'Drill, Baby, Drill': Global South Needs to Counter Trump's 'Oil Masculinity'

Trump's aggressive denial of climate emergency is a political stance with a catastrophic impact on poorer nations.

Since his re-election, US President Donald Trump has made his stance on climate change clear.

(Photo: Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Much as expected, after taking the oath, US President Donald Trump, in his inaugural speech last month, made several far-reaching and consequential announcements.

Among them, he triumphantly exhorted his cheering guests with the phrase, "drill, baby, drill," clearly signalling his intent to push for increased oil and gas production, consumption, and export while disregarding growing concerns about global warming and climate change, mostly fuelled by fossil fuels.

In his speech, Trump declared a “national energy emergency” to boost the US oil and gas production, using inflation as a pretext to lower prices and aggressively promote energy exports globally to "make America rich again".

With characteristic style and aggression, he proclaimed,

“We will bring prices down, fill our strategic petroleum reserves up again –right to the top – and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help us do it.”

Of course, these were not merely Trumpian casual outbursts; shortly after, he signed one of his first executive orders to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. According to news reports, Trump also signed a number of executive orders declaring a “national energy emergency,” with clear objective of boosting oil and gas drilling in environmentally sensitive Alaska, “unleashing American energy,” and halting new offshore wind projects in US waters.

A National Energy Emergency

The intent behind the declaration of a "national energy emergency" seems to be giving more power to federal agencies to expedite approvals for oil pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure, citing national energy security concerns.

In another order, Trump directed federal agencies to review dozens of Joe Biden-era environmental policies and, where possible, quickly reverse them. He instructed the Department of Energy to end the Biden administration’s pause on approving new facilities for exporting liquefied natural gas. Trump also announced his intention to revoke what he termed the “electric vehicle mandate.”

By the way, even under the Biden administration, oil and gas production in the US is already at an all-time high and, in fact, far exceeds that of any other country.

Trump's call will only make things worse. There is no doubt that big oil companies, their executives, and climate change deniers are cheering Trump's decision.

However, it has raised serious concerns among climate scientists, activists, and many European Union nations, as well as countries from the global south, about the future of global climate agreements and other initiatives to check global warming.

It is also an attempt to evade historical responsibilities, as the US ranks among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Its exit from the Paris Agreement threatens to derail global efforts to reduce emissions during the next four-year period under Trump.

Environmental Concern Not A Sign of Weakness

At the Paris Summit in 2015, most countries, including the US, pledged to limit the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — a crucial threshold for averting the most catastrophic impacts of climate change. However, scientists recently confirmed that 2024 was the first year to surpass this threshold, marking it as the hottest year on record.

But Trump’s bravado and dismissal of climate negotiations and abandonment of responsibility is likely to encourage many other countries, particularly those led by hard-right governments in the Global North, to follow a similar path. This is undoubtedly bad news for countries in the Global South, especially those facing existential threats due to the escalating severity of climate change impacts. These nations have been advocating for climate justice and demanding greater accountability from wealthy nations.

However, President Trump's chant of "drill, baby, drill" and his open defiance of climate accords, clearly reflect his aggressive, hyper-masculine, and "might is right" political stance.

Many scholars describe this as “oil masculinity,” a cultural and political framework where the uncontrolled extraction of fossil fuels, particularly oil, is intertwined with hyper-masculine values such as domination, aggression, and conquest. This ideology celebrates extractive practices as demonstrations of power, control over nature, and national dominance.

The slogan “drill, baby, drill,” popularised in American political discourse by the Republicans, represents this ethos by framing oil drilling as a bold and unapologetic assertion of strength. It dismisses environmental concerns as weak or unpatriotic, reinforcing the narrative that fossil fuel dependency is both inevitable and desirable.

However, this perspective disregards the severe environmental, social, and economic consequences of unchecked oil extraction, including climate change, habitat destruction, and long-term energy insecurity. It sidelines advocates for sustainable energy practices, portraying them as obstacles to progress and national strength and development.

By framing fossil fuel extraction as a matter of identity and pride, “oil masculinity” challenges the efforts to transition toward cleaner, more equitable, and sustainable energy systems.

Start of the End

But the world doesn’t need “drill, baby, drill,” as it is a path to certain disaster and catastrophe. Countries in the Global South and millions of poor people, who are already bearing the heavy costs of climate change driven by the overconsumption and unsustainable lifestyles of rich countries, must challenge this "oil masculinity" with the slogan "conserve, baby, conserve."

This alternative response directly confronts the reckless ethos of consumption embodied in “drill, baby, drill” by advocating for a more thoughtful and sustainable approach to resource management. The slogan stresses the need to conserve natural resources, protect ecosystems, and adopt energy-efficient practices to ensure a livable planet for future generations.

(Anand Pradhan is a Professor of Journalism at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Dhenkanal, Odisha. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)