economy in the world, thanks to its oil boom. The country started shipping barrels of oil in 2019. Hotels are popping up all over its capital city. Historic homes are being turned into condos for visiting oil execs. But average citizens say they aren’t benefiting from the boom like they thought they would. And one lawyer is trying…
Jan 10, 2023 Guyana: Life Inside a Ticking Carbon Bomb
In this special sneak preview of our next season, we hear from Melinda Janki, a lawyer who's fighting to keep her home country of Guyana from becoming one of the world's largest carbon bombs.
Dec 20, 2022 Rep. Ro Khanna: Inside the House Climate Disinformation Investigation
The House Oversight Committee wrapped up its investigation into climate disinformation earlier this month and published a second tranche of revealing internal documents that spell out exactly how the world's largest oil companies have misled the...
Dec 6, 2022 Climate RICO Lawsuit & James Hansen Sues EPA: Two Groundbreaking Cases
November was a big month for climate litigation! The first-ever climate RICO was filed on behalf of 16 Puerto Rican municipalities, plus a cohort of scientists and researchers, including NASA scientist James Hansen, sued the EPA to compel them to...
Nov 22, 2022 Loss and Damage at COP 27
Loss and damage was a big focus of #COP27 and, ultimately, one of the few things global negotiators could agree on. But media coverage of loss and damage has left out a lot of important history, including how flawed the fossil fuel industry's "fossil...
Nov 8, 2022 Why Is One of Big Oil's Top Greenwashing PR Firms Handling Media for COP 27?
COP27 is underway in Egypt. Everyone agrees that the stakes have never been higher so why is longtime fossil fuel industry greenwasher Hill + Knowlton handling media for the conference? Today a look back at the firm's longstanding history crafting...
Oct 26, 2022 COP 27: How to Neutralize Climate Disinformation
The annual Conference of the Parties —a global meeting of negotiators and heads of state to discuss a path forward on climate action—is coming up in a little over a week. Historically these meetings gin up all sorts of climate disinformation. Today, a...
Oct 18, 2022 Universities Are Saying No to Big Oil Money
Beginning with Standard Oil of New Jersey (now Exxon) in the late 1940s, oil companies have invested heavily in universities, not just to fund engineering programs and, eventually, climate science, but also to fund the public policy centers and...
Oct 7, 2022 Widening the Lens of Accountability: Live with Naomi Oreskes, Jennifer Jacquet, Dr. David Michaels, Geoffry Supran, and Jessica Wentz
Taped live at the Harvard Faculty Club, an interview with Naomi Oreskes about her forthcoming book "The Big Myth," focused on the origin story behind free-market ideology, followed by a panel discussion on how to widen climate accountability to...
Sep 20, 2022 Congressional Hearings on Climate Disinformation Reveal Industry PR Playbook
Three Congressional hearings shone a light on climate disinformation this week, with one looking at oil companies' role, another looking at the role of PR firms, and a third looking at corporate attempts to limit the free speech of environmental...
Sep 13, 2022 West Virginia Leads on Climate Obstruction
From its state treasurer to its attorney general to its Senator, West Virginia is leading the charge on climate obstruction and dismantling environmental regulation.
Aug 23, 2022 The Supreme Court's Continued Climate Take
West Virginia v EPA isn't the only big climate case before the Supreme Court this year, from questioning the SEC's disclosure rules to major Clean Water challenges there's a lot more to come. EarthJustice's Sam Sankar and Kirti Datla join to give us a...
Aug 16, 2022 "Woke Capital": A New Front in Climate Obstructionism
Jesse Coleman, senior investigator for Documented, joins to walk us through an eye-opening investigation into the State Financial Officers Federation, an obscure group organizing Republican state treasurers in the fight against "woke capital."
Jul 12, 2022 What the IPCC Really Said About Carbon Dioxide Removal
Everyone else might have moved on but we're still plodding through the latest IPCC report over here. Carbon dioxide removal, or CDR, came up all over this report, and because the summary is vastly more positive about the potential of this tech than...
Jun 28, 2022 West Virginia vs. EPA: Worst-Case Scenario and What Comes Next
The Supreme Court is dragging its feet releasing a ruling in the controversial West Virginia v EPA case. Today we look at the roots of that case, its position in the rightwing judicial strategy, and what avenues for climate action would remain in the...
Jun 21, 2022 The "Culture War" Embraces Climate
Jennie King, lead author of a new report on climate disinformation from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, joins to discuss the report's findings, including the way various "culture war"riors have embraced climate denial, and how her team...
Jun 16, 2022 Regulating Greenhouse Gases Under TSCA
As we wait to hear whether the Supreme Court will toss WV v EPA altogether or apply the major questions doctrine to broadly rule against the EPA regulating greenhouse gases, period, a group of climate scientists and advocates are filing a petition...
Jun 14, 2022 Why Is a California Air Board Funding Natural Gas Expansion?
Floodlight's Miranda Green is back with a new story about the push for natural gas in southern California. This time an air board tasked with cleaning up pollution is giving millions of dollars in grant money to gas projects. Read the story:...
Jun 7, 2022 Senator Whitehouse on Right-Wing Think Tanks Manipulation
I have been wondering for months what possible sense it makes for every right-wing think tank to have an amicus program. I mean...is any judge really surprised to learn that the Cato Institute is against regulation? But these are not folks who spend...
May 25, 2022 The Diaster Capitalism Response to Russia-Ukraine
In the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the gas industry is now fully embracing it's new role. Right alongside the API, Chevron, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the industry moved quickly to capture the narrative in the early days of the...
May 19, 2022 Australia's "Gas-Fired Recovery," Carbon Capture, and Greenwashing
This weekend Australians will vote in the first national election since catastrophic bushfires burned tens of millions of acres and blanketed the country in smoke for weeks. In the lead-up to that election, a look at some of the current government's...
May 17, 2022 The Los Angeles Ports Astroturfing Scheme
Even before the gas industry got into the front group business it was using some questionable tactics to stave off electrification. In this episode, LA Times energy reporter Sammy Roth and Floodlight's deputy editor and investigative climate reporter...
May 3, 2022 Exposing an Energy Front Group
A year after San Luis Obispo took the lead in Southern California on a gas ban, the coastal town of Santa Barbara was evaluating a similar proposal, and residents were being spammed with texts encouraging opposition to the ban and offering...
Apr 26, 2022 The New Climate Villains
For more than a decade, even environmental advocates promoted the idea of fossil gas as part of the solution on climate change. But while it did help to reduce dependency on coal and thereby reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution, it came with a whole...
Apr 19, 2022 A Busload of COVID
In April 2020 when San Luis Obispo announced a plan to become the first city in Southern California to ban gas in new buildings, the region's utility SoCal Gas--the largest gas utility in the country--sprung into action, threatening among other things...
Apr 15, 2022 Climate One Collaboration: Breaking Down Climate Misinformation
Fossil fuel companies and others have spent decades casting doubt on climate science to allow them to continue to profit. As documented by climate communication expert John Cook and others, these strategies have taken many forms: deny, dismiss, delay,...
Apr 9, 2022 IPCC Report: Conflicts of Interest, Media Manipulation and More
The IPCC mitigation report dropped this week and it is a *doozy*. We'll be digging into it throughout the month of April to help you make sense of it all. Read more: www.drilledpodcast.com
Mar 31, 2022 Responsibilities Not Rights: A Tūhoe Perspective
When Tūhoe negotiated legal personhood for their homeland Te Urewera, the global rights of nature community cheered. But in this conversation about how the case connects to rights of nature overall and to the global push for climate action, Tamati...
Mar 17, 2022 Ecuador's Landmark Rights of Nature Ruling
Last episode we told the story of Ecuador's rights-of-nature journey, today Melissa Troutman and Joshua Pribanic, directors of Invisible Hand and co-founders of the journalism organization Public Herald, join to talk about what the landmark Los Cedros...
Mar 11, 2022 Los Cedros: The Cloud Forest vs. The Mine
Ecuador was the first country to adopt rights of nature into its constitution, but its Constitutional Court (Ecuador’s equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court) has not heard many cases in the decade or so since the law was added. The new...
Mar 3, 2022 West Virginia vs. EPA: Worst-Case Scenario and What Comes Next
A case argued at the Supreme Court this week—West Virginia v EPA—has potentially huge implications for regulating greenhouse gas emissions. NYU law professor Richard Revesz and Center for Biological Diversity attorney Jason Rylander join us to explain.
Feb 24, 2022 A Brief History of Rights of Nature in the United States
Rights of nature first started making its way into U.S. courtrooms via an unlikely source: Disney. Today it's a huge threat to the fossil fuel industry. So much so that the industry is pushing preemptive bans on rights of nature laws in states across...
Feb 18, 2022 Drilled Presents: Damages
Damages is following the hundreds of climate lawsuits currently happening all over the country. First up, in Season 1, a look at rights of nature cases all over the world. In this episode, we start with a case that's making its way through the courts...
Feb 12, 2022 The Right-Wing Web of Climate Delay
Right-wing funders don't just work on climate change, or voter suppression, or attacks on public schools, they tackle all of it together. In this episode, expert Lisa Graves talks us through the tangled web of funding and ideology fighting against...
Jan 28, 2022 An Update on the Youth Climate Lawsuit
Back in 2015, twenty-one young people sued the United States for its actions to drive and exacerbate climate change. The case, Juliana v. United States, looked like it was done for back in 2021 when the 9th Circuit declared the young people did not...
Jan 21, 2022 Exxon Takes Its First Amendment Battle to the Texas Supreme Court
Guardian journalist Chris McGreary joins to discuss ExxonMobil's attempts in Texas to cast litigation against it as a conspiracy to muzzle its free speech rights. Read Chris's story:...
Jan 14, 2022 Reclaiming Environmentalism
For decades, the fossil fuel industry has successfully framed environmentalists as silly, elitist, radical, and out of touch. And for a long time the climate movement has gone along with it, self-flagellating for caring about nature, buying into the...
Jan 7, 2022 Climate Crisis, Meet Democracy Crisis
A conversation with Max Berger, a longtime progressive organizer who helped incubate the Sunrise Movement and has also worked in the past for Cori Bush and Elizabeth Warren, about movement building, the climate crisis, and the current unraveling of...
Dec 17, 2021 Drilled Presents | Scene on Radio, The Repair | Episode 9: Pachamama
In several countries around the world, including Ecuador, New Zealand, and the U.S., some people are trying to protect the planet using a legal concept called “rights of nature”—infusing the law with Indigenous understandings of Mother Earth....
Dec 10, 2021 The Influence Industry and Climate Obstruction
Groundbreaking new research from Brown University's Dr. Robert Brulle shows just how much oil companies have spent on PR in recent decades, and tracks how PR firms helped to architect climate obstruction. PR whistleblower Christine Arena joins with...
Dec 7, 2021 One PR Firm Works on More Climate Obstruction Than Any Other
In a new study, sociologist Robert Brulle examined which PR firms work for the various industries obstructing climate action. Only one firm was in the top 3 for every single segment. Listen to find out which one, and learn about some of their other...
Nov 26, 2021 Fracking the Outback: Australia's Plan to Go Big on Fracking and Plastic
As the rest of the world is beginning to realize that fracking comes with more downsides than upsides, Australia is readying itself for a fracking boom, eyeing basins on Indigenous land.
Nov 19, 2021 Melissa Aronczyk on the History of Greenwashing
Melissa Aronczyk, media studies scholar at Rutgers University, is one of my go-to sources on all things disinformation. In this episode, she walks us through the history of environmental PR and how it's shaped the broader disinformation system we're...
Nov 5, 2021 Climate Education in the U.S. with Katie Worth
Reporter Katie Worth has been researching climate education in the U.S. for years and that research forms the basis of her new book Miseducation. In this interview we delve into what she found.
Oct 29, 2021 Fighting Back Against Big Oil in Education
Over the last five episodes we've tracked how long the fossil fuel industry has been investing in schools, why, and what impact it's had. In this episode, we look at what can be done, and who's trying to do it.
Oct 22, 2021 Ben Franta on Big Oil in College
Bringing you our entire interview with Stanford researcher Ben Franta on fossil fuel influence at universities because it was just too good not to share. Check out Degrees pod: https://link.chtbl.com/degrees?sid=podcast.SHOWNAME
Oct 15, 2021 Big Oil on Campus
We're wrapping up our series with Earther this week, with a look at how fossil fuel companies influence curricula and research at the university level. (Also working on a bonus episode on solutions to this problem, stay tuned for that!)
Oct 8, 2021 Big Oil's High School Agenda
In the third episode of our mini-series with Earther, we head to high school, where the fossil fuel industry's efforts to shape Americans' thinking on economics and policy really ramps up.
Oct 3, 2021 S5 Update: Donziger Sentenced to Six Months in Jail
Steven Donziger, the attorney who's been on house arrest for more than two years on a contempt charge that arose as a result of his work on the Chevron-Ecuador case, was sentenced Friday October 1st. Judge Loretta Preska handed down the maximum...
Oct 1, 2021 How Big Oil Targets Elementary School
Since the 1920s, oil companies have been creating music, activities, coloring books, comic books, movies and more to shape how American kids think about society, the economy, and the environment. Today, we look at their efforts in elementary school....
Sep 24, 2021 The First Day of School
Fossil fuel companies didn't start infiltrating schools when climate change appeared on the scene, they were there shaping the minds of future citizens for decades before then. The industry has been laying the groundwork for inaction on climate since...
Sep 13, 2021 Drilled + Earther: The ABCs of Big Oil
In this collaboration with Earther, we look at the fossil fuel industry's influence in school—not just in shaping our understanding of environmental problems, but also in narrowing the spectrum of solutions we're allowed to consider. Earther reporter...
Sep 13, 2021 Whack-A-Mole
In the final episode of part 1 in our Bridge to Nowhere season, we look at the chronic whack-a-mole problem in frontline communities. Just as one facility gets shut down or cleaned up, another is waiting to take its place. In a lot of ways, the...
Aug 6, 2021 Keeping Oil Alive
The team at UnEarthed, an investigative journalism project funded by Greenpeace in the UK, went undercover and got ExxonMobil execs on tape talking through the company's climate playbook in detail. Today, an unpublished part of that report, in which a...
Jul 30, 2021 And Then There Was COVID
Just as the fossil fuel industry was starting to worry about demand for single use plastics, along comes a global pandemic that they could leverage to push more of the stuff. And they did! But was it enough to save them entirely?
Jul 23, 2021 Fighting Formosa in Louisiana
Diane Wilson couldn't keep Formosa out of her town, but down the coast in Louisiana the community in St. James Parish, led by Sharon Lavigne, is fighting like hell to keep them out.
Jul 16, 2021 Don't Mess with Texas
This time we're doing something a little different: a season in three parts, all about the gas industry and how it's managed to embed itself into society. First up, Part 1 Plastic Pipelines: A look at how the fracking boom led to a plastics boom,...
Jun 17, 2021 Coming Soon: The Bridge to Nowhere
A new season about the natural gas industry, presented in three parts. Coming soon, Part 1: Pipelines to Plastic about the direct connection between the fracking boom and the plastics boom, told through the story of Formosa Plastics, a company with an...
May 27, 2021 Update: Steven Donziger's Trial in New York
Steven Donziger went to trial for the criminal contempt charge that's kept him on house arrest for 600 days and counting. Paul Paz Y Mino of Amazon Watch brings us an update on the trial
May 17, 2021 How Big Oil Made You Feel Guilty About Climate Change
A new study from Harvard science historians Naomi Oreskes and Geoffrey Supran points to the use of language targeted specifically to downplay the reality of climate change and shift responsibility entirely onto consumers. Geoffrey Supran, the lead...
May 11, 2021 The Heath Impacts of the Coal-to-Gas Transition: Harvard's New Study
A new study out from Harvard University explores the health impacts of transitioning from coal to other combustible fuels. The findings are important for climate policy, particularly the fact that biomass is a huge contributor to air pollution despite...
Apr 22, 2021 Rep. Ro Khanna on Fossil Fuel Subsidies and Biden’s Infrastructure Plan
It's Earth Day 2021 and the first Congressional hearing of the day is focused on fossil fuel subsidies. Their elimination was written into Biden's infrastructure bill, and House Democrats want to make sure that provision stays in the bill. Today's...
Apr 17, 2021 Update: The Latest Developments in the Steven Donziger Case
Steven Donziger, the American attorney we profiled in S5 is scheduled for trial May 10th, but his lawyers have filed another motion to dismiss, alleging vindictive prosecution. Karen Savage joins for an update on this story.
Apr 10, 2021 Corporate Personhood? What About Ecosystem Personhood
We talked about rights of nature a bit in the Ecuador-Chevron season, the Latin American country was the first in the world to integrate the concept of rights of nature in its Constitution. Now the Constitutional Court is reviewing its first rights of...
Mar 31, 2021 Infrastructure Week: Build Back Better, the THRIVE Act, and Climate Justice with Kaniela Ing
The Biden Administration has rolled out its Build Back Better plan and it includes a lot of progressive wishlist items, but the left is still pushing for more scale. The THRIVE Act, reintroduced by Sen Markey and Rep Dingell last month is what they're...
Mar 27, 2021 All Eyes on Weymouth: FERC Signals Interest in Environmental Justice
Local activists and legislators have been fighting the Enbridge natural gas compressor in Weymouth for years. It's too close to residents and businesses, and poses too many health risks to a community that's already borne the burden of too much...
Mar 20, 2021 How the Fossil Fuel Industry is Undermining Free Speech
Fossil fuel-backed anti-protest laws have been passed in 14 states and are making their way through statehouses in several more states, including six different bills in Minnesota, the only state with a big pipeline fight this year: Line 3. Researcher...

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Drilled

About Drilled

Episodes

Everything You Need to Know about COP 31 | The Spill

Three Climate Journalists Take on Digger | The Spill

The Paradox of Mining Lithium to Save the Planet | The Spill

How Tech Billionaires Broke Democracy | The Spill

Garifuna land defenders vs. Survivor (as in the TV show) | The Spill

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