Episodes

  • The Real Free Speech Threat: In El Salvador a Cold Case Murder Has Become a Weapon for Silencing Environmental Activists

    The Real Free Speech Threat: In El Salvador a Cold Case Murder Has Become a Weapon for Silencing Environmental Activists
    Jul 18 2024
    In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to pass an outright ban on mining. It was an effort to protect the country's water, and its people. Now, self-proclaimed "coolest dictator in the world" Nayib Bukele wants to bring mining back to boost the economy, which took a major hit thanks to his embrace of Bitcoin as the national currency in 2021. The activists who helped pass the ban are standing in his way. The solution? Accuse them of a decades-old unsolved murder. The activists go on trial this week. Reporter Sebastian Escalon brings us this story, narrated by Yessenia Funes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    38 mins
  • Could You Really Charge Oil Companies with Murder? Plus: Supreme Court Climate Update

    Could You Really Charge Oil Companies with Murder? Plus: Supreme Court Climate Update
    Jul 9 2024
    Public Citizen has been working with various prosecutors to explore the idea of using criminal law to hold oil companies accountable for climate change. In the wake of recent Supreme Court rulings, it seems smarter than ever to explore the remedies offered by criminal law, but is it really viable? The group's senior climate policy counsel, Aaron Regunburg, joins us to discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    36 mins
  • The Coordinated Attack on Shareholder Activism

    The Coordinated Attack on Shareholder Activism
    Jun 25 2024
    The backlash against ESG is continuing, with a string of lawsuits aimed at shutting down shareholder activism. We don't often talk about shareholder activism in the vein of protecting protest, but it's absolutely part of the story. Andrew Behar, CEO of shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, joins us to explain what's going on, and why anyone who cares about basic rights needs to be tuning into the ESG fight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    53 mins
  • The New Carbon Majors Report + Swiss Elders Win Landmark Climate Case

    The New Carbon Majors Report + Swiss Elders Win Landmark Climate Case
    Apr 13 2024
    Lots of news lately on stories we've been following, so in today's episode: an update! The landmark Carbon Majors report has been updated with some surprising new data, and the European Court of Human Rights has sent down an historic ruling that will shape how EU legislators look at energy and climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • The Real Free Speech Threat: In Nigeria's Ogoniland, Protestors Still Fighting to Hold Oil Accompanies Accountable

    The Real Free Speech Threat: In Nigeria's Ogoniland, Protestors Still Fighting to Hold Oil Accompanies Accountable
    Mar 22 2024
    Shell announced in late 2023 that it would be shutting down all of its onshore activities in Nigeria and concentrating its efforts offshore. It leaves behind poisoned water, multiple political and economic crises, and a country that is measurably worse off today than when its oil industry began. Meanwhile the government continues to target environmental activists. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    44 mins
  • The Real Free Speech Threat: Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured "EcoTerrorist" Panic, and Cop City

    The Real Free Speech Threat: Department of Homeland Security, the Manufactured "EcoTerrorist" Panic, and Cop City
    Jan 31 2024
    The U.S. government's definition of what constitutes an "ecoterrorist" has long driven backlash against environmental activists and in recent years that definition has only broadened. Investigative reporter and Drilled senior editor Alleen Brown dug into this recently and found that the Department of Homeland Security had been warning officials in Atlanta about the threat posed by "Defend the Atlanta Forest" for months before police raided the forest, ultimately killing one protestor, and charging dozens more with domestic terrorism and racketeering. It was such an overreaction that even mainstream media covered it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    40 mins
  • The Real Free Speech Threat: Meet the UN's First Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders

    The Real Free Speech Threat: Meet the UN's First Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders
    Jan 31 2024
    In June 2022, Michel Forst became the first UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders. In that role he has spent the past year visiting various countries and speaking out about the increasingly onerous laws and aggressive tactics being used against climate protestors. Today he released a statement on the UK, saying he is "extremely worried" about "the increasingly severe crackdowns on environmental defenders in the United Kingdom, including in relation to the exercise of the right to peaceful protest." In this episode, our France reporter Anna Pujol-Mazzini talks to Forst about his new position, what it means, and what power he has to do something about the creeping crackdown on climate protest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • The Real Free Speech Threat: How UK Courts Became the New Climate Protest Battleground

    The Real Free Speech Threat: How UK Courts Became the New Climate Protest Battleground
    Jan 28 2024
    About a decade after UK courts made history with the first "climate necessity" ruling in history, the UK government has passed new laws that not only restrict what protesters can do, but also how protesters are allowed to defend themselves in court. Some judges don't apply the new laws so strictly, but others have held people in contempt for just trying to explain themselves. In some courtrooms, the climate necessity defense has been effectively outlawed. How did that happen? And how did it happen so quickly? That's our story today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    34 mins