Lawless Planet

When scam artist Gregory Zaoui got out of prison in 2004, he had a plan to go straight – by selling solar panels. But when he learned about a new carbon trading system that was supposed to reduce CO2 emissions, he saw an obvious loophole. And soon, he found himself at the center of a fraud scheme so extensive that it was hard to tell if the carbon market was doing anything to fight climate change at all.

Featured in this episode:

Jessica Camille Aguirre

Sources:

Jessica Camille Aguirre’s reporting in The Atavaist Magazine: https://magazine.atavist.com/2024/watch-it-burn-france-europe-carbon-fraud-scam-vat-betrayal 

Alec Henry’s podcast “Le Déclic” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkYkJiFl8Pg

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When oil tankers, freighters and cruise ships reach the end of their lives, nearly all wind up on just three beaches in South Asia. There, unskilled workers earning just a few dollars a day tear them apart with hand tools and blowtorches, to be sold as scrap. The shipbreaking industry has remained unchanged for decades, despite its well-documented dangers to the environment and worker safety. But after a deadly explosion in Pakistan, and a risky investigation in Bangladesh, are changes finally coming?

Special thanks to:

Julia Bleckner and Human Rights Watch: https://www.hrw.org/report/2023/09/28/trading-lives-profit/how-shipping-industry-circumvents-regulations-scrap-toxic 

Ingvild Jenssen and NGO Shipbreaking Platform: https://shipbreakingplatform.org/

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Humans have a long history of deploying wild beasts in wartime, from horse-mounted cavalry to Hannibal riding into Rome on an elephant. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, a mysterious group of dolphins appeared in the Black Sea. It signaled a return to an old program that many thought had died with the fall of the Soviet Union. For years, the USSR trained dolphins to advance their military goals. And so did America. 

Special thanks to:

Pavel Goldin

Sergei Dobrynin and Mark Krutov

Blair Irvine

Sources:

Frontline’s The Story of Navy Dolphins: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/etc/navycron.html

BBC's Secrets of the Spy Whale: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002504p

Sergei Dobrynin and Mark Krutov’s reporting: https://www.svoboda.org/a/31006448.html

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Note: This episode originally aired on July 28, 2025.

When a Montana coal mine executive goes missing it exposes the dirty underbelly of one of America’s largest coal mines. Now, with the help of President Donald Trump, the mine is trying to expand – unless a group of cattle ranchers can stop them.

Special thanks to:

Northern Plains Resource Council (https://northernplains.org/)

Montana Environmental Information Center (https://meic.org/)

Earthjustice

Ellen Pfister

Clark Williams-Derry, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (https://ieefa.org/)

John Teeling, FBI Special Agent (retired)

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What occurred shortly after midnight in Bhopal, India on December 3, 1984 is still being felt – and fought over – four decades later. The scale of the tragedy, involving a pesticide factory and maddening lack of accountability by its corporate owner, raise questions about whether its victims will ever know justice. And have we learned enough to stop something like it from happening again?

Special thanks to:

Satinath Sarangi, find out more about his work at Sambhavna Clinic

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On April 20, 2010, the crew aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was in the final stages of sealing up an exploratory well off the coast of Louisiana. It should have been a routine procedure, but something went horribly wrong. By the next morning, Deepwater was sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico – and its operator, BP, was facing tough questions about what had caused the explosion and fire that destroyed the rig.

Special thanks to: 

Scott West

Special Agent-in-Charge, retired

US Environmental Protection Agency

Criminal Investigation Division

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In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and leading to the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. But for Deepwater’s operator, BP, it was just the latest in a series of accidents, spills, and other mishaps that all pointed to a corporate culture deeply rooted in prioritizing profits over safety. 

Special thanks to: 

Scott West

Special Agent-in-Charge, retired

US Environmental Protection Agency

Criminal Investigation Division

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When a young oil worker goes missing on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, an indigenous amateur detective named Lissa Yellow Bird-Chase becomes determined to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Her search leads her to some of the most powerful people on the reservation – including, possibly, the tribal chairman himself.  

Special thanks to:

Lissa Yellow Bird-Chase

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The daughter of civil rights activists, Catherine Coleman Flowers grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, one of the poorest parts of the Deep South. When she learned that some residents were being jailed for failing to install expensive sewage systems, it sent her on a quest to make proper sanitation a basic human right – a mission that would lead to a historic environmental justice lawsuit.

Special thanks to:

Catherine Coleman Flowers

Dr. Rojelio Mejia

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Greenpeace has a long history of successful direct action protest, but their work has made a lot of enemies. Recently, the U.S. arm of the environmental group was found liable for $660 million in damages for their actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This week, we’re bringing you a story about an earlier chapter in the organization’s history, when they faced a different kind of attack.

Special thanks to:

Bunny McDiarmid

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