Drilled: Displaced

The most serious pollution problem the world faces may just be the corporate contamination of our information systems. In Drilled founder Amy Westervelt’s new book, Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy, she reveals how a handful of ideologues, propagandists, and corporate consultants reshaped knowledge production systems using think tanks, courtrooms, universities, and social media. DeSmog investigations editor Matthew Green interviews Amy about the book, followed by a conversation between Drilled senior editor Alleen Brown and Nick Tilsen, founder and CEO of the nonprofit NDN Collective. Nick describes how he and his organization have repeatedly found themselves in the crosshairs of President Trump’s crackdown on the environmental movement.
Reading list from today's show:

1. Amy Westervelt's new book, Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy

2. Matthew Green's interview with Amy Westervelt for Desmog, "Q&A: Amy Westervelt on the Corporate Poisoning of the Information Aquifer — and How to Undo the Harm."

3. Alleen Brown's investigation for Drilled into criminal charges, which appeared to be politically motivated, filed against Nick Tilsen. "An Indigenous Activist was Accused of Trying to Run Over a Cop. Body Cam Footage Shows What Really Happened."

4. Body cam and surveillance footage of Nick Tilsen's arrest.

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One in eight people are projected to be displaced by climate change by 2050, and for many the time has already come. In this three-part series, Nina Lakhani takes us to three communities in Latin America grappling with climate displacement in different ways.
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The 31st annual United Nations Climate Change Conference (known as COP31) kicks off in Türkiye in a couple weeks. Drilled climate reporters — and COP veterans — Nina Lakhani, Amy Westervelt, and Royce Kurmelovs download everything you need to know as the talks commence. Plus, Nina interviews climate activist Harjeet Singh about what the climate movement will be fighting for in Türkiye.

Reading list from today’s show:

1. “What the Pre-COP in the Pacific Tells Us About What to Expect at COP31,” by Royce Kurmelovs for Drilled.

2. "Oil majors reap bumper profits as Mideast war drives prices," by Alexandra Bacon for Yahoo! Finance.

3. Amy Westervelt's new book, Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy.
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Climate journalists Amy Westervelt, Nina Lakhani and Alleen Brown share whether they loved or hated the polarizing, big budget, box office flop, Digger. Plus a discussion on the role of pop culture in confronting the climate crisis and some of the team's favorite socially conscious music and movies. In the second half of the episode, Ugandan environmental journalist Diana Taremwa-Karakire talks about what it's like covering the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline or EACOP.

Watch list from today's show:

1. Digger (2026), director Alejandro Iñárritu's big huge climate movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbW1DmEECiM

2. History of Concrete (2026), John Wilson's quirky infrastructure documentary with environmental undertones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05arcJjOd0

3. The Great Experiment (2026), a portrait of a polarized United States during Trump's first term, by directors Stephen Maing and Eric Daniel Metzgar: https://www.thegreatexperimentfilm.com/trailer

4. Armageddon (1998) doesn't get remembered as fossil fuel industry propaganda but has a strong pro-oil message. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-8eEniEfgU

5. No Other Land (2024) documents a Palestinian family's fight to defend their land against Israeli settlers and soldiers in the occupied West Bank, by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor: https://releasing.dogwoof.com/no-other-land

6. In The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025), director Kaouther Ben Hania dramatizes the real-life killing of a 5-year-old Palestinian child by Israeli soldiers as she begs paramedics on the telephone to come save her: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrssPpqv6vc

7. Families Like Ours (2024), Thomas Vinterberg's Danish TV drama with climate displacement as the backdrop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AAPM6y7yCA

Listen list from today’s show:

1. Neil Young is as angry as he ever was, and we're here for it. Let's Roll Again was the stand out song (by some distance) from his 2025 album Talkin’ To the Trees, a plea to American carmakers to catch up with China and make better, cheaper electric vehicles. It includes an iconic dig at Elon Musk: “If your a fascist, then get a Tesla. If it’s electric, it doesn’t matter.” https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-tesla-lets-roll-again-1235330354/

2. Is Bruce Springsteen's song Streets of Minneapolis corny? Perhaps. But it's still cathartic to sing along to for those of us from the city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDaPdpwA4Iw&list=RDGDaPdpwA4Iw&start_radio=1

3. The late Irish musician Sinead O'Connor was often inspired to write about injustices around her, like the beautiful song Black Boys on Mopeds (1990) which is a scathing critique of institutional racism in the UK. https://medium.com/@angel.lloyd/england-is-not-the-mythical-land-of-madam-george-and-roses-6cdb103ec6a

Reading List:

1. Don't Look Up (2021) by Adam McKay was the last big climate satire to hit our screens. It was also a flop with critics, but unlike Digger, was a hit with audiences: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jan/08/dont-look-up-four-climate-experts-on-the-polarising-disaster-film

2. "Indigenous Communities, Activists in Africa Gird for Legal Battles with Governments over Climate Harms," by Diana Diana Taremwa-Karakire: https://drilled.media/litigation-and-law/indigenous-communities-activists-in-africa-gird-for-legal-battles-with-governments-over-climate-harms/

3. "Africa’s Longest Crude Oil Export Pipeline Isn’t Just Taking Indigenous Land, It Is Disturbing the Dead," by by Diana Diana Taremwa-Karakire: https://drilled.media/news/eacop-graves/

4. Indigenous Times (magazine): https://indigenoustime.com/about-us
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Most proposals to keep fossil fuels in the ground rely on taking new minerals out of the ground — especially lithium, a major component in the batteries powering electric vehicles. In Thea Riofrancos' book, Extraction, she visits the communities most impacted by lithium mining, explores the mineral's politics and history, and proposes a pathway toward harm reduction.

Reading list from today’s show:

1. Thea Riofrancos' book, Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism

2. Amy Westervelt's new book, Brought to You By: How Corporations Warped the Truth, Conned the Public, and Broke Democracy
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