How and Why Climate Adaptation Measures Get Blocked

How and Why Climate Adaptation Measures Get Blocked

Author: Pushkin Industries November 25, 2025 Duration: 46:28

Working against regulations on emissions might protect the economic interests of those with money to lose, but why would anyone fight against adapting to survive climate disaster? In the negotiating rooms at COP 30, adaptation was one of the biggest debate areas. Laura Kuhl (Northeastern University) and Stacy-Ann Robinson (Emory University) explain why adaptation policies face scrutiny and opposition.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.


There’s a story behind the stalled progress on climate change that goes beyond melting ice and rising seas-it’s a story of deliberate deception. Drilled, from Pushkin Industries, approaches the climate crisis through the lens of investigative true crime. Led by veteran reporter Amy Westervelt and a team of award-winning climate journalists, this podcast meticulously traces how networks of corporate interests and political operatives constructed a decades-long campaign of denial and delay. Each season is a deep forensic examination, pulling on threads of new evidence to unravel systems of disinformation and hidden power. What you’ll hear isn’t just a recap of scientific reports, but a gripping narrative that follows the paper trail, the leaked memos, and the orchestrated efforts that have held meaningful action just out of reach. The result is a compelling and often unsettling listen that reframes our understanding of the past half-century. By treating climate inaction as a crime story, this podcast reveals the human architects and the calculated strategies that brought us here, making complex collusion startlingly clear. Tune in for a masterclass in accountability journalism.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 247

Drilled
Podcast Episodes
The Colonizers: How Oil and Missionaries Shaped the Amazon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:34
How did the Amazon's oil conflict come about in the first place? We go back to the 1960s, the early days of oil colonialism in Ecuador, when the partnerships between oil men and missionaries began and disrupted Indigenou…
La Lucha En La Jungla: Pollution in the Amazon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:08
In August 2019, an American lawyer was placed under house arrest while awaiting trial for criminal contempt, stemming from a decades-long case that began with polution in the Amazon. The cas has since spanned continents…
Big Oil vs. Divestment [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 13:18
TheTrump administration proposed a rule that would make it harder for financial managers to investment retirement funds in environmentally or socially responsible ways. The fossil fuel industry praised the rule, noting t…
Bribery and Bailouts: The Ohio Utility Scandal [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:56
The FBI arrested Ohio House of Representatives Speaker Larry Householder for racketeering or, as the state attorney general put it, "bribery, that's what it was." Private utility FirstEnergy paid politicians, including H…
The Netherlands Considers a Fossil Fuel Advertising Ban [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:48
An advocacy group in the Netherlands is calling for a ban on fossil fuel ads. Campaigner Femke Sleegers joins us to explain the roots of the campaign, its goal, and the initial response to it.Additional resources: Ban Fo…
Fracking Giant Chesapeake Energy Declares Bankruptcy [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 14:54
Despite tax breaks, royalty cuts, and other COVID-19 incentives, Chesapeake Energy, a pioneer in the American fracking industry, has declared bankruptcy. We explore why the pandemic isn't to blame and what the says about…
Minnesota and D.C. File Climate Fraud Suits [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 11:49
Two new lawsuits, in Minnesota and D.C., were filed within 24 hours of each other and allege the same thing: that fossil fuel companies misled consumers about climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap…
Big Oil's Multi-Billion-Dollar Blind Spot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:57
A new Carbon Tracker report finds that oil and gas companies have been grossly underestimating the cost for plugging and abandoning wells, particularly for fracking wells. The report co-authors Rob Schuwerk and Greg Roge…
From Hot Take: Yes, We Still Need to Talk About Climate [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 28:19
Amid nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, some climate activists have been saying "now's not the time to talk about climate." On Hot Take, Mary Annaise Hegler and Amy Westervelt discuss the idea that climate and racia…
Naomi Klein on "Disaster Capitalism" in America [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:38
Naomi Klein describes how "disaster capitalism," the corporate feeding frenzy that happens in the wake of major crisis, is playing out in America right now. On a research trip to post-Katrina New Orleans for her book The…