Drilled: Displaced

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 conversation.

Additional resources:

• Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC)
• DeSmog profile of ARC
• DeSmog coverage of ARC 2023 forum
• Narasimha Rao's Decent Living Energy Project
• Drilled Guyana season
• Center for African Prosperity

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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 advocates, worried that protest will turn the public away from the urgent need to act on the climate crisis. Social science researchers who study structural change and protest say there's no evidence to back up that fear and that the only time social movements have ever affected change is when they've been wildly disruptive. We hear from social scientists on how radical or not climate protests really are, and what factors make direct action work or fail.

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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 resources. Historian Nick Estes walks us through what that looks like in the United States, and the great team behind the documentary The Territory brings us a recent example from Brazil. Check out the film here.

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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.

Read the full report here.

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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 called "Little Dancer." The two read off a statement about the importance of protecting actual, living children as well as we do sculptures of them. Smith and Martin figured they would be charged with vandalism, but each is now facing two felony charges, including one of "conspiring against the United States government."

One thing that makes it easy to criminalize protest is the steady hum of content that paints climate activists as fringe weirdos or out-of-touch elitists. We think it's important to meet these people and bring their stories and voices to you directly. We invited Joanna to share hers.

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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 country weathers extreme seasonal flooding. After meeting a flood survivor in his hometown of Lagos, Mo travels twelve hours to Lokoja—the town where Nigeria’s largest rivers converge—to explore how directly impacted flood survivors endure the region’s relentless cycle of damage and repair.

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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 country weathers extreme seasonal flooding. After meeting a flood survivor in his hometown of Lagos, Mo travels twelve hours to Lokoja—the town where Nigeria’s largest rivers converge—to explore how directly impacted flood survivors endure the region’s relentless cycle of damage and repair.

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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 tax evasion charges to suppress civil society groups, including five climate activists that have been imprisoned since 2021. Read The 88 Project's report on this practice.

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