Drilled

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.

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.

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 app...

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.

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.

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 clim...

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 ins...

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 Ca...

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.

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 t...

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. &...

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...

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...

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/liste...

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 o...

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.

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.

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 p...

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.

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 cont...

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.

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.

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.

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 char...

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...