Drilled
A true-crime podcast about climate change.
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Season 16
Season 15
Season 14
Season 13
Season 12
Season 11
Season 10
Season 9
Season 8
Season 7
Season 6
Season 5
Season 4
Season 3
Season 2
Season 1
Drilled
Drilled is a true-crime podcast about climate change. It exposes how corporate corruption and political operatives built decades of climate denial and delay. Hosted and reported by award-winning investigative climate journalists, each season unravels new evidence of deception, disinformation, and the power structures keeping real climate solutions out of reach.
The Spill: Drilled’s Weekly News Show
The Spill is our weekly show to bring you news, rants, and interviews in between narrative seasons. Co-hosted by Amy Westervelt, Alleen Brown and Nina Lakhani, it features conversation with a wide range of journalists, artists, experts and more. Check out episodes here.
Season 16: The Propagandist
In 2016, Facebook Live was just getting started—the first baby step of the video content universe we know today. It helped make the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline a global concern, but it also gave the pipeline company and the private security firm it hired a whole host of new tools to shape the narrative around those protests. At the 10-year mark after Standing Rock, Drilled teams up with High Country News to look at the early days of corporate digital propaganda, how it worked, and how it connects to the massive disinformation efforts we’re dealing with today. Reported and written by investigative reporter Alleen Brown, and culled from thousands of never-before-published internal documents from private security firm Tiger Swan, The Propagandist offers a unique window into the world of corporate espionage and what it has to do with the disinformation ecosystem we’re still dealing with today.
S16, Ep1 | North Dakota’s Facebook Mercenaries
A private security firm is brought in to produce pipeline-saving propaganda.
S16, Ep2 | The Real Outside Agitators of Iowa
The protest, and thus the propaganda, moves to a new state.
S16, Ep3 | The Story of a Decade-Long Investigation
The protest, and thus the propaganda, moves to a new state.
Season 15: Carbon Cowboys
For decades we’ve heard that “the markets” will solve the climate crisis. On Drilled: Carbon Cowboys, a collaboration with Intercept Brasil, funded in part by the Fund for Investigative Journalism, we put that theory to the test, following Bruce Rastetter, a corn ethanol kingpin-turned-carbon entrepreneur from Iowa to Brazil, and asking the big questions: Are these “climate solutions” actually reducing emissions? Is CO2 increasing or decreasing as carbon becomes a commodity? Or is green colonialism just as extractive as the regular sort?
S15, Ep6 | A Tipping Point
It’s time for the climate movement to take a hard look at false solutions.
Season 14
Drilled Miniseries: Fossil Fascism
S14, Ep10 | The Corruption of COP
A look at how polluting industries infiltrated global climate processes from the beginning, and how it works today.
S14, Ep9 | Climate Obstruction at the Subnational (Local) Level
Local governments are a double-edged sword, moving things forward on climate when they stall at the national level but also throwing up major obstructions to national policy when they want.
S14, Ep8 | Climate Obstruction in the Global South
What climate obstruction looks like when it’s coming from the countries experiencing the brunt of the climate crisis.
S14, Ep7 | How the Animal Ag Industry Obstructs Climate Policy
On “ag exceptionalism,” backlash to the EU’s Farm to Fork proposal, the impact of the Livestock’s Long Shadow report, and more on the animal ag industries’ concerted push to block climate policy around the world.
S14, Ep6 | How the Coal, Transportation, and Utilities Industries Obstruct Climate Policy
The coal, transportation, and utilities industries have unique approaches to obstructing climate policy, and often combine forces as well.
S14, Ep5 | How the Fossil Fuel Industry Sabotages Climate Action
No surprise here: the fossil fuel industry has blocked climate policy at every turn. And yet, their tactics are still surprising.
S14, Ep4 | The Media As a Tool of Climate Obstruction
It’s unlikely climate obstruction would have worked as well it has without the participation of the media.
S14, Ep3 | The Psychology of Misinformation: Why Does It Work So Well?
In a lot of ways the disinformation crisis we’re dealing with today started with climate obstruction.
S14, Ep2 | Welcome to the Rapture! How Rightwing Populism and Accelerationism Intersect with Climate
Jesse Bryant and Dieter Plehwe join to walk us through the intersection of rightwing populism and climate obstruction.
Season 13
Drilled S13: Carbon Bros
Carbon Bros, Ep 3: Climate Hysteria, Doomers, and Boy Math Solutions
From techno quick fixes and visions of abundance to carbon capture and geoengineering to doomerism and colonies on Mars, we take a look at how gendered notions of the climate crisis have led to individualized, “masculine” approaches to solving it.
Carbon Bros, Ep 2: Energy Dominance
On man’s domination of nature, where this idea came from, and how it’s blocking climate action.
Carbon Bros, Ep 1: The Testosterone Pipeline
Manosphere figures like Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson aren’t just telling men how to treat their girlfriends or train for MMA fights; they’re also blasting their listeners with climate denial talking points. When did that start, and why has it been so effective?
Season 12
Drilled S12: SLAPP’d
SLAPP’d Episode 6 | The SLAPP Heard ‘Round the World
The verdict shocks even those prepared for the worst, and raises serious questions about free speech in the U.S.
SLAPP’d Episode 5 | Sacred Sites
The question of whether or not Energy Transfer destroyed sacred sites when building the Dakota Access Pipeline was never up to either the pipeline company or Greenpeace, but the tribe.
SLAPP’d Episode 4 | Back to the Water
A return to the heart of the matter: the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s water.
SLAPP’d Episode 3 | The Charge
By this point, Energy Transfer has quietly dropped both Cody Hall and the other Indigenous activist initially named in the suit, Krystal Two Bulls, from the case and is focused solely on Greenpeace. So what exactly is Energy Transfer accusing them of? And what evidence do they have?””
SLAPP’d Episode 2 | The Trial Begins
Deep biases emerge during jury selection in the Energy Transfer v Greenpeace trial in North Dakota.
Welcome to SLAPP’d | Episode 1: How did we get here?
A look back at the Standing Rock protests as we try to understand a $666 million verdict, the erasure of Indigenous activists in it, the First Amendment concerns it raises, and how it obscures ongoing leaks and spills from the Dakota Access pipeline.
Season 11
Drilled S11: Denial to Delay
Genevieve Guenther on the Language of Climate Politics
A deep dive on the rhetoric of climate delay.
Denial to Delay: How Fossil-Funded University Research Lays the Foundation for Fossil-Friendly Policy
Molly Taft talks us through newly released reports on fossil fuel funding of university research, and share interviews with climate disinformation researcher Geoffrey Supran, who authored one of the recent studies, and with philosopher of science Craig Callender at UCSD, which just passed a precedent-setting policy to require disclosure of funding on research.
How Management Consultancies “Data Wash” for the Fossil Fuel Industry
Management consultancies play a unique role in climate disinformation, often working for both government regulators and the industries they regulate at the same time.
“All Hell Breaks Loose”: How Big Oil Ruined a Small Texas Town
Three export terminals that represent half of the U.S. crude oil export industry have sprouted up around Ingleside on the Bay in the past decade, turning the Texas Coastal Bend town into an unlikely fenceline community.
New Research: The Advertorials Many Media Outlets Make for Oil Companies Are Misleading, But They Don’t Have to Be
New research highlights the role social media plays in making oil company advertorials even more misleading to readers, and what media outlets could do to make it less so.
Season 10
Drilled S10: The Real Free Speech Threat
How the U.S. Got the World to View Environmentalists as “Terrorists”
The finale of our Real Free Speech Threat season.
In El Salvador a Cold Case Murder Has Become a Weapon for Silencing Environmental Activists
El Salvador’s dictator Nayib Bukele wants to bring mining back to the first country that ever banned it. But first, he needs to silence the activists who got the ban passed.
Sainte-Soline, the Government Effort to Disband a Movement in France, and the Radical Solidarity of the Earth Uprisings
Why is the French government so afraid of the climate movement?
Nearly 30 Years After the Ogoni 9 Tragedy, Nigerians Are Still Resisting Oil Colonialism
Shell announced in late 2023 that it would be shutting down all of its onshore activities in Nigeria and concentrating its efforts offshore. It leaves behind poisoned water, multiple political and economic crises, and a country that is measurably worse off today than when its oil industry began. Meanwhile the government continues to target environmental…
Dana R. Fisher on the Past, Present and Future of Climate Protest
The “radical” flank of the climate movement is not that radical, but it’s going to become more so.
Messy Conversations, with Rhiana Gunn-Wright
The architect of the Green New Deal on what the climate movement loses when it excludes environmental justice
Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured “EcoTerrorist” Panic, and Cop City
The U.S. government’s ever-expanding definition of what constitutes an “ecoterrorist” continues to drive repression of protest
Meet the First UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders
Michel Forst is concerned by the increased use of repressive laws and tactics to silence climate protest.
S10, Ep15: How UK Courts Became the New Climate Protest Battleground
Since the passage of a new law curtailing protest rights in 2022, the U.K. has been on a rapid path to repression.
S10, Ep 14: What Happened at Bayou Bridge? The Other End of the Dakota Access Pipeline
While protests against the northern leg of the Dakota Access Pipeline, on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation, garnered international press attention, protestors in Louisiana, where the southern leg was being built, faced aggressive fossil fuel-funded and state-backed repression, but saw little to no media attention. Their story is a cautionary tale for the climate…
S10, Ep13: Seven Years Later, an Environmental Impact Statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline
Public comment period closes Dec 13 in what may be the last Standing Rock battle
S10, Ep12: Modern-Day Bead Trading: “Redwashing” and Repression in Canada
A look inside the Coastal Gas Link fight in Canada.
S10, Ep8: In Brazil, A Tale as Old as Colonization: Why Indigenous Land Defenders Are Particularly Targeted by Extractive Industries
The backlash against Indigenous-led environmental protest is particularly harsh because it’s fueled by centuries’ worth of colonialist entitlement.
S10, Ep7: The Same Australian Think Tanks That Have Pushed Against Climate Policy for Years Say No to Indigenous Rights
As the “Voice” referendum heads to the polls in Australia, Atlas Network think tanks have fired up a campaign against it.
S10, Ep6: Joanna Smith on “Conspiring Against the United States Government” with…Fingerpaint
How did what would normally be a misdemeanor vandalism charge turn into two felonies, for a non-violent and non-destructive protest?
S10, Ep5: How Think Tanks Laid the Groundwork to Criminalize Climate Protest
Libertarian think tanks have been laying the groundwork to criminalize protest for at least a decade.
S10, Ep4: In Vietnam, Tax Evasion Charges Help Lock Up Climate Activists
Since 2021, five prominent climate activists have been jailed on shaky grounds.
S10, Ep3: In Australia, a State-by-State Approach to Criminalizing Protest
In just a few years, anti-protest legislation has spread rapidly in the country.
S10, Ep2 | Disha Ravi on Becoming the “Radical” Face of Protest in India at 22
For Disha Ravi, the price of success for effective climate activism in India was a sedition charge.
S10, Ep1 | The Corporate Push to Criminalize Speech
The more successful climate protestors are, the more effort industry is putting in to criminalize them.
How the Backlash to Climate Protest Laid the Groundwork for What We’re Seeing in U.S. Cities Today
It’s easy to feel like climate “doesn’t matter” as the U.S. descends into fascism. It matters more than ever.
Climate News Update: The New Carbon Majors + Swiss Elders Win Landmark Climate Case
Lots of news lately on stories we've been following, so in today's episode: an update! 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.
Season 9
S9, Ep3 | The Next Citizens United Will Be a Climate Case
Big Oil is still trying to expand corporate free speech rights.
S9, Ep2 | A Legal Strategy
Herb realizes it’s not enough just to defend corporate free speech in the court of public opinion.
S9, Ep1 | The Panic
When broadcast news stations stand up to Mobil Oil, the company realizes it needs to go to bat for corporate free speech rights.
Season 8
Drilled S8: Light, Sweet Crude
S8, Ep9 | A Verdict
A Guyanese judge shocks the world with a blistering ruling against Exxon and the government.
S8, Ep6 | Old-School Greenwashing
Why Guyana’s environmental organizations are supporting an offshore drilling project.
S8, Ep5 | On Global Poverty and Global Warming
How the utter failure of international climate negotiations and global development funding has left Global South countries reliant on fossil fuel development to pay for climate adaptation.
S8, Ep4 | Constitutional Violation
New plaintiffs argue the oil project undermines their constitutional right to a healthy environment.
S8 Update: Gas to Energy for Guyana, or Problem to Profit for Exxon?
Guyana’s Gas to Energy project has been billed as a gift to the public, but the numbers tell a different story.
Season 7
Drilled S7: The ABCs of Big Oil, with Earther
S7, Ep7 | Katie Worth on the State of Climate Education in the U.S.
What are U.S. schools teaching kids about climate change today?
S7, Ep5 | Ben Franta on Oil on Big Campus
Stanford researcher Ben Franta on fossil fuel influence at universities
S7, Ep4 | We’re Going Streaking
How fossil fuel companies influence curricula and research at the university level.
S7, Ep1 | The First Day of School
How Big Oil got into the education game, and why it worked so well.
Season 6
Drilled S6: The Bridge to Nowhere
S6, Ep8 | Anatomy of a Front Group
The country’s largest utility starts a front group and charges ratepayers for it.
Season 5
Drilled S5: La Lucha En La Jungla
S5, Ep10 | The Kill Step
Chevron makes good on its promise to fight the Ecuadorian judgement until hell freezes over.
S5, Ep4 | The Secret Tribunal
An explainer on investor-state disputes, and Chevron’s claim against Ecuador
Season 4
Drilled S4: There Will Be Fraud
S4, Ep8 | Naomi Klein and How the Shock Doctrine Applies to America Right Now
Covid-19 and disaster capitalism
S4, Ep7 | The U.S. Government Has Been Rubber-Stamping New Oil and Gas Projects—This Lawsuit Hopes to Change That
A lawsuit filed against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over a small project in Massachusetts could have big implications
S4, Ep6 | Earth Day in Louisiana: A Petro State Fights Back
Petrochemicals, petroleum, plastic, and fossil-fueled philanthropy on the Gulf Coast.
S4, Ep5 | How Big Oil Is Using the Pandemic to Push More Plastic
How the industry is using the pandemic to push more single-use plastics.
S4, Ep4 | In Colorado, Seniors Held Hostage by Fracking
COVID pits public health against oil industry profits
S4, Ep3 | Amid the Pandemic Free-for-All, Unlit Flares at Texas Shale Refineries Are Dumping “Unimaginable” Amounts of Methane into the Atmosphere
Industry has leveraged the pandemic for a get-out-of-jail-free card on emissions.
S4, Ep2 | Reporter Justin Mikulka on Why ExxonMobil and Chevron Are the Biggest Opponents to a Shale Gas Bailout
Covid bailouts for shale companies have some surprising opponents.
S4, Ep1 | There Will Be Fraud: How the Coronavirus Pandemic Turned into Christmas for Big Oil
From de-regulation to a laundry list of subsidies, the pandemic was the best thing to happen to fossil fuels in a long time.
S4, Bonus: Computer-Aided Destruction: Art, Autodesk, and What Accountability Looks Like for the Tech Industry
French artist Joanie Lemercier has been a thorn in Autodesk's side for more than a year now, since he first pointed out that the California software company's computer-aided drafting (CAD) software keeps Europe's largest coal mine operating. Tech reporter Maddie Stone started looking into it, and found that Autodesk software is used by not only…
Season 3
Drilled S3: The Mad Men of Big Oil
S3, Ep9 | Jay Rosen and Nicholas Johnson on What the Media Can Do About Disinformation
Where do we go from here?
S3, Ep6 | Manipulating the Masses and Predicting the Future—Edward Bernays and W. Howard Chase
From propaganda to PR to issues management.
S3, Ep5 | Oil Slick, Part 2—False Equivalence and Free Speech
Schmertz and the art of “creative confrontation.”
S3, Ep4 | Oil Slick, Part 1—The Rise of the Corporate Persona
Mobil’s PR guy, Herb Schmertz, takes a whole new approach.
S3, Bonus: We Interrupt This Podcast for New Research + Emily Atkin and Guardian CEO Anna Bateson on Banning Fossil Fuel Ads
Why and how The Guardian banned fossil fuel ads.
Season 2
S2, Ep5 | David v. Goliath
The crabbers are in for an even bigger fight than state and municipal governments.
S2, Ep1 | A Crisis, a Cover-Up, and a Community on the Front Lines of Climate Change
West Coast crab fishermen find their livelihoods threatened by climate change.
Season 1
Drilled S1: The Origins of Climate Denial
S1, Ep7 | Campaigns So Successful They’ve Landed In Court
Dozens of climate cases prosecuting denial.
S1, Ep6 | The First Step to Influencing Policy: Setting Research Agendas
If you unravel climate policy back to its origins, eventually you get to academic research
S1, Ep5 | Aggressive Think Tanks, Shouty Pundits, and a New Religious Argument
Shifting culture to enable the success of climate denial.
S1, Ep3 | Weaponizing False Equivalence
The weaknesses in the U.S. media system that allowed climate denial to flourish.