We'll be back with the rest of our anti-protest season soon, but in the meantime, welcome to a new Drilled miniseries we're calling "Messy Conversations," getting into all the complicated nuance that unfortunately gets cut out of a lot of climate conversations. This week, Magatte Wade, who runs the Center for African Prosperity at the Atlas Network. She wasn't too happy with our recent coverage of Atlas, so we talked about that, the idea that solving poverty and addressing the climate crisis are...
Nov 01, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Globally, 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 critics, including climate scientists and climate advocates, clutching their pearls and worrying that protest will turn the public away from the urgent need to act on the climate crisis. But social science researchers who study structural change and protest say there’s no historical evidence to back that up; that in fact the only time so...
Oct 17, 2023•32 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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 U.S., and the great team behind the documentary The Territory brings us a recent example from Brazil. Check out the film here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 10, 2023•30 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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: https://ieefa.org/articles/guyana-gas-energy-project-unnecessary-and-financially-unsustainable Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 09, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 vandalism, but each is now facing two felony charges, including one of "conspirin...
Oct 03, 2023•50 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast From our pals over at Inherited, in today’s episode, Mo Isu looks at one of the reasons climate activists all over the world are protesting: they're already facing the impacts of climate change. Here, Isu traces 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 converge – to explore how di...
Sep 26, 2023•33 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast It’s no coincidence that the backlash against climate protest looks the same from country to country. Not only is industry sharing tactics across borders, but also the Atlas Network—a global network of nearly 600 libertarian think tanks—has been swapping strategies and rhetoric for decades. This episode features reporting from Amy Westervelt, Lyndal Rowlands, and Julianna Merullo from Drilled, and Geoff Dembicki from DeSmog. You can see a print version of the story at The New Republic or an even...
Sep 19, 2023•45 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast President Biden made his first trip to Vietnam as President this week, with the intention of "upgrading" diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Vietnam. Not on the agenda? The country's move to use trumped-up tax evasion charges to suppress civil society groups, including five climate activists that have been imprisoned using this tactic since 2021. Read The 88 Project's report on this practice: https://the88project.org/weaponizing-the-law-to-prosecute-the-vietnam-four/ Learn more about your ...
Sep 11, 2023•23 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast Since the 2019 passage of the "Dangerous Attachment Devices" bill in response to anti-coal protests in Queensland, Australia's states have moved quickly to follow suit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 05, 2023•30 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast When she was just 22, Disha Ravi, co-founder of Fridays for Future in India, had police show up at her home, borrow a pen and paper to write an arrest warrant on the spot, and bundle her onto a plane to fly across the country to a city she'd never been to. Here she explains what happened, how it's still impacting her two years later, and why she'll never let it stop her activism or force her out of India. An extended version of this interview will run in partnership with the Heated newsletter ne...
Aug 29, 2023•33 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast There's a lot of discourse happening about free speech in the context of "cancel culture" these days, but precious little coverage of the push all over the world to criminalize protest...particularly environmental and climate protest. We'll be digging into this trend in detail over the next several months, but first a look at what prompted extractive industries to start agitating for governments to crack down on protest, what tactics they use, and why they've been so effective. Learn more about ...
Aug 29, 2023•34 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast Media Matters senior researcher Evlondo Cooper put out a fascinating study earlier this month looking at how the media has covered climate activism. In today's episode we look at the role that flawed coverage has helped the fossil fuel industry in its quest to criminalize climate protest. Check out the study here: https://www.mediamatters.org/broadcast-networks/national-news-scant-coverage-climate-protests-largely-overlooked-scientific Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...
Aug 22, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the lead-up to our season on the criminalization of protest we're bringing you part 1 of this excellent two-part Outside/In episode looking at this issue in the U.S. When members of the Oceti Sakowin gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline, they decided on a strategy of nonviolent direct action. No violence… against people. But sabotage of property – well, that’s another question entirely. Since the gathering at Standing Rock, anti-protest legislation...
Aug 15, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Around the world, climate and other environmental protestors are being harassed, attacked, and arrested at an alarming rate. Laws are being passed that levy life-altering prison sentences and fines on protestors arrested near anything deemed “critical infrastructure,” which is defined so broadly it’s hard to find a public space that wouldn’t be near it anymore. Corporations are suing protestors and NGOs, comparing protest to organized crime. Governments are growing increasingly comfortable brand...
Aug 15, 2023•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast In more than 30 climate cases making their way through U.S. 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. In this episode we take a look at how those cases are playing out and the likelihood that this new take on "corporate free speech" could make it all the wa...
Aug 01, 2023•27 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast Worried that all their work creating Mobil's personality and a multi-pronged issue advertising campaign to go with it would go to waste if the TV networks deemed it all "propaganda" Herb and his boss looked to the courts for protection. In this episode we follow the "corporate free speech" movement through the courts, where it got a big assist from tobacco lobbyist-turned-Supreme Court justice Lewis F. Powell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 25, 2023•31 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1970s, Mobil Oil had invented the advertorial and was aggressively pursuing an entirely new type of marketing, branding the company as a person with a unique personality and opinions that deserved to be heard. When public backlash threatened to undermine their approach, they launched a campaign that would change the course of U.S. history. Transcript Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 18, 2023•36 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast 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 with pro-industry politicians and local Chambers of Commerce to form a “sustainability council,” focused not on environmental sustainability but on the longevity of the petrochemical industry on Louisiana's Gulf Coast. Jo Banner of The Descendants Project and Shamyra Lavigne of ...
Jun 20, 2023•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ever since the Securities and Exchange Commission announced its intention to make Environmental Social and Governance metrics actually mean something 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. Ad codes: tryfirstleaf.com/drilled - 50% off first 6 bottles plus free shipping from First Leaf athleticgreens.com/drilled - free year's supply of vitamin D + 5 free travel packs of ...
Jun 13, 2023•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week Amy's on the other side of the mic in an interview with Samantha Hodder, who writes the excellent Bingeworthy newsletter, all about narrative podcasts. The newsletter version of this interview, along with Samantha's take on Drilled will be in tomorrow's Bingeworthy, so make sure to subscribe here: https://bingeworthy.substack.com/ Ad links in this ep: First Leaf: tryfirstleaf.com/drilled for 50% off your first shipment of six bottles AG1 : athleticgreens.com/drilled for a year's supply...
Jun 06, 2023•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Living Planet is a podcast and radio program from Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW). Hosted by Charli Shield and Sam Baker, each week Living Planet reports on environment stories from around the world. In this episode of Living Planet, host Sam Baker speaks with three experts on climate disinformation about how factually inaccurate and misleading information travels around the web. Climate journalist Stella Levantesi, communication researcher John Cook and Wikimedia strate...
Jun 02, 2023•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. In this episode, he joins to talk through the complex web of factors that drive migration, and how policies might be changed to ease the burden on people and communities. Find out more about The Great Displacement and where to buy it: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Great-Displacement/Jake-Bittle/9781982178253 Ad ...
May 30, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Electrification offers an opportunity to rethink how we use energy and how we get around. Researcher Thea Riofrancos wants to see the U.S. seize that opportunity and set the country on a path to a better, more equitable future. Promotions: Earth Breeze: earthbreeze.com/drilled for 40% off Athletic Greens: athleticgreens.com/DRILLED for a free 1-year supply of Vitamin D and 5 free travel packs Express VPN: expressvpn.com/drilled for an extra three months free on a one-year package Subscribe to ou...
May 23, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast We’re sharing an episode from a podcast we love called The Carbon Copy. In January 2023, a new study showing that over 12 percent of childhood asthma cases can be linked to gas stoves took over the discourse. Suddenly, gas stoves were a hot topic on nightly news programs across America. The study ignited backlash from conservative pundits, especially after a commissioner from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said stricter regulation of gas stoves was on the table. Ad codes: tryfirstle...
May 17, 2023•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Congo Basin contains the world’s second-largest rainforest at a staggering 178 million hectares (just under 440 million acres). It is also one of the biggest carbon sinks on the planet, containing 29 billion metric tons of carbon in its vast peatlands under the rich forest. One of the basin’s key countries, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), aims to open up protected areas and forested peatlands to oil and gas development, with many experts warning of dire consequences to the rainfo...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Ad codes: tryfirstleaf.com/drilled - 50% off first 6 bottles plus free shipping from First Leaf athleticgreens.com/drilled - free year's supply of vitamin D + 5 free travel packs of AG1 from Athletic Greens earthbreeze....
May 09, 2023•30 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Ad codes: tryfirstleaf.com/drilled - 50% off first 6 bottles plus free shipping from First Leaf athleticgreens.com/drilled - free year's supply of vitamin D + 5 free travel packs of AG1 from Athletic Greens earthbreeze.com/drilled - 40% off EarthBreeze laundry detergent Eco Sheets airdoctorpro.com and use promo ...
May 02, 2023•38 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast What's happening in Guyana isn't just happening there. All over the globe, oil companies are racing to tap as many of the remaining fossil fuel reserves as they can. This week, we're joined by Rolling Stone reporter Jeff Goodell for a story about what the global oil rush looks like in another part of the world: Namibia. Read Jeff's story: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/oil-drilling-africa-destroy-wild-land-namibia-recon-investors-1234697088/ Learn more about your ad choi...
Apr 25, 2023•37 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast When we first started reporting this story, people unfamiliar with it would suggest talking to local environmental groups. Surely they would have something to say about a massive new polluting industry springing up in the country! But every group we could find operating in Guyana had taken money from Exxon or one of its partners. Several have made promotional videos praising the project. They argue that oil money is no dirtier than any other source of funding, and if it’s there, they may as well...
Apr 18, 2023•39 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast The tension between addressing global poverty and acting on the climate crisis is one the fossil fuel industry, and those who carry water for it, have been increasingly leaning on 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. Download our discussion guide on debunking the "moral case" fo...
Apr 11, 2023•41 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast 
