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For at least a decade now, there’s been growing agreement around the fact that what’s stopping the world from addressing the climate crisis is not a lack of data or scientific certainty, or a lack of technological or policy measures available to address it. The problem is a lack of political will. And that didn't just happen; political will has been intentionally obstructed at every turn. As we gear up for the 30th UN climate summit, a new book pulls together everything we know about how this happened and what can be done about it. To prep for COP, Amy's reading the whole thing and talking to the researchers along the way. In today's episode, Amy's joined by Timmons Roberts (Brown University), Jennifer Jacquet (University of Miami), Carlos Milani (Rio de Janeiro State University), and Christian Downie (Australian National University) to through an overview of what we're dealing with and what we can expect in the year ahead. You can check out the book here: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/climate-obstruction-9780197787151?cc=us&lang=en& And download it for free from that same link after October 14th! You can also check out the Climate Social Science Network here: https://cssn.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jesse Bryant (Yale) and Dieter Plehwe (University of Kassel) join us for a look at the intersection between the rise of rightwing populism and increasing resistance to acting on climate, with a particular focus on rising authoritarianism in the U.S., UK, and Europe. For more on this topic, check out the book Climate Obstruction: A Global Assessment (also downloadable free after Oct 14th!): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/climate-obstruction-9780197787151?cc=us&lang=en& Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you want to understand how misinformation works in general…and anyone who cares about democracy should right now…there’s no one better to talk to than researchers who have been studying climate misinformation for years. In today's episode, John Cook (University of Melbourne) and Dominik A. Stecuła (Colorado State University) join to walk us through everything the research is telling us so far. Reminder that you can get a copy of the book Climate Obstruction: A Global Survey here (and download a free digital version beginning October 14th!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Obstruction would never have been as effective as it has been without the help of the PR industry and the willful ignorance of the media. Today, Melissa Aronczyk, of Rutgers University, and Max Boykoff, of the University of Colorado, join us to walk through why getting a handle on the media's role in climate obstruction is critical to solving the problem. The book Climate Obstruction: A Global Survey, is available from Oxford University Press here, and will be available for free download beginning October 14th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate obstruction isn’t just something the fossil fuel industry does, but they’ve certainly spearheaded and masterminded a lot of efforts. In this ep, an academic (Kristoffer Ekberg, from the University of Lund in Sweden), a nonprofit researcher (the legendary Kert Davies, of the Center for Climate Integrity), and a journalist (Geoff Dembicki, global managing editor of DeSmog) walk us through what we know so far about those efforts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The coal, utilities, and transportation industries have all mounted efforts to stop governments from regulating emissions or transitioning to cleaner energy. In this episode we look at how those efforts took shape around the world, and what tactics they used to block progress. Jen Schneider, at Boise State University and Gregory Trencher, at Kyoto University, join us to walk through the peer-reviewed research on these efforts. You can now download a FREE copy of the book Climate Obstruction: A Global Survey here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For decades, the meat and dairy industries managed to successfully avoid any attention for the planet-heating emissions they pump into the atmosphere; once governments started talking about regulating methane, though, they started working on efforts to avoid them. In today's episode, Silvia Secchi (University of Iowa) and Kathrin Lauber (University of Edinburgh) join us to walk through "agricultural exceptionalism" and the strategies the animal ag industry uses to keep regulation and climate policy at bay. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and former Wall Street Journal publisher Karen Elliott House, author of the new book The Man Who Would Be King: Mohammed bin Salman and the Transformation of Saudi Arabia, talks to Adam Lowenstein about how Saudi Arabia has changed under the crown prince; whether MBS’s gamble on economic and social freedoms alongside civil and political repression is politically—or environmentally—sustainable; how Saudi Arabia’s oil and petrochemical industries serve its geopolitical interests; and why the kingdom’s promises about transitioning away from fossil fuels might be a bit less green than climate advocates would hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The U.S. is a global leader on climate obstruction, but they’re not the only ones. In this episode, M. Omar Faruque, from Queen’s University in Canada and  Ruth E. McKie from De Montfort University join us to take a look at why and how those who will bear the brunt of climate change and have contributed the least, participate in climate obstruction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Local governments are double-edged swords on climate, capable of either doing far more or far less than national governments and acting as either an agent of change or an agent of obstruction in and of themselves. In this episode, Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo, of Christopher Newport University and Joshua A. Basseches, of Tulane University, join to walk us through how these subnational governments work, and how they engage in climate obstruction, in various parts of the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The UN processes created to deal with climate change have been infiltrated by obstructive forces since jump. In this episode, as COP 30 begins, Kari de Pryck from the University of Geneva and Eduardo  Viola of the Institute of International Relations in Brasil join us to look at how COP and the IPCC get hijacked by those opposed to climate action, and what we can expect to see at this year’s COP in Brazil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Working against regulations on emissions might make a certain amount of sense for those with money to lose, but why would anyone fight against adapting to be able to survive climate disasters? In the negotiating rooms at COP30, adaptation was one of the biggest debate areas. In this episode, experts Laura Kuhl from Northeastern University and Stacy-Ann Robinson from Emory University explain why this area gets so contentious and how obstruction plays out around adaptation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve never lied to you on Drilled and we’re not going to start now. It’s bleak out there. But some efforts to fight back against obstruction are working and litigation is one of them. In this episode we talk to London School of Economics' Joana Setzer about how courts around the world are getting involved and what that means for companies that keep reminding us they’re global. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite increasing repression worldwide (as we’ve documented in previous seasons), activists have been pretty effective at sticking it to obstructionists too…which is probably why all that repression is happening in the first place. In our final episode, Jennie Stephens from the University of Ireland Maynooth and Sharon Yadin from University of Haifa take us through which tactics are working and why.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In More and More and More, Jean-Baptiste Fressoz shows that the human history of energy is one of accumulation, not substitution. Here, he talks to reporter Adam Lowenstein about how the "energy transition" frame got so entrenched, why clean-energy innovation is not the same thing as decarbonization; how the fossil fuel industry helped launder pipe dreams of dysfunctional technologies into mainstream climate “solutions”; and much more (and more and more). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices