OptOutcast
By OptOut News
OptOutcastDec 20, 2022
COP 28 – The Ups and Downs of a Climate Conference Hosted by a Petrostate
On this episode of OptOutcast, Climate Editor Amanda Magnani brings you inside COP 28, the United Nations' yearly climate conference, which took place last year in Dubai from Nov. 30-Dec. 13. The event was the largest one to date, with an attendance of nearly 100,000 people. On the one hand, it was marked by exciting announcements, such as the Loss and Damage Fund and the treaty to triple renewable energy. On the other hand, it hosted around 2,400 oil lobbyists and a final text that, while representing some progress, was also seen by many as a huge let down.
Throughout the episode, you will hear the sounds of the venue, from the moment Amanda arrives and goes through security to important announcements and the everyday lives of journalists covering the event. To better understand the event, its history, and impact, she talks to Sophie Davies, Chris Wright, and Shreeshan Venkatesh, three journalists from different parts of the world with a long history of covering COPs.
Sophie Davies is a Barcelona-based journalist and editor at OptOut’s participating outlet Gas Outlook, an independent publication launched by Global Strategic Communications Council – GSCC, about the global green energy transition of the fossil fuels sector. Sophie and Amanda met for coffee at Expo Dubai to discuss their experiences at COP 28, the progress of negotiations, empty announcements, and the massive presence of oil lobbyists.
Chris Wright is an Australian journalist and founder of Climate Tracker, an NGO dedicated to supporting climate journalists around the world, especially in the Global South. It was through a Climate Tracker fellowship that Amanda was able to attend COP 28 in person. Chris, who has been attending and covering COPs since 2011, talks about how the event and its coverage have evolved over the past decade and a half, and how the petrostate status of COP 28's host, the UAE, meant for the event and the negotiations.
Shreeshan Venkatesh is an Indian environment and science journalist and editorial head at CarbonCopy, a knowledge platform that tracks developments in the climate and energy sector. He spoke about the first ever Global Stocktake about the main issues regarding fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions for the Global South and about how world leaders usually try to control the narrative in the early days of every COP.
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An LNG Project Threatens a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in Canada
On this episode of OptOutcast, our Climate Editor, Amanda Magnani, sits down with Nick Cunningham, Gas Outlook’s North American correspondent, to talk about Howe Sound, a UNESCO biosphere reserve in British Columbia that is being threatened by a liquified natural gas (LNG) initiative.
Nick spent months investigating the Woodfibre LNG project and how it is affecting Squamish, a community that was once a mining and logging town but which recently managed to restore the local environment, bringing back herrings and even whales. Now, Woodfibre may set the efforts back. The project that hopes to export gas to Asia is years behind schedule, its costs have ballooned, and its fate remains up in the air—bringing health, safety, and environmental risks.
Nick is the North American correspondent for Gas Outlook, where he covers the gas industry, energy and climate policy, and the energy transition. He has reported on the oil and gas industry for more than ten years, reporting from Washington, D.C., Appalachia, the U.S. Gulf Coast, the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Argentina.
Gas Outlook is an OptOut News participant that provides insightful and incisive content about the energy transition of oil and gas companies and countries globally. It seeks to bridge the gap between climate news and the fossil fuel industry, and serve as a resource for companies, policymakers, and all those invested in the energy transition.
How to Protect Our Planet: Learning From Indigenous Communities in Brazil
On this episode of OptOutcast, our LGBTQ+ Editor, Liana DeMasi, sits down with our Climate Editor, Amanda Magnani, to talk about sustainable initiatives developed by Indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon and what we all have to learn from them in terms of public policies and climate action.
Amanda spent two months in the state of Roraima, which is, on the one hand, the most Indigenous, and, on the other, the most pro-Bolsonaro state in Brazil. There, surrounded by plantations and illegal mining, native communities have been finding ways to be sustainable, both environmentally and economically. They combine traditional knowledge with modern techniques to grow crops in community farms, protect traditional seeds, and raise animals, from fish to poultry to cattle. They are in a constant fight for their physical and cultural survival.
The two editors discuss these practices and talk about parallels between a Bolsonaro-run Brazil and the future of the U.S. if the country goes red in the upcoming election. They address the relation between the Brazilian Indigenous Movement and the country’s new government, and much more.
This episode is supported in part by the Amazon Rainforest Journalism Fund from the Pulitzer Center. You can also read a bit about the experience in our special newsletter written from the field.
UNLOCKED: How Fossil Fuel Trade Groups Obstruct Climate Action
Christian Downie is a political scientist and professor at the Australian National University, where he researches climate and energy politics. He is also the author of Business Battles in the U.S. Energy Sector. His recent paper with co-author Robert Brulle in the journal Climatic Change traces how fossil fuel trade associations in the U.S. are investing billions of dollars on political activities.
OptOut Climate spoke with Downie about how these trade groups obstruct climate action.
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Imara Jones on the Anti-Trans Hate Machine
OptOut LGBTQ+ Editor Liana DeMasi sits down with TransLash Media creator Imara Jones to talk about the current, highly calculated disinformation campaign against trans people, what these laws and this political landscape mean for the LGBTQ+ community, and the need to move potential allies to action. Today is Trans Day of Visibility, and this conversation could come at a more appropriate time.
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UNLOCKED: Brown Girl Green
Kristy Drutman is the founder of Brown Girl Green, a digital media brand that educates and inspires action around sustainability, climate change, and the environment. She is also the founder of Green Jobs Board, the top online destination for people of color to learn about employment in the environment and climate sectors. OptOut Climate spoke with Drutman about how she got started, what it takes to stay authentic on social media, and career planning for 2023.
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Janine Jackson on Corporate Media Bias
On this edition of OptOutcast, I speak with Janine Jackson, the host and producer of COUNTERSPIN, a weekly radio show and podcast from national media watchdog FAIR. Jackson is also FAIR's program director. She co-edited The FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the ’90s, and she has appeared on ABC‘s Nightline and CNN Headline News, among other outlets, and has testified to the Senate Communications Subcommittee on budget reauthorization for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Her articles have appeared in various publications, including In These Times and the UAW’s Solidarity, and in books including Civil Rights Since 1787 and Stop the Next War Now: Effective Responses to Violence and Terrorism.
We discuss Janine's entry into media criticism, the current misinformation crisis, corporate media's failures in covering the Iraq War, and lots more.
Janine answers questions such as: Have the corporate media become less biased towards the U.S. government regarding foreign policy over the last few decades? How do we counter misinformation in broadcast news? What kind of structural change in the media ecosystem would help improve society?
FAIR: https://fair.org/
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Doug Henwood on His Career and Left Media Today
On this edition of OptOutcast, OptOut co-founder Alex Kotch speaks with Doug Henwood, a veteran journalist and author who's the host of Behind the News, a weekly radio show and podcast, and the creator of the website LBO News. Doug tells us about his life and career, which has included a print newsletter in the 1980s and even a brief stint on Wall Street. They then discuss the state of left media today.
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Behind the News: https://kpfa.org/program/behind-the-news/
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How Fossil Fuel Trade Groups Obstruct Climate Action
Christian Downie is a political scientist and professor at the Australian National University, where he researches climate and energy politics. He is also the author of Business Battles in the U.S. Energy Sector. His recent paper with co-author Robert Brulle in the journal Climatic Change traces how fossil fuel trade associations in the U.S. are investing billions of dollars on political activities.
OptOut Climate spoke with Downie about how these trade groups obstruct climate action.
The full episode is available to OptOut Media Foundation donors: https://originals.optout.news/#/portal/signup
Keep up-to-date on independent climate coverage by subscribing to our free, biweekly climate newsletter and downloading the OptOut News app!
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Brown Girl Green (PREVIEW)
Kristy Drutman is the founder of Brown Girl Green, a digital media brand that educates and inspires action around sustainability, climate change, and the environment. She is also the founder of Green Jobs Board, the top online destination for people of color to learn about employment in the environment and climate sectors. OptOut Climate spoke with Drutman about how she got started, what it takes to stay authentic on social media, and career planning for 2023.
The full episode is available to OptOut Media Foundation donors: https://originals.optout.news/#/portal/signup
Follow Brown Girl Green: https://www.instagram.com/browngirl_green/
Check out the Green Jobs Board: https://www.browngirlgreen.com/greenjobs
Keep up-to-date on independent climate coverage by subscribing to our free, biweekly climate newsletter and downloading the OptOut News app!
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Eric Holthaus on Meteorology, Climate Journalism, and Twitter
Eric Holthaus is a leading climate journalist and the founder of Currently, a weather and news service that recently joined the OptOut network. He is also the author of the speculative nonfiction book The Future Earth: A Radical Vision for What's Possible in the Age of Warming. OptOut Climate Editor Cristian Salazar speaks with him about climate journalism and his latest effort to create a safe online space for climate action: Project Mushroom.
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COP27 Wrap-Up: Climate Fund 🌎 Lula 🌎 Fossil Fuel Lobbyists
The U.N.’s climate conference, officially known as COP27, ended last month with a historic deal to create a fund to compensate countries that have been affected by the climate crisis.
The plan for a “loss and damage” fund was only a start, however, and the details of how it will operate and be funded by wealthy nations are still under negotiation. Climate activists and Global South countries cheered the development while also criticizing negotiators for failing to answer calls to cut global emissions at COP27.
OptOut Climate Editor Cristian Salazar spoke with Brazilian independent journalist Amanda Magnani, who has been covering COP27, about the loss and damage fund, the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists at the conference, and lots more.
Keep up to date on independent climate coverage by downloading the OptOut News app and subscribing to our bi-weekly climate newsletter!
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Ep. 2: Means TV, the anti-capitalist streaming service, with Naomi Burton
Naomi Burton talks with host Alex Kotch about OptOut participant Means TV, the first worker-owned, anti-capitalist streaming service, which she co-founded. How did Means TV get started? What are the latest original shows? Learn all about Means TV in this episode! Recorded on August 25, 2021.
Find out about our special promotion, where you can donate to the OptOut Media Foundation and get a half-priced Means TV subscription, by signing up for OptOut's free newsletter: https://originals.optout.news/#/portal/signup
OptOut is a nonprofit news aggregation app for 100% independent media that's currently in beta testing. OptOut of corporate media narratives with us—learn more and sign up here to get updates about our public launch: https://originals.optout.news/app/
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Ep. 1 — The Brick House is live! Maria Bustillos on her new media cooperative.
In the first-ever episode of OptOutcast, Alex and Walker interview Maria Bustillos about the launch of her new media cooperative, The Brick House.
Check out and subscribe to Brick House! https://thebrick.house/
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OptOut is a forthcoming nonprofit news aggregation app for 100% independent media. Opt out of corporate media narratives with us—learn more and sign up here to get updates about our launch in March 2021: https://www.optoutnews.org/
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