Why Is the Fossil Fuel Industry Funding Anti-Trans Politics?

Drilled

Critical Frequency

Science, Social Sciences, True Crime

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this eye-opening episode of Carbon Bros, we hear from special guest Vivian Taylor, a researcher on both trans rights and climate policy, on the shocking connections between fossil billionaires and anti-trans campaigns. Turns out, it’s easy to distract people with genital inspectors so you don’t have to deal with methane leakage inspectors. Amy and Vivian break down the disturbing overlap between anti-trans, anti-climate, and other right-wing movements, as well as the critical need for unity in tackling these pressing issues. It’s a powerful conversation that uncovers the hidden networks funding social division and environmental degradation. Don’t forget to join us next week for the final episode of Carbon Bros! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you're going to talk about the intersection between restrictive gender norms and climate
0:04.9	obstruction in the Year of Our Lord 2025, you have to also look at the crossover between
0:11.0	anti-trans groups and anti-climate groups, because folks, that Venn diagram is a circle.
0:21.7	Welcome back to Carmen Bros, a collaboration between drilled and non-toxic.
0:26.3	I'm Amy Westervelt.
0:27.7	I'm Daniel Penny.
0:29.0	Today, we're bringing you a conversation with Vivian Taylor, one of the key researchers
0:33.5	behind a story you might have seen earlier this year in Atmos and Heeded about the fossil
0:39.6	billionaires funding anti-trans campaigns. Vivian has been working on both trans rights
0:45.3	and climate issues for a very long time, so we figured she was the perfect person to talk to
0:51.0	about all of it.
1:03.3	Hey, drill listeners.
1:08.6	I wanted to recommend another podcast that I've been listening to.
1:10.9	I've been really enjoying it.
1:12.0	It's called Cited.
1:15.8	And it's about the politics of science and research.
1:20.7	So very tied into all the things that we are talking about this season and that we talk about a lot on this podcast.
1:22.4	Their new season is called Green Dreams.
1:25.2	Each episode tells the story of a utopian thinker and their dreams for
1:29.9	our green future. You'll learn about prominent environmental theorists across the ideological
1:35.6	spectrum and about some lesser-known figures that operate in the shadows. Should we make
1:41.9	these green dreams a reality, or are they actually nightmares?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Critical Frequency, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Critical Frequency and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.