The source for author Jordan Peterson’s recent claim that climate change cannot be modelled was a climate science denier who received money from a libertarian think tank funded by oil companies.  The Canadian psychologist was widely criticised for spreading climate misinformation this week after telling the popular Joe Rogan podcast’s 11 million subscribers that climate […]

The post Jordan Peterson’s Climate Expert is Science Denier Funded by Oil-Backed Think Tank appeared first on DeSmog.

When a Canadian company started drilling for oil and gas near Jim and Sue Franklin’s ranch in a small Permian Basin town called Verhalen, Texas, it didn’t bother the couple too much at first. But Sue suspects that it was the third well that started causing problems.  “They put up these big signs that said, […]

The post New Reports Allege Texas Oil and Gas Regulator’s Lax Enforcement appeared first on DeSmog.

The same day ExxonMobil announced its ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, word spread that its mammoth plastics manufacturing complex near Corpus Christi, Texas, had begun production.  “We are up and operating. We have been for a while,” Paul B. Fritsch, site manager for ExxonMobil’s joint venture with Saudi Basic Industries Corp, (SABIC), told the governing body of the Port […]

The post While Exxon Touts Net-Zero Promise, its Huge Plastics Complex Goes Online in Texas appeared first on DeSmog.

The European Union’s scientific and political communities are locked in a battle over whether gas and nuclear can be considered green investments. The latest development in this years-long fight came on Monday, when the European Commission’s scientific expert group, the Platform on Sustainable Finance (PSF), pushed back against including gas and nuclear in the EU […]

The post EU Scientists and Politicians Clash Over Gas and Nuclear as ‘Sustainable’ Investments appeared first on DeSmog.

The European Union is investigating a powerful farming industry group which no longer officially declares its lobbying budget, DeSmog can reveal. Campaigners at transparency advocacy group Corporate Europe Observatory sparked the probe through a formal complaint to the EU last month, arguing that both parts of the European agricultural body Copa-Cogeca failed to provide accurate […]

The post EU Investigating Agribusiness Lobby Group Copa-Cogeca Over Potential Transparency Breach appeared first on DeSmog.

At 8:00 a.m. Eastern on January 21, a magnitude 3.4 earthquake shook Culberson County in West Texas midway between Odessa and El Paso, the U.S. Geological Society reported. That’s the kind of earthquake that’s generally strong enough to be felt, but not rattling enough to cause damage. Texas is not known for its seismic activity […]

The post Earthquakes. Drought. Geysers. Permian Oilfield Water Woes Pile up in West Texas appeared first on DeSmog.

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, on why it’s a terrible idea not to treat the unvaccinated.
Katherine J. Wu, also in The Atlantic, on whether Omicron infections will translate into widespread immunity.
The Agenda, with a great segment on how COVID is airborn…

On Wednesday, a group of more than 450 scientists called on advertising agencies to cut off their fossil fuel clients and to end their ties with an ongoing misinformation campaign that has time and again killed progress on addressing the climate crisis.  In a joint letter, the scientists say that they are “consistently faced with […]

The post Over 450 Climate Scientists Say Advertising Industry Must End ‘Complicity’ in Climate Crisis appeared first on DeSmog.

By Tara Lohan, The Revelator. This story originally appeared in The Revelator and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Do we generate energy from windmills or wind turbines? Your answer could say a lot about your views on climate change, explains Genevieve Guenther. Guenther used to be an English […]

The post Why Words Matter in the Fight Against Climate Change appeared first on DeSmog.

By Chris McGreal, The Guardian. This story was originally published by The Guardian, and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate crisis. xxonMobil is attempting to use an unusual Texas law to target and intimidate its critics, claiming that lawsuits against the company over its long […]

The post How Exxon Is Using an Unusual Law to Intimidate Critics Over its Climate Denial appeared first on DeSmog.

The UK government is not legally required to consider tax breaks to oil and gas companies or emissions from burning fossil fuels when regulating the North Sea sector, a court has ruled today, rejecting a complaint by climate campaigners.  At a judicial review hearing in December at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, campaigners […]

The post UK Oil Regulator Has ‘No Duty’ to Consider North Sea Tax Breaks or Indirect Emissions, Court Rules appeared first on DeSmog.

Chuck Wendig, in TerribleMinds, on our great surrender and how we let COVID win.Bruce Arthur, in The Toronto Star, on the myth of mild Omicron.Katherine J. Wu, in The Atlantic, on how we’re long past the point of hoping ‘mild’ Omicron will spare us.Ed…

Katherine J. Wu, in the Atlantic, on the dumpster fire that is America’s COVID rules (and for Canadian readers, much overlap with ours).
Gregg Gonsalves, in The Nation, on the impact of COVID fatigue on our morality. 
Ed Yong, in The Atlanti…

Andrew Joseph and Helen Branswell, in STAT, on the lessons we’re learning from Omicron.
More Helen Branswell, in STAT, on 10 lessons she’s learned covering the pandemic.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in his Substack, helps LeBron James understand the differenc…

Glenn Miller, with the Modernaires, Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers. Nominated for the Oscar:    And more Nicholas Brothers, with Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton and the Modernaires. Another Oscar nominee:  The silent monks:&n…

Katherine J. Wu, Ed Yong, and Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on how our response to Omicron to date represents all of our past mistakes on fast forward.
      Related StoriesSaturday Story: Ed Yong on OmicronSaturday Storie…

“Stop crying and fight your father”

Ed Yong, the best science journalist of this pandemic, in the Atlantic, discusses Omicron and how we’re definitely not ready for it. It’s so good it’s the only story I’m posting this week. 
      Related StoriesSatur…

 As seen on Facebook:A Covid ChristmasTwas the night before Christmas, but Covid was here,So we all had to stay extra cautious this year.Our masks were all hung by the chimney with careIn case Santa forgot his and needed a spare.With Covid, we cou…

Steven Novella, in Science Based Medicine, on why we cannot and should not withhold medical care from the unvaccinated. 
Sarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on why Omicron’s explosive growth is so concerning. 
Andrew Pekosz, in The New York Times,…

COVID has convinced us of this truth: I’m wearing this when I teach evolutionary medicine next week. pic.twitter.com/E2wCQyTs1u— Daniel Bolnick (@DanielBolnick) November 22, 2021 😂 True! 🇨🇦❄️🇨🇦❄️🇨🇦❄️🇨🇦 https://t.co/xgdoYTtc2n— Jacinthe Payant – Jane G…

By Soupvector – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=112983798
Sirin Kale, in The Guardian, with the life and death story of 42 year old triathlete, body builder, and anti-vaxxer John Eyers
Katherine J. Wu, in The Atl…

Before you read any further know that I’m NOT a surgeon.
I think it could be fairly argued that as far as surgical impact and benefits go, there are few that rival bariatric surgery.
Shown to prolong life, regularly push many chronic diseases includin…

Katherine J. Wu, in The Atlantic, with everything you really should know about the various modalities of COVID testing.
Ed Yong, also in The Atlantic, on health professionals who themselves are now facing the challenges of long-haul COVID.
Talia Brach…

Joining an ever increasing cavalcade of studies of different diets that demonstrate they all work as well or as poorly as one another comes this week’s A randomised controlled trial of the 5:2 diet published in PLoS. In it researchers randomly as…

The parrot is making fun of him! 🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/98HUbWrkdP— Figen (@TheFigen) November 19, 2021 They used to laugh and call him names.Not anymore. pic.twitter.com/sYEGmlGKqb— Cory Papineau (@Iam_Canadian) November 15, 2021 This one was fascinating…

Ed Yong, in The Atlantic, covers the devastating impact managing patients with COVID has had on the world’s health-care workers many of who are calling it quits.
Megan Molteni, in Wired, on the teensy tiny error that helped COVID kill by creating a fi…

Where to start with this?

[Also, it’s that time of year again, and should any of you want to donate to my Movember fundraising (am just over halfway to goal!), here’s the link]

John Cleese seems to have morphed into the angry establishment figure of ridicule he played in sketches.— Chris Kehoe (@MrKehoe79) November 13, 2021 John Cleese, Morrissey and JK Rowling walk into a bar.And the bartender says “the home for aging disap…

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in his substack, on the damage Aaron Rodgers has wrought on professional sports as a whole. Arthur Shaffer, interviewed in Healthy Debates, on the ethics and legalities of vaccine passports. Andrew McRae and Andreas Laup…

[First written blog post since March 2020. What an awful 20 months. Though the pandemic is certainly not over yet, it feels like it’s time to start writing again. Not sure what the frequency of posts will be, but it’s nice to be back]I wouldn’t have be…

Justin Ling, in Macleans, on the persistence of hygiene theatreSarah Zhang, in The Atlantic, on how we’ve lost the plot on COVID.Andre Picard, in The Globe and Mail, on how now is the worst time for governments to be catering to antivaxxersAnnouncement…

This the greatest Halloween decoration I’ve ever seen…. pic.twitter.com/V4G5kS5le0

— Jordan🥴 (@Idontknowyoucuh) October 15, 2021

Give them something good to eat: Animals at the Chester Zoo enjoy some Halloween treats. pic.twitter.com/NA9iTmuYpn

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) October 28, 2021

💀 @Flash_Garrett arrived for today’s Halloween game as the Grim Reaper with all QBs that he’s sacked listed on his back 💪

(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/s96oBBDNOv

— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) October 31, 2021

This #Halloween chip shot was pumpkin spiced. 🎃

(Via TikTok/golfergirlem) pic.twitter.com/IERaYO7ixF

— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) October 31, 2021

Gurdeep is a true Canadian treasure:

Happy Halloween!
From the Yukon wilderness, I am forwarding Halloween joy, hope and positivity across Canada and beyond.
YouTube: https://t.co/7UZu7LDTpK pic.twitter.com/pGnBXP0qxK

— Gurdeep Pandher of the Yukon (@GurdeepPandher) October 31, 2021

The Pulp Librarian offers the top 20 halloween-inspired pulp magazine covers:

And at no 1: Seven Footprints To Satan, by Abraham Merritt. Fantastic Novels Magazine, January 1949. pic.twitter.com/1dUoL6LNUZ

— Pulp Librarian (@PulpLibrarian) October 31, 2021

A tiny landscape painting on a pumpkin seed 🎃 pic.twitter.com/AAAEuMYG49

— Katie 🌿 (@KatieBrooksArt) October 31, 2021

Best pumpkin carving I’ve seen this year.
SAOR ALBA.🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 pic.twitter.com/4fUlGspvqt

— Lynn MacDonald-Matheson (@LynnMamaBear1) October 31, 2021

Every year, somebody takes it just a little too far:

So about that weird Gables police display https://t.co/UwqXrYlzLy

— Samantha J. Gross (@samanthajgross) October 31, 2021

And of course, the greatest music video ever made:

James Heathers, in The Atlantic, on how the house of cards upon which ivermectin studies were built likely underpins much of science. 
Katherine Wu, in The Atlantic, with a Q&A with pediatrician and vaccine researcher Sallie Permar about the …

Next time, dogs own people.

— God (@TheTweetOfGod) October 19, 2021

Some say vaccine mandates don’t work.

But…Health workers who don’t believe in science are leaving healthcare…And…Police officers who don’t care about public safety are leaving policing.

Sounds like vaccine mandates work just fine. 👌🏾

— Naheed Dosani (@NaheedD) October 21, 2021

It’s getting disrespectful how long it takes for me to scroll to my birth year

— Trey (@treydayway) October 16, 2021

😂 pic.twitter.com/BK0n9Gk64r

— 🇨🇦 Leslie-Anne 💉💉FULLY VAXXED 👍🏻👍🏻 🇨🇦 (@ProudGrannyCdn) October 17, 2021

My husband purchased a world map and then gave me a dart and said, “Throw this and wherever it lands—that’s where I’m taking you when this pandemic ends.”

Turns out, we’re spending two weeks behind the fridge.

— Kate Wright 🧡 (@KatezRight) October 4, 2021

“Why do dogs always race to the door when the doorbell rings? It’s almost never for them.” – Norm MacDonald.

— Cannabis Farmer: Jim Belushi (@JimBelushi) September 15, 2021

Little yellow fish gets so excited whenever he sees this diver — watch him surprise her with a gift 💛 pic.twitter.com/nEByULlfRL

— The Dodo (@dodo) October 24, 2021

Giant rescue horse finally gets to relax after working 20 years straight — and when the vet prescribes beer every day, he LOVES it 🍻 pic.twitter.com/U5D4Cm0cRd

— The Dodo (@dodo) October 24, 2021

this dog owner spent $400 to find out why his dog was limping only to learn he was copying him out of sympathy
(jukin media) pic.twitter.com/lmhmtZu908

— Humor And Animals (@humorandanimals) October 15, 2021

They did the mash. Thank you to giant pumpkin growers Larry Nelson and Jacob Baldridge for the gourd time! pic.twitter.com/cuNtwafIA0

— Oregoth Boo (@OregonZoo) October 14, 2021

Room Rater PSA from Canada and @brittlestar. Just remember: THERE’S MORE GOOD. 10/10pic.twitter.com/fIANU1A9kH

— Room Rater (@ratemyskyperoom) October 23, 2021

Eva Wiseman, in The Guardian, on the overlap between wellness/spirituality and conspiracy theories.
Stephanie Lee, in Buzzfeed, on how the world’s most prominent hydroxychloroquine researcher/crusader is trying to punish one of the world’s foremost sc…

There is such truth here:

#INDIGENOUS #TAIRP pic.twitter.com/SQozalLllB

— Indigenous (@AmericanIndian8) October 10, 2021

And truth here too:

Not been guilted into going. This was the right step. The Chief of Tḱemlúps te Secwépemc said it right, actions speak Louder. And him coming on his son’s birthday is the Loudest Action. Grateful that Chief Rosanne Casimir lived streamed this closed event.

— 🇨🇦Paqtasit Apsalqigwat👸🏼🤘🏼☘️🐓🍷 (@paqtasit) October 19, 2021

Breaking: Trudeau visit to Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc Nation ‘bittersweet’ after not attending National Day for Truth and Reconciliation via @globeandmail https://t.co/F5YIQ5nfo6 #cdnpoli

— Kristy Kirkup (@kkirkup) October 18, 2021

“Instead of talking about truth and reconciliation, people talked about me, and that’s on me,” Trudeau said. https://t.co/rIqOs2bOcd#cdnpoli

— Kristy Kirkup (@kkirkup) October 18, 2021

And Halloween is coming up!

pic.twitter.com/EHRWNP7xAH

— Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) October 19, 2021

Meanwhile, here in Saskatchewan, our COVID situation is so bad – I cannotimagine the chaos and death in Saskatchewan hospitals right now — and our premier Scott Moe is leading us by naming some guy in North Battleford as the director of Covid response, and immitating a deer in the headlights:

BREAKING – Sask Premier Scott Moe reached out to AMERICAN states for ICU help

BEFORE asking Justin Trudeau for helphttps://t.co/XwfF5wnBf0 #cdnpoli #covid19

— G.T. Lem (@gtlem) October 19, 2021

I’d say “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me”, but how shocking is anything these petty, corrupt bumblefucks do anymore? #skpoli

The *lethal* obstinacy in relation to working with the Federal government here is worthy of an actual trial here. https://t.co/sTZ2dTmtF0

— the 13 Ghosts of Carol Channing Tatum (@ThinWhiteDork) October 19, 2021

Or, hear me out, Take The Fucking Actions that doctors and scientists are telling you are necessary to PREVENT so many people from needing ICU care in the first place.
In other words, protect #skhealth instead of playing #skpoli on #covid19sk https://t.co/TVhCBPu0tw

— Dr. Atul Kapur (@Kapur_AK) October 19, 2021

Arthur Caplan, in The Cancer Letter, on how Nazi analogies (and more specifically Vinay Prasad’s) regarding COVID are imbecilic, ignorant, and dangerous.Marie-Danielle Smith, in MacLeans, with the story of a family of 3 who like all of those we’ve los…

I loved these:

by @warandpeass pic.twitter.com/1tbcluicsM

— WholesomeMemes (@WholesomeMeme) October 10, 2021

The perfect couples costume doesn’t exi- pic.twitter.com/mte2U6EmVv

— Momster (@my_name_here85) October 11, 2021

An ad by a bus company. Nice. 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/jkE3P6vlpE

— Sami (the man) 🇨🇦 🏇 (@msnaydani) October 7, 2021

“why are you crying?”

because bears sit and look at good views pic.twitter.com/cqaN0LJ4pF

— clair without the “e” (@nastywomanatlaw) October 8, 2021

The Japanese 🇯🇵 Puffer Fish is probably nature’s greatest artist 🐟

To grab a female’s attention he creates something that defies belief 😲

pic.twitter.com/AiuQY9XzhN

— Erik Solheim (@ErikSolheim) October 9, 2021

All we need.. pic.twitter.com/0ut6Rnvlmj

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden_) October 9, 2021

Reading about white collar crime in the new yorker and this detail is just perfect https://t.co/Ou7ZV9Gbgg pic.twitter.com/ZE3pbMpLOY

— erin griffith (@eringriffith) September 30, 2021

1 of the city high schools here was quite creative. They had plumbing issues, so once or twice every spring whe the weather got nice, in a scene right out of Fast Time At Ridgemont High they synchronized their watches & simultaneously flushed every toilet for an easy 2 day vacay.

— Tom (@BigTontoLove) October 9, 2021

A bookshop door photographed in Canada 🦇 pic.twitter.com/MXxaCcAAji

— 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫s (@FabulousWeird) October 9, 2021

And this one was so sweet it broke twitter – it got 700K likes:

My Finances: pic.twitter.com/SasbwqAIRD

— Andrew Hilary but spooky 👻 (@AndrewHilaryUS) October 8, 2021

New currencies pic.twitter.com/62G017wpKb

— Ms Bay (@bahia_nacional) October 9, 2021

Watch this! https://t.co/ehAIlbbC9W

— unsquare925🕷️🦂🐊🐉🇪🇺 (@unsquare925) October 9, 2021

Here in a nutshell is The Story Of January 6 — an impressive summary by Huff Post White House correspondent S.V. Date describing what happened in the Trump Insurrection:This is what Americans need to be told about, every day, every speech, from B…