Drilled: Displaced

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 Live in the Dark: Essays in a Time of Catastrophe, climate activist and journalist Wen Stephenson argues that the only way to confront the crises of our time is to meet this despair head-on. He shares how he's faced his own climate despairs and offers insights for living in an era of climate, political, and social crisis while holding onto humanity.

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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 climate policy, delayed regulation, and furthered climate denial.

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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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