104. Big Hits to Big Oil & Adam Gardner on a Music Climate Revolution
Outrage + Optimism: The Climate Podcast
Persephonica
4.7 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2021
⏱️ 81 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, we talk about the absolute shake up of a week Big Oil had, and a Music Climate Revolution that starts TODAY.
First up, a shareholder vote to add three new members to the Exxon board succeeded as part of a strategy by activist hedge fund Engine No. 1 to address the twin concerns of climate change and Exxon’s poor financial performance. One of the new board members is our good friend, Andy Karsner! He joins us at the top of the episode for a quick update on what these seats at the table mean for the Oil and Gas industry moving forward, but especially for humanity and the climate.
Second, the unprecedented ruling by a Dutch Court which ordered Royal Dutch Shell to cut its carbon emissions by 45 percent from 2019 levels by 2030 happened. To give us an incredibly exciting executive summary is Lead Campaigner of the case against Shell, Friend of The Earth’s Nine de Pater.
And finally for our main interview, we are joined by Co-Founder and Co-Director of Reverb, Adam Gardner, who is also the vocalist and guitarist of the band, Guster.. From intention to action, he expresses the work that Reverb has been doing over the last 18 years to disrupt industry norms and increase the climate positive impact of the music touring industry. Acknowledging the unprecedented influence and reach that musicians have at their disposal, Adam, the newest stubborn optimist recruit, explains how environmentalism can be united with fans’ passion to drive positive change and achieve meaningful environmental, social justice and community gains.
And this week for music, we have the privilege of spinning the famous “Satellite” by Guster. Join us, won’t you?
—
Christiana + Tom’s book ‘The Future We Choose’ is available now!
Subscribe to our Climate Action Newsletter: Signals Amidst The Noise
__
Watch the Trailer for Breaking Boundaries on YouTube
Watch Breaking Boundaries on Netflix
__
Thank you to our guest this week, Adam Gardner!
Adam Gardner
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Reverb | Vocalist and Guitarist for Guster
Reverb
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
__
A special thank you to Andy Karsner and Nine de Pater
Alexander “Andy” Karsner
Board of Directors | ExxonMobil
Nine de Pater
Lead Campaigner | Friends of The Earth
__
Our musical guest this week is Guster!
Spotify | Apple Music | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Get your tickets to Guster: On The Rocks
This is Clay’s favorite Guster Song: “One Man Wrecking Machine”
—
Check out the song by Moondog that Paul mentioned: Enough About Human Rights
—
Keep up with Christiana Figueres here:
Tom Rivett-Carnac:
Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn
Paul Dickinson!
—
Follow @GlobalOptimism on social media and send us a message!
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn
Don't forget to hit SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss another episode of Outrage + Optimism!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Outrage and Optimism, I'm Tom Rific Karnak. |
| 0:15.9 | I'm Fistiana Pugettis. |
| 0:17.4 | And I'm Paul Dickinson. |
| 0:18.8 | This week we talk about why a bad week for big oil is a good week for the climate. |
| 0:24.0 | We speak to Adam Gardner, co-founder and co-director of Reverb, and we have music from Adam's |
| 0:29.6 | band, Gusta, thanks for being here. |
| 0:38.2 | So we talk a lot in this podcast about geopolitics and big changes in the world and how different |
| 0:43.9 | powers are fighting each other for what the future is going to look like, but this week |
| 0:46.6 | has just been so inspiring, because it's been about the triumph of small actions and |
| 0:51.3 | how they can snowball into enormous transformations, real David and Goliath stories from shareholder |
| 0:57.2 | activism to what can be achieved through the courts by a dedicated group of individuals |
| 1:02.1 | who really want to see change. |
| 1:03.3 | I think we're going to get into this, but this basically the last week has been characterized |
| 1:07.8 | by a major victories over big oil that would have been basically unthinkable even a few |
| 1:12.8 | years ago when the stranglehold of big oil on the world in terms of politics and economics |
| 1:17.9 | just seemed so profound. |
| 1:19.2 | But now it seems that we're breaking through. |
| 1:22.2 | Kristiana, why don't you kick us off and let us know what's going on? |
| 1:25.2 | Well, thanks, Tom. |
| 1:26.5 | I really do think it's a David and Goliath story or several David and Goliath stories. |
| 1:31.8 | And the fact that they all come one right after the other within the space of a week is quite |
| 1:38.6 | extraordinary. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Persephonica, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Persephonica and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.