Thursday Morning Links

This and that for your Thursday reading.

- Laura Spinney writes about the debate as to whether to eliminate COVID-19 or control its continued spread. And Carl Zimmer reports on the Brazilian variant which represents just the latest new mutation which may complicate any attempt to barge ahead with business as usual in the face of the coronavirus.

- Tzeporah Berman and Nathan Taft point out the deception behind the oil industry's attempt to pitch a misleading "net zero" emissions target as an excuse to keep spewing carbon pollution now (and to encourage end users to keep doing so for decades to come), while Naveena Sadasivam discusses the massive cleanup costs fossil fuel barons are foisting on the public. And Simon Lewis warns against being fooled by businesses trying to turn accounting tricks into carbon credits they can sell.

- Rahi Abouk, Keshar Ghimire, Johanna Catherine Maclean and David Powell study how marijuana legalization affects workers' compensation claims - concluding that it actually leads to a reduction by offering another form of pain management. And Zak Vescera reports on the need for improved access to naloxone to reduce the damage from opioid overdoses.

- Finally, Molly Scot Cato writes about the positives of taxes in reducing inequality, creating positive behavioural incentives and funding the services we need. Which makes for an important contrast against Stephanie Mudge's observations about Third Way liberalism which made democratic decision-making subordinate to the interests of capital.