Inside the PR Machine That Made Climate Denial Work
“I’m a big believer in the idea that you can’t solve a problem if you don't know where it came from,” ‘Drilled’ podcast host Amy Westervelt says on this week’s Zero.
Drilled host Amy Westervelt.
Photographer: Ambera Dodson/Courtesy Amy WesterveltWhen Amy Westervelt set out to create a compelling climate podcast, she found inspiration in the format’s most popular genre: true crime. A climate journalist for more than 20 years, Westervelt knew there were interesting companies and characters behind the rise of climate denialism, even if her pitch for a podcast about them was rejected by multiple production companies.
Drilled launched in 2017, and closed out its first season with more than 1 million listeners. Today, the award-winning podcast has over 200 episodes under its belt, and Westervelt still thinks of it as a true crime show about climate change. On this week’s episode of Zero, the second of three focused on storytelling, Westervelt and Akshat Rathi talk about the history of organized climate denial and what listeners need to know about the brains who thought it up.