Latest Episode Of Drilled Climate Podcast: I Want To Say One Word To You. Just One Word: Plastics!

 In the third episode of the new season of Drilled - a brilliant climate podcast - investigative journalist Amy Westervelt dives into how the fossil fuel industry responded to the pandemic behind the scenes, asking the question: "Did COVID save plastic?"

 

Amy Westervelt explained more in the intro:

"When Covid-19 first started to really take hold in the U.S. back in March 2020, I started scouring all my usual sources for evidence of the industry’s response. And sure enough, the American Petroleum Institute and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, the two main trade groups for the industry, were immediately meeting with politicians, asking for regulatory rollbacks and other types of support. The API tackled everything from pipeline permitting to emissions regulations, while the AFPM focused on all the rules that would affect the buildout of plastic manufacturing facilities.

But they also set their sights on getting rid of something that’s been bugging the industry for years: plastic bag bans."

 

 

Broken into three parts, the season will use muckraking host Amy Westervelt’s new research and reporting to explore the connection between fracking and plastics in Part 1 (“Pipelines to Plastic,” July 16 - August 6), how the natural gas industry fooled everyone into thinking it was a safe alternative to fossil fuels in Part 2 (“Gas Bubble,” September 17 – October 8), and the story of an Ohio community ravaged by the petrochemical industry in Part 3 (“Frackalachia,” dates TBA).

 

“We’re at this moment once again where the fossil fuel industry is pushing the idea of natural gas as a ‘low carbon’ alternative fuel, a bridge to renewables, an integral part of the clean energy transition,” Westervelt explains. “So it’s really important that people understand the immediate environmental concerns and long-term climate impacts of this stuff. To highlight the issue from all sides, instead of telling one long story this season, we’ve broken it into three parts, each looking at a different side of the problem.”

 

 Drilled is one of the few narrative podcasts about climate change. In 2018 when journalist Amy Westervelt was covering multiple climate lawsuits, she had the idea to put the story of climate change, and climate denial, into a true-crime framework. Season 1 (November 2018) focused on the climate research conducted by oil companies and when and how they shifted from studying the problem to denying it.

Listen to Drilled here or wherever you get podcasts: https://podlink.to/drilled

More info on Amy Westervelt and Drilled here: https://shorefire.com/roster/drilled