Misinformation on matters of public health kills people.
This is what happened when tobacco companies denied or downplayed the dangers of smoking.
This is what’s happening today, as unvaccinated people struggle for breath in intensive care units.
Thread/
Disease control measures are matters of political choice, and it is entirely legitimate to debate them. We can argue over how best to balance freedom from the disease with freedom from the disruptions and curtailments used to contain it.
But we must do so without spreading misinformation. False claims, ranging from “the virus is a hoax” to “the vaccines are untested” or “the vaccines are more dangerous than the disease”, are lethal. Those who spread them contribute to the deaths of others.
By all means, let’s argue about how best to deal with this difficult and dangerous virus, whose mutations and transmission patterns constantly throw up fresh challenges. Let’s argue about the balance of harms. But let’s do so on the basis of the best possible evidence.

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More from @GeorgeMonbiot

25 Nov
I’ve read Paul Kingsnorth’s anti-vaccine essay on Substack, and I suspect it might contribute to quite a few deaths. Why? Because his writing is elegant and powerful, but some of his facts are simply wrong.
Here's a very small sample:
Thread/
Ireland “has the highest vaccination rate in Western Europe”.
No, Portugal, Spain and Italy have higher rates, while the Netherlands, France and Finland have roughly equal rates.
ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinat…
Ireland has “some of the highest covid infection rates in Western Europe”
No, its rates are more or less in the middle:
ourworldindata.org/coronavirus/co…
Read 6 tweets
24 Nov
Congratulations to Ruth Tingay's brussel sprout on becoming an Accredited Game Shot. We believe this might be the first occasion on which a brussel sprout has achieved this distinction. Its accredition is all the more impressive given @Gameandwildlife's *rigorous* checking system
The thorough testing Ruth's brussel sprout underwent to achieve this qualification is proof that @Gameandwildlife is ABSOLUTELY NOT a bullshit front for the shooting lobby. It is a highly respectable body upholding the most rigorous standards of brussel sprout certification.
I'm so glad they've identified the problem.
Read 4 tweets
24 Nov
Here’s my column on the huge but scarcely-known scandal of the UK’s illegal waste mafias. In hiding, burying and burning millions of tonnes of dangerous rubbish, they are poisoning our land, water and air. But the government looks the other way. theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
PS: it's not just about fly-tipping. In fact that's just the visible, er, tip of the problem. We're talking about huge, organised, illegal dumps, all over the country.
What are advertised as independent "man with van" operations are often in reality members of major criminal syndicates, shifting industrial quantities of waste to secret dumps. The four governments of the UK, and their regulatory agencies, are turning a blind eye.
Read 5 tweets
23 Nov
So what's it all for?
The ultra-rich are trashing the planet, and they're still miserable.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
It's the promise that instills obedience: work hard, be smart, and one day you too will drown in money. Then you'll be happy.
But extreme universal wealth is
a. politically impossible: great wealth depends on exploitation.
b. ecologically impossible
c. no formula for happiness.
The promise of capitalism, universal wealth, cannot be fulfilled.

The purpose of this promise is to buy our consent. We obey because we believe we are temporarily embarrassed millionaires. One day it'll be our turn.

It's time to stop believing this fairytale, and stop obeying.
Read 7 tweets
22 Nov
My friend in British Columbia has sent me more dispatches from the front line of climate catastrophe. Many communities are surrounded by floodwater, which has now frozen, probably for the entire winter. God knows what they will do.
Here are some photos.
I guess it's kind of inevitable that one of the worst-afflicted places is a town called Hope.
This river has now been forced out of its bed by the sediments deposited in the floods, and is instead flowing down a street in the town of Merritt.
All this is happening in a place that until this year seemed relatively safe from climate breakdown.
castanet.net/news/Kamloops/…
Read 4 tweets
19 Nov
In our somewhat self-flaggelating style, we on the left have been obsessed with GB News, while often overlooking the astonishing (much greater) success of new channels that challenge power, such as @DoubleDownNews and @BylineTV. We should do more to celebrate this blossoming.
I'm very interested in new outlets challenging an established broadcast media that has let us down very badly, esp on environmental issues. Over the past year I've been involved in two new ventures that've worked well: @rivercide_live and @COP26_tv. There's lots more to be done.
I think the promise of new media - that we could use them to mount a serious challenge to business as usual - is beginning to materialise. I'm surprised it took so long, but we now seem to be in the take-off phase. Let's celebrate our successes so far, and keep innovating.
Read 4 tweets

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