Lawless Planet

What occurred shortly after midnight in Bhopal, India on December 3, 1984 is still being felt – and fought over – four decades later. The scale of the tragedy, involving a pesticide factory and maddening lack of accountability by its corporate owner, raise questions about whether its victims will ever know justice. And have we learned enough to stop something like it from happening again?

Special thanks to:

Satinath...

On April 20, 2010, the crew aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig was in the final stages of sealing up an exploratory well off the coast of Louisiana. It should have been a routine procedure, but something went horribly wrong. By the next morning, Deepwater was sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico – and its operator, BP, was facing tough questions about what had caused the explosion and fire that destroyed the rig.

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In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers and leading to the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. But for Deepwater’s operator, BP, it was just the latest in a series of accidents, spills, and other mishaps that all pointed to a corporate culture deeply rooted in prioritizing profits over safety. 

Special thanks to: 

Scott West

Special Agent-in-Charge,...

When a young oil worker goes missing on Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota, an indigenous amateur detective named Lissa Yellow Bird-Chase becomes determined to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Her search leads her to some of the most powerful people on the reservation – including, possibly, the tribal chairman himself.  

Special thanks to:

Lissa Yellow Bird-Chase

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The daughter of civil rights activists, Catherine Coleman Flowers grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, one of the poorest parts of the Deep South. When she learned that some residents were being jailed for failing to install expensive sewage systems, it sent her on a quest to make proper sanitation a basic human right – a mission that would lead to a historic environmental justice lawsuit.

Special thanks to:

Cathe...

Greenpeace has a long history of successful direct action protest, but their work has made a lot of enemies. Recently, the U.S. arm of the environmental group was found liable for $660 million in damages for their actions against the Dakota Access Pipeline. This week, we’re bringing you a story about an earlier chapter in the organization’s history, when they faced a different kind of attack.

Special thanks to:

Bunny McD...

Two years after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023, Israel continues its brutal military assault in Gaza. But long before the current conflict, Israeli strikes on infrastructure, control over fuel, and precarious grid access made electricity a flashpoint. This episode is about how energy became another weapon of war, how electrical power begets political power, and what it means when both can be switched off at a m...

In the aftermath of a right-wing coup in 2009, Honduras invested in several new clean energy projects, including a hydroelectric dam on a river sacred to the local indigenous population. When activist Berta Cáceras opposed the project, she had no idea how powerful the forces behind it were – and how far they would go in the name of “progress.”

Special thanks to:

Gustavo Castro Soto 

Karen Spring

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Less than a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a series of undersea explosions rocked the Baltic Sea. The target: the Nord Stream pipelines, which supply Russian natural gas to Western Europe. The attack caused over $1 billion in damage and the largest methane leak in recorded history. But who was behind it?  

Special thanks to:

Holger Stark

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The urgency of solving the climate crisis makes finding a quick fix very tempting. So a few years ago when Nikola CEO Trevor Milton unveiled a hydrogen-powered truck that only emitted water, companies like General Motors bet big on its future. Then a whistleblower came forward and it all fell apart.

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In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a massacre of gorillas in Virunga National Park highlights the constant threat of violence from militias, poachers and gangsters. All that stands in their way is a small army of park rangers, hundreds of whom have been killed while on duty. And soon, they’ll face a new threat: an oil company that wants to drill under the park’s lake.

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For nearly 40 years, New York’s private waste removal industry was the domain of the mob, until an undercover cop risked everything to take it down. The gripping tale of what happened next also raises the question: are we any better off without the mafia taking out the trash?

Special thanks to:

Anthony Vitale

Rick Cowan and Douglas Century, co-authors of The Takedown

Chris Grosso

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The biggest biofuel scam in U.S. history was committed by the unlikeliest of duos — a polygamist cult-leader and an Armenian mobster. They took one look at our convoluted system of climate regulations, tax codes, and energy incentives and saw nothing but dollar signs.

Special thanks to:

Jeff Manuel, author of Ethanol: A Hemispheric History for the Future of Biofuels 

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For decades, oil companies like Shell operated with impunity in the Niger River Delta, supported by a string of dictators. Then, an Ogoni activist named Ken Saro-Wiwa became the David to Shell’s Goliath – until Nigerian authorities framed him for murder. 

Special thanks to:

Where Vultures Feast by Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas

The Politics of Bones by J. Timothy Hunt

Amnesty International

Owens Wiwa

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When activists Jessica Reznicek and Ruby Montoya take drastic measures to halt construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, they have no idea that a shadowy private security contractor called TigerSwan has them in its sights. 

Special thanks to:

Alleen Brown and The Intercept (https://theintercept.com/2018/12/30/tigerswan-infiltrator-dakota-access-pipeline-standing-rock/)

You Strike A Match by Julia Shipley (https://g...

In the 1980s, an unlikely champion for protecting the Amazon rainforest emerges: Chico Mendes, a rubber tapper and labor organizer from the remote Brazilian state of Acre. His shrewd tactics keep both cattle ranchers and big banks from clear-cutting the jungle. But his success also makes him a target.   

Special thanks to:

Burning Season by Andrew Revkin

The World is Burning by Alex Shoumatoff

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Massive, poorly regulated trains carrying hazardous chemicals travel through American towns, cities and suburbs every day. It’s only a matter of time before one derails, with disastrous consequences. And on February 3, 2023, in the tight-knit community of East Palestine, Ohio, that’s exactly what happened.

Special thanks to:

Moms Clean Air Force (https://www.momscleanairforce.org/)

NTSB East Palestine investigation (https...

When a Montana coal mine executive goes missing it exposes the dirty underbelly of one of America’s largest coal mines. Now, with the help of President Donald Trump, the mine is trying to expand – unless a group of cattle ranchers can stop them. 

Special thanks to:

Northern Plains Resource Council (https://northernplains.org/)

Montana Environmental Information Center (https://meic.org/)

Earthjustice

Ellen Pfister

Clark ...

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It’s not that hard to kill a planet. All it takes is a little drilling, some mining, a generous helping of pollution and voila! Earth over. When you take stock of what’s left, it starts to look like a crime sc...