The BREAK—DOWN
Episodes
The Billionaire Machine w/ Hettie O'Brien
26 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
You may have never heard of Private Equity firms like Blackstone, KKR, Bain Capital or the Carlyle Group, but in recent decades they have quietly beco...
Nuclear is Not the Solution w/M.V. Ramana
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the mid-20th century, nuclear energy was seen as the technology of the future. Then, questions about its environmental impact and waste, alongside ...
How Wall St. Gambles on Your Future w/Ann Pettifor
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve all heard it before: any time a politician tries to put forward a policy that might finally improve people’s lives—think Mamdani's fas...
Beyond techno-optimism w/ David Edgerton
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The history of the climate crisis is often told as a story about technology. Growing out of the dark satanic mills of the Industrial Revolution, and ...
Freedom and The Politics of Nature w/Alyssa Battistoni
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Capitalism is often defended on the basis of freedom — “free markets”, free choice, as well as being credited with producing the wealth and mate...
Survival of the Greenest w/Amir Lebdioui
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We hear a lot about “sustainable development”—it’s the buzzword of virtually every UN convening—but often with little clarity on what it mea...
Lula’s Dilemma w/ Sabrina Fernandes
09 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, or Lula, was re-elected as the President of Brazil in 2022, defeating Jair Bolsonaro in a tense election, the Brazili...
LIVE: The Afterlives of Neoliberalism w/ Quinn Slobodian and Geoff Mann
22 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate the launch of The BREAK—DOWN ISSUE #1, editor Adrienne Buller was joined by Quinn Slobodian and Geoff Mann for a timely conversation on...
Episode 18: Legacies of Empire w/ Kojo Koram
23 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In much of the media, the importance of the legacies of empire and colonialism are often dismissed, with the public conversation dominated by the &quo...
Episode 17: Capitalism Without Growth? w/ Hans Stegeman
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Around the world, politics is incredibly polarised, but if there’s one thing politicians of all major parties can agree on, it’s growth — that t...
Episode 16: Year in Review: A Macrodose x Break Down Crossover
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A lot has happened in the six months since we launched this project. It feels like every week of 2024 has packed a decade’s worth of news. In just t...
Episode 15: After Overshoot w/ Andreas Malm
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2024, we’re set to break a major climate threshold for the first time: this will be the first calendar year in which global average temperatures ...
Episode 14: Climate Change as Class War w/ Matt Huber
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the wake of the US election, hot takes and autopsies of the Democrats’ fairly spectacular loss are a dime a dozen. Amid the swirl of diagnoses th...
Episode 13: US Election Special w/ Kate Aronoff and Waleed Shahid
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Amid the threat of “Project 2025”, ongoing genocide in Gaza, and a nation-wide battle over reproductive rights, to name a few major issues, the cl...
Episode 12: Cycles of Extraction: Ecuador, oil and the IMF w/ Andrés Arauz
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a 2023 referendum, the people of Ecuador voted 59 per cent to 41 per cent to stop exploiting oil in the Yasuní region, one of the most biodiverse ...
Episode 11: Reaping What We Sow w/ Sonali McDermid
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We have become incredibly good at producing food. In doing so we have transformed our planet. Yet when we go to the supermarket or eat at a restaurant...
Episode 10: Utopia and Crisis w/ Kim Stanley Robinson
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a 2004 essay for the New Left Review, theorist and literary critic Fredric Jameson wrote: “Utopias are non-fictional, even though they are also n...
Episode 9: Public Energy No. 1 w/ Chris Hayes and Melanie Brusseler
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Followers of The Break Down may remember our very first episode, in which Adrienne spoke to the brilliant Brett Christophers about the many and varied...
Episode 8: The End of Liberalism? w/ Chris Shaw
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As a listener of The Break Down, chances are you’re living in a political system that could be defined as “liberal”. But what does “liberalism...
Episode 7: Political Futures w/ Geoff Mann
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"To the question how shall we ever be able to extricate ourselves from the obvious insanity of this position, there is no answer.” These words...
Episode 6: The Hidden Climate Impact of Military Power w/ Khem Rogaly
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you listen to this podcast, chances are you’ve heard of the global target of “net zero emissions” by 2050. You’ve probably also heard about...
Episode 5: The Invisible Code of Capitalism w/ Katharina Pistor
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Capitalism could not exist without the power and structure of the law — that’s the simple but radical argument made by my guest today, Katharina P...
Episode 4: What Economics Gets Wrong About Climate Change w/ Ha-Joon Chang
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What would you say a human life is worth? According to the US government, for an American it’s about $7.2 million, compared with the global average ...
Episode 3: In Pursuit of Climate Justice w/ Fredi Otto
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“The stakes could not be higher.” These are the recent words not of climate activists, but of a coalition representing major oil and gas companies...
Special Episode: Oil, Palestine and Climate Crisis w/ Adam Hanieh
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, Adam Hanieh explains the threads linking the global oil economy; more than a century of Western imperialism; contemporary Ame...
Episode 2: A World Made of Oil w/ Adam Hanieh
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oil is fundamental to our understanding of the climate crisis. But despite its starring role, the dominance of oil in the global energy system is a re...
Episode 1: The Price is Wrong w/ Brett Christophers
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Renewable energy is often held up as the great success story of climate change, with policymakers and journalists constantly celebrating that clean en...
Trailer: The Break Down
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Welcome to The Break Down. A new project dedicated to exploring capitalism has shaped, and is being fundamentally reshaped by, accelerating climate...