Podcasts · Science · True Crime

Drilled

Pushkin Industries

269 episodes · in order

By 2050, one in eight people are expected to have been displaced by climate change, forcing millions of people to leave their hometowns, their countries of origin, and in many cases their identities behind. For communities all over the world, that time has already come. In this three-part mini series, Drilled global climate justice reporter Nina Lakhani takes us to three Latin American communities, each dealing with climate displacement—and the race to save their community—in a different way, to give listeners a window into the complexities of this issue. Imagine if your kid's school was suddenly submerged in the ocean, or if the government gave you a new house but it was 20 miles away and looked like everyone else's, or if the same country that made the drought worse in your village stole your stuff and put you in prison for the crime of trying to feed your family?

More about the show

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, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.

Episodes page 4 of 6

  1. A Legal Strategy: How Mobil Oil Fought for Corporate Free Speech

    · 29 min · S9 E2

    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…

  2. The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case

    · 25 min · S9 E3

    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…

  3. Coming Soon: The Real Free Speech Threat

    · 3:21 · Trailer

    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.…

  4. How the Media Has Helped to Criminalize Climate Protest with Evlondo Cooper

    · 23 min · Bonus

    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.…

  5. Disha Ravi on Becoming the Face of "Radical" Protest in India

    · 32 min · S10 E2

    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…

  6. The Corporate Push to Criminalize Speech

    · 33 min · S10 E1

    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…

  7. Australia’s State-by-State Crackdown on Climate Protest

    · 29 min · S10 E3

    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…

  8. Vietnam's Tax Evasion Charges Are Used to Jail Climate Activists

    · 22 min · S10 E4

    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…

  9. How Think Tanks Paved the Way to Criminalize Climate Protest

    · 43 min · S10 E5

    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…

  10. Living with Loss: Climate Damage in Nigeria

    · 31 min · S10 E6

    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…

  11. Joanna Smith on "Conspiring Against the United States" with Finger paint

    · 50 min · S10 E7

    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…

  12. Guyana Gas-to-Energy Project: Who Really Benefits?

    · 27 min · Bonus

    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.…

  13. Why Indigenous Land Defenders Face Repression

    · 28 min · S10 E8

    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…

  14. The Tomato Soup “Controversy”: Do Disruptive Climate Protests Actually Work?

    · 32 min · S10 E9

    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…

  15. Messy Conversations: Magatte Wade on Africa, Climate, and Free Speech

    · 1 h 13 min · Bonus

    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…

  16. Living on the Frontlines of War and Climate Crisis: Abeer Butmeh in Palestine

    · 35 min · Bonus

    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…

  17. Modern-Day Bead Trading: How the Fossil Fuel Industry Co-opts Indigenous Protest in Canada

    · 42 min · S10 E10

    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…

  18. Seven Years Later: The Dakota Access Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement

    · 37 min · S10 E11

    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…

  19. What Happened At Bayou Bridge? The Other End of the Dakota Access Pipeline

    · 44 min · S10 E12 · Explicit

    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…

  20. How UK Courts Became the New Battleground for Climate Protest

    · 33 min · S10 E13

    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…

  21. Meet the United Nations' First Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders

    · 1 h 12 min · S10 E14

    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…

  22. The "EcoTerrorist" Panic

    · 39 min · S10 E15

    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…

  23. The Past, Present, and Future of Climate Protest with Dana R. Fisher

    · 46 min · S10 E16

    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…

  24. Introducing: Hazard NYC

    · 2:23 · Trailer

    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.

  25. What Ecuador's Yasuní Referendum Really Means for Oil, in Yasuní and Beyond

    · 26 min · Bonus

    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…

  26. Shell, Oil Colonialism, and the Ongoing Struggle of Nigeria’s Environmental Activists

    · 43 min · S10 E17

    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…

  27. The United States Anti-Renewables Movement, Explained

    · 47 min · Bonus

    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…

  28. Sainte-Soline and the Government Crackdown on France’s Earth Uprisings

    · 49 min · S10 E18

    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…

  29. Climate News Update: New Carbon Majors Report and Swiss Elders' Historic Win

    · 41 min · Bonus

    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.…

  30. The Coordinated Attack on Shareholder Activism

    · 52 min · S10 E21

    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…

  31. How Management Consultancies Data-Wash Climate Solutions

    · 35 min · S11 E1

    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.…

  32. The Great “Greening” of LNG: How Fossil Fuel Lobbying Fuels Climate Delay

    · 39 min · S11 E2

    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…

  33. From Damages: Could Oil Companies Be Charged with Murder?

    · 34 min · S11 E3 · Bonus

    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…

  34. Silencing Activists: How an El Savador Cold Case Murder Became a Tool to Criminalize Activism

    · 39 min · S10 E19

    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…

  35. How Big Oil Sold a “Climate Solution” and Stuck Taxpayers with the Bill

    · 35 min · S11 E3

    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…

  36. The Battle Over the Clean Air Act

    · 29 min · S11 E4

    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…

  37. Climate and Project 2025: Mary Annaïse Heglar & Amy Westervelt on Spill

    · 50 min · S11 E5 · Bonus

    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…

  38. How Fossil-Funded University Research Shapes Climate Policy

    · 1 h 04 min · S11 E6

    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…

  39. Climate Week 2024: Taking on the Mad Men of Big Oil

    · 17 min · S11 E7 · Bonus

    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…

  40. How Climate Language Shapes Climate Politics with Genevieve Guenther

    · 1 h 16 min · S11 E7 · Bonus

    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…

  41. From Fuel to Fork: How the Oil and Gas Industry Drives Food-Based Emissions

    · 49 min · S11 E8 · Bonus

    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…

  42. Shell’s Climate Case: The Win, the Loss, and What It Means for Future Global Climate Litigation

    · 21 min · S11 E8 · Bonus

    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…

  43. New Research on Fossil Fuel Sponsored Content and Media Misleading Practices

    · 19 min · Bonus

    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…

  44. Coming Soon: The Man-o-Sphere

    · 26 min · Bonus

    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…

  45. How the U.S. Helped the World Label Environmentalists as "Terrorists"

    · 43 min · S10 E20

    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…

  46. From Damages: New Evidence and Updates on U.S. Climate Liability Cases

    · 28 min · Bonus

    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…

  47. Malcolm Harris on Realism and Radical Possibilities in the Climate Crisis

    · 52 min · S11 E9 · Bonus

    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.…

  48. Coming Soon: SLAPP'D—Corporate Power vs. Indigenous Rights

    · 3:38 · Trailer

    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…

  49. "All Hell Breaks Loose": How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town

    · 22 min · Bonus

    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…

  50. How We Got Here: Standing Rock, Greenpeace, and the $666 Million Lawsuit

    · 43 min · S12 E1

    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…

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