What do you do when you’re working on a big climate change project that could help the world reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, and the U.S. elects a president who wants to expand the fossil fuel industry? Canada's National Observer talked with environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, the man who brought climate change awareness to the public. He has been mobilizing grassroots action against fossil fuel development for decades. Bill McKibben thinks Donald Trump's Drill Baby Drill policies are not only taking the climate change fight back 50 years but are also putting the U.S. far behind China in the race to develop renewable energy. Tzeporah Berman and South African activist Kumi Naidoo of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty initiative have been travelling the world to find out just how countries are responding to the U.S. policies. They have some positive news to report.

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The signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015 was a breakthrough in the fight against the climate crisis. Almost every country in the world signed on to the treaty and agreed to keep or reduce emissions to under 2 degrees Celsius, or better yet, 1.5 degrees Celsius.

When environmental activist Tzeporah Berman read the agreement – a bit nerdy but someone had to do it – she found no mention of oil, gas and coal. Odd, because oil, gas and oil are responsible for more than 86 per cent of carbon emissions. Berman decided the Paris Agreement needed help, so she set out to create the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Not a heavy lift at all.  

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Today, we’re sharing something a little different on our feed. It’s part of an episode swap we’re doing with CANADALAND, and we think their episode When Politics Ruins Friendships fits right into what we explore here on The Takeover.

You’ve heard us talk about how powerful voices are weaponizing language and misinformation to shape the climate conversation. But those same forces.., those same tactics… are also tearing apart our relationships and reshaping how we talk to each other in our deeply divided world.

In this episode, host Sam Konnert explores what happens when politics stop being about policies. First, you’ll hear a deeply personal story about a friendship destroyed by political radicalization. Then Sam speaks with Ryan Broderick, the writer of a popular newsletter called Garbage Day, about how to recognize this behaviour in your personal circles and maybe even how to pull someone back from the edge.

If you’ve been listening to The Takeover, you know how important it is to understand not just what people are saying, but how those messages are being used to push us further apart.

For more episodes like this, you can follow Canadaland wherever you get your podcasts. This is When Politics Ruins Friendships, from CANADALAND.

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Donald Trump made it clear during the presidential campaign that his administration planned a Drill, Baby Drill approach to energy. He said he would reduce regulations and cancel policies to fight climate change put in place by the Biden administration.

It was only a week after he was elected that President Trump announced he wanted fracking executive Chris Wright as his Energy Secretary. The long-time climate denier who dismisses renewable energy as expensive and unreliable seemed to be everyone’s favourite, especially the fossil fuel industry. And it was smooth sailing for Wright through his confirmation hearing.

Episode four of The Takeover looks at the man who could make or break the world’s climate change goals. 

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Jordan Peterson is a co-founder of The Alliance for Responsible Citizenship – ARC. Episode two of The Takeover examines his career from a psychology professor at the University of Toronto to wildly successful author and guru for dissatisfied young men and now leader of a global movement to create a right-wing world. This movement is called ARC - the Alliance of Responsible Citizenship and its conference in London, U.K. in February 2025 attracted right wing power brokers from around the world.

Many people first heard of Peterson when he got into a fight with the University of Toronto and Canada’s Human Rights Commission over a change to the Human Rights Act. It was amended to include sexual orientation as a prohibited grounds of discrimination extending LGBTQ+ individuals.

A couple of years later he published a book that vaulted him to fame, particularly among young men who “hadn’t grown up”, according to Peterson. The book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is essentially a self-help book for living a life.

How did he get from there to London, hosting a conference of people who want to upend western democracies?

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Canada’s National Observer teamed up with DeSmog, an online investigative that describes itself as an antidote to science denial and misinformation, on The Takeover project.

We went to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in London, a right-wing networking event organized by former U of T professor Jordan Peterson. We observed how speakers spread anti-net-zero strategies across a growing conservative network that includes the U.S., the U.K., Europe, Australia and Canada.

ARC’s goal is to reveal ‘the environmental climate scam’ and end the ‘appalling policy’ of net-zero worldwide. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told the conference in a video appearance. ‘net zero is a sinister goal'.

Supporters and architects of Project 2025, the roadmap for the Trump administration, which covers almost every aspect of American life and U.S. foreign policy, were at ARC to provide information and encouragement. Jordan Peterson declared that ARC was for ‘conservatives to really push the envelope.”

The move against net-zero and climate commitments is being accelerated by the Trump administration with help from rich power brokers, many of whom work in the fossil fuel industry. And ARC was a place to develop political party platforms, deepen transatlantic alliances and shift to the right, the boundaries of acceptable public debate on net zero.

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