Drilled

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.

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:...

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 acti...

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.

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 h...

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 responsib...

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.

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 en...

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.

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...

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 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 decarbonizat...

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? Addi...

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 L...

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 c...

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 communicati...

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 Asse...

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...

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...

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....

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.

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 informa...

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...

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 individu...

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 pr...