Drilled

Latest Episodes:

How The Media Drives Climate Obstruction Oct 03, 2025

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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 communication and media systems have contributed to climate denial, spread misinformation, and delayed action.
Additional resources:
Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment

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Why Misinformation Works: The Psychology Behind Climate Disinformation Sep 30, 2025

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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 Assessment

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How Rightwing Populism and Accelerationism Fuels Climate Denial Sep 23, 2025

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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: A Global Assessment

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Why Political Will is the Real Barrier to Climate Action Sep 16, 2025

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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 Global Assessment, to assess how powerful political, economic, and ideological forces have delayed global climate action. She’s joined by the leading climate and political scientists who wrote it, Timmons Roberts (Brown University), Jennifer Jacquet (University of Miami), Carlos Milani (Rio de Janeiro State University), and Christian Downie (Australian National University), to break down how climate politics reached this point, why resistance to climate policy has intensified, and what movements can realistically expect in the year ahead. You can check out and download the book here and check out the Climate Social Science Network here.

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Drilling Deep: The Golden Age of Oil-Funded Influence with Casey Michel Sep 12, 2025

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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.

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The "Carbon Dominance" Strategy Behind Trump's Anti-Renewables Actions Sep 08, 2025

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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.

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Integration: Bringing Men Into the Climate Movement Sep 05, 2025

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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?

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Why Is the Fossil Fuel Industry Funding Anti-Trans Politics? Aug 22, 2025

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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 movements, the critical need for unity in tackling these pressing issues, and how culture-war politics distract from climate accountability.

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The SLAPP Heard 'Round the World: Standing Rock Verdict Aug 19, 2025

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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 individual free speech rights in the United States as corporate free speech rights expand.

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Climate Hysteria and “Boy Math”: Masculinity, Tech Fixes, and Gendered Climate Solutions Aug 17, 2025

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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 promise easy fixes without actual change and have led to individualized, “masculine” approaches to solving it.

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