An oil lobbyist gets the Shakespearean treatment in ‘Kyoto’

Zero: The Climate Race

Bloomberg

Technology, Business, Science

4.7 • 219 Ratings

🗓️ 9 July 2024

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In fractured times, what does it take to reach agreement? That’s the question writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson set out to explore in a new play about the drama of climate negotiations. Kyoto, now running at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Swan Theater in Stratford-upon-Avon, tells the story of the 1997 Kyoto Summit as seen through the eyes of Don Pearlman, a notorious fossil fuel lobbyist and chain-smoking lawyer dubbed “the high priest of the Carbon Club” by der Speigel. Actor Stephen Kunken, who plays Pearlman, tells Akshat Rathi why he was drawn to the character, and what Kyoto can teach us about how agreement is achieved.

Explore further:

Past episode with Al Gore about breaking the petrostates stranglehold on climate progress
Past episode about climate change storytelling with Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Ministry for the Future
Past episode with Extrapolations writer and executive producer Dorothy Fortenberry about the growing demand for climate stories

Zero is a production of Bloomberg Green. Our producer is Mythili Rao. Special thanks this week to Kira Bindrim, Alicia Clanton, Anna Mazarakis, and Jessica Beck. Thoughts or suggestions? Email us at [email protected]. For more coverage of climate change and solutions, visit https://www.bloomberg.com/green.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Zero. I am Akshadrati. This week, climate negotiations as entertainment.
0:15.1	This sentence, countries are urged to take immediate actions to control the risks of climate change.
0:22.6	Surely we can all agree on this.
0:24.6	No, no, no, too strong.
0:25.6	What is that even mean? Countries are urged.
0:26.6	I'm sorry, it is urgent. I feel urged.
0:28.6	I don't feel urged. Do you feel urged?
0:30.6	I don't feel urged at all.
0:31.6	Courage.
0:32.6	Got urged.
0:33.6	Seconded.
0:34.6	Urged is a red line for us.
0:35.6	Encouraged.
0:36.6	Invited. Goers? No, we should all feel urged.
0:38.9	Encourage immediate.
0:39.7	Cut immediate.
0:40.5	Countries are urged to take actions to control the risks of climate change.
0:43.8	What are these actions?
0:44.9	An idealistic promise made today could close a factory in Detroit tomorrow.
0:49.2	Add this.
0:49.8	With emphasis on actions that would be economically beneficial as well.
0:53.2	No regrets.
	...

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