Drilled

In this first episode of The Black Thread, we meet the Norwegians and explore how social norms and cultural values shape their identity as a good, caring, and nature-loving people. We also learn what happens when those values come into conflict with the reality of Norway’s outsized impact on climate change, and discover how and why oil influences peoples’ response to this dilemma.  For more information and references: https://communicatingclimatechange.com/the-black-thread Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s no avoiding it: Things feel pretty bleak. To witness venture-capital-fueled AI domination, democracy’s steady drift toward authoritarianism, state-sanctioned genocide, and, of course, the collapse of one climate boundary after another, is to encounter a profound, at times overwhelming, 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: Essays in a Time of Catastrophe, climate activist and journalist Wen Stephenson argues that the only way to confront the crises of our time is to meet this despair head-on...

Climate obstruction isn’t just something the fossil fuel industry does, but they’ve certainly spearheaded and masterminded a lot of efforts. In this ep, an academic (Kristoffer Ekberg, from the University of Lund in Sweden), a nonprofit researcher (the legendary Kert Davies, of the Center for Climate Integrity), and a journalist (Geoff Dembicki, global managing editor of DeSmog) walk us through what we know so far about those efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obstruction would never have been as effective as it has been without the help of the PR industry and the willful ignorance of the media. Today, Melissa Aronczyk, of Rutgers University, and Max Boykoff, of the University of Colorado, join us to walk through why getting a handle on the media's role in climate obstruction is critical to solving the problem. The book Climate Obstruction: A Global Survey, is available from Oxford University Press here, and will be available for free download beginning October 14th. Learn more about your ad...

If you want to understand how misinformation works in general…and anyone who cares about democracy should right now…there’s no one better to talk to than researchers who have been studying climate misinformation for years. In today's episode, John Cook (University of Melbourne) and Dominik A. Stecuła (Colorado State University) join to walk us through everything the research is telling us so far. Reminder that you can get a copy of the book Climate Obstruction: A Global Survey here (and download a free digital version beginning October 14th!) Learn...

Jesse Bryant (Yale) and Dieter Plehwe (University of Kassel) join us for a look at the intersection between the rise of rightwing populism and increasing resistance to acting on climate, with a particular focus on rising authoritarianism in the U.S., UK, and Europe. For more on this topic, check out the book Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment (also downloadable free after Oct 14th!): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/climate-obstruction-9780197787151?cc=us&lang=en& Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For at least a decade now, there’s been growing agreement around the fact that what’s stopping the world from addressing the climate crisis is not a lack of data or scientific certainty, or a lack of technological or policy measures available to address it. The problem is a lack of political will. And that didn't just happen; political will has been intentionally obstructed at every turn. As we gear up for the 30th UN climate summit, a new book pulls together everything we know about how this happened and what can be done about it. To prep for...

Thanks to reporter Adam Lowenstein, we'll be bringing you lots more interviews with smart authors writing about climate, policy, democracy, and power. This week, Adam talks to Casey Michel, author of Foreign Agents: How American Lobbyists and Lawmakers Threaten Democracy Around the World. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Killing an offshore wind farm that's nearly complete makes no sense, even for a climate denier who thinks windmills kill whales. In this episode, political economist Mark Blyth walks Drilled reporter Royce Kurmelovs through the strategy behind it all, what he calls "carbon dominance." You can read a story about the impacts on our site: drilled.media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The kings of the manosphere love to talk about “integrating” a man’s warrior and civilized self, but how about integrating men, and new ideas of masculinity, into the climate movement instead? What does that look like, who’s doing it, and where are there opportunities for repair and progress?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this eye-opening episode of Carbon Bros, we hear from special guest Vivian Taylor, a researcher on both trans rights and climate policy, on 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. Amy and Vivian break down the disturbing overlap between anti-trans, anti-climate, and other right-wing movements, as well as the critical need for unity in tackling these pressing issues. It’s a powerful conversation that uncovers the hidden networks funding social division and enviro...

The verdict comes through, more than doubling the damages, at a time when repression of protest is accelerating in the U.S., but somehow Energy Transfer's lawyers claim it is a victory for free speech. As the trial and our season wrap up, we take a look at what this verdict means for Indigenous rights, climate activists, and the decline of individual free speech rights in the U.S. as corporate free speech rights expand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. From techno quick fixes and visions of abundance to carbon capture and geoengineering to doomerism and colonies on Mars, we’ll take a look at how gendered notions of the climate crisis have led to individualized, “masculine” approaches to solving it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the charges Energy Transfer has made against Greenpeace is that the organization "defamed" the pipeline company by saying that construction of the pipeline was disturbing sites the tribe views as sacred. But the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe stands behind this claim. In this episode, we hear that story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to powering the US, “energy dominance” has become a favorite phrase of the Trump administration. But who or what are they trying to dominate with all that oil and gas? In this episode, we zoom out from climate change to trace how gender became so embedded in our collective understanding of nature. How did we go from worshipping Gaia and Indigenous earth-mother figures to extracting “natural resources” from private property? And how did oversized gas-guzzlers become a symbol of proud American … manhood? It all goes back to dominance. Learn more about your ad choices...

Manosphere figures like Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson aren’t just telling men how to treat their girlfriends or train for MMA fights; they’re also blasting their listeners with climate denial talking points. Which isn’t a coincidence. 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. We take a look at how climate denial has seeped into the manosphere, how those messages are shaping men’s views of the climate crisis, and how the results are playing...

Energy Transfer has successfully kept a lot of stuff out of the court, including the tribe's concerns about the pipeline's impact on their water source and how very valid that concern turned out to be. We learn about the spills and water issues the pipeline has already caused. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Europe and throwing them in secretive prisons. There, they are extorted, abused and sometimes killed. An investigation into the death of Aliou Candé, a young farmer and father from Gineau-Bisseau, puts the Outlaw...

In her new book Apocalyptic Authoritarianism: Climate Crisis, Media, and Power, University of Toronto media scholar Hanna E. Morris argues that whether they realize it or not, some climate journalists, obsessed with preserving 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 climate crisis, these media elites might be contributing to a prize sought by both the MAGA right and the fossil fuel industry: Preventing the emergence of a hopeful, democratic, and class-defying movement against climate chan...

Coming at you July 25th, Carbon Bros, a cross-over miniseries from Drilled and Non-Toxic. You’ve heard it from cable news pundits, Democratic strategists, and your favorite YouTuber: young men swung the last U.S. election for Trump. Understanding what’s driving “the manosphere” and how to reach the young men in its grips is on everyone’s mind right now, but we’re zooming in on a different corner of it: the intersection between male grievance culture and climate denial. Why are American men less likely than women to believe in climate change, or take personal or political...