Episode 1769: Jordan Peterson | The Brogan Report

Introduction

Episode 1769 of the Joe Rogan Experience, featuring clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson, represents a concerning example of platforming climate science denial and making problematic statements about race. During this four-hour conversation on January 25, 2022, Peterson made multiple false and misleading claims about climate science that were widely condemned by climate scientists, including NASA researchers and IPCC authors. The episode also featured deeply problematic commentary about Black identity that drew criticism from scholars and public figures. Rogan, as host, did little to challenge these unsubstantiated claims, allowing misinformation to spread unchecked to millions of listeners.

Climate Science Denial

”There’s No Such Thing as Climate”

Peterson’s most egregious claim came when he stated outright: “there’s no such thing as climate, right?” He then mocked “climate types” who suggest that “climate is about everything,” arguing that climate models aren’t based on everything but on a set number of variables. Peterson questioned how scientists decide which variables to include, suggesting the entire field of climate modeling is fundamentally flawed.

Expert Rebuttal:

Dr. Michael E. Mann, climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University and lead author on IPCC reports, called Peterson’s claims “nonsensical and false.” Mann explained: “Such an absurd argument leads to a dismissal of physics, chemistry, biology, and every other field of science where one formulates (and tests—that’s the critical part Peterson seems to fail to understand) conceptual models that attempt to simplify the system and distill the key components and their interactions.” Mann noted this includes “the physics of electromagnetism that allowed Peterson and Rogan to record and broadcast this silly and absurd conversation.”

NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt pointed out that Peterson doesn’t appear to understand how climate models actually work. Schmidt noted that scientists “have been projecting future warming since the first climate models in the late 1960s/early 1970s,” and when looking back to see how well they performed, “It turns out our models generally did a good job.”

False Solar Energy Deaths Claim

Peterson claimed that “more people die every year from solar energy than die from nuclear [power],” explaining that “you die from solar, you fall off the roof when you’re installing it.”

Why This Is Misleading:

This claim cherry-picks occupational installation accidents while ignoring the broader safety risks of nuclear energy. While Peterson focuses on the approximately 80 roofers who die from falls annually (some of whom install solar panels), he completely dismisses the catastrophic potential of nuclear disasters like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima. The comparison is fundamentally dishonest because it ignores:

The potential for mass casualties from nuclear accidents
Long-term radiation exposure risks
Environmental contamination lasting thousands of years
The fact that solar is considered among the safest and cleanest energy sources available

Source: Multiple fact-checks from climate scientists and energy experts have debunked this misleading comparison, as reported in Newsweek and LADbible’s coverage of scientific responses to the episode.

Poor People Are “Not Resource Efficient”

Peterson argued that the fastest way to achieve sustainability is to make “poor people as rich as possible” because they are not “resource efficient,” since their main priority is feeding their families rather than environmental concerns. He pointed to slash and burn agriculture as an example of how poor people use “a lot of resources to produce very, very little outcome.”

Why This Is Problematic:

This framing blames poor people for climate change while ignoring that:

Wealthy nations and individuals are responsible for the vast majority of carbon emissions
The richest 10% of the global population produces nearly half of all emissions
Poor communities are disproportionately harmed by climate change despite contributing least to the problem
Slash and burn agriculture is often a direct result of land dispossession and economic systems imposed by wealthier nations

Peterson also criticized “left-wing types” for pushing green energy, claiming they are “willing to sacrifice the poor to their Utopian [visions]“—a statement that inverts the reality that fossil fuel dependence perpetuates global inequality.

Source: Newsweek reporting on the episode, January 2022.

Problematic Statements About Race

Questioning Black Identity

During the episode, Rogan and Peterson discussed race, with Rogan claiming that Black academic Michael Eric Dyson (a Peterson critic) is not truly “Black.” Rogan stated:

“Unless you’re talking to someone who is, like, 100 percent African, from the darkest place, where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they’ve developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun, you know, even the term Black is weird. When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.”

Response from Scholars and Public Figures:

Michael Eric Dyson responded on CNN: “[They] unsuccessfully challenged my Blackness, they damn sure proved their whiteness—indifferent to history, oblivious to truth and indifferent to reality.”

Trevor Noah mocked the comments on The Daily Show, noting the fundamental misunderstanding of race as a social construct in America versus a purely genetic or biological category.

Singer India Arie announced plans to remove her music from Spotify citing this conversation, stating it demonstrates issues that “go beyond viruses and vaccines—it’s also about race.”

Why This Matters:

Rogan and Peterson’s framing demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of:

Race as a social and historical construct
The history of the one-drop rule and racial categorization in America
How Black identity has been shaped by centuries of slavery, segregation, and ongoing discrimination
The lived experience of people who identify as Black in America

These comments reduce Blackness to skin tone and genetics while dismissing the complex social, cultural, and historical dimensions of racial identity.

Sources: Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Root coverage from January-February 2022.

Real-World Harm

The climate misinformation in this episode is particularly dangerous given its reach. The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the world’s most popular podcasts, with millions of listeners. When Peterson falsely claims “there’s no such thing as climate” and questions the validity of climate science:

It undermines public trust in climate science during a critical period when urgent action is needed
It provides talking points for climate denial that spread through social media and political discourse
It delays climate action by suggesting the science is too uncertain or flawed to act upon
It shifts blame to poor people rather than the fossil fuel industry and wealthy nations most responsible for emissions

The episode aired in January 2022, the same month Joe Rogan faced multiple controversies over COVID-19 misinformation and use of racial slurs, leading to widespread criticism and calls for Spotify to take action.

Conclusion

Episode 1769 exemplifies how Joe Rogan’s platform can amplify dangerous misinformation when he fails to challenge false claims from guests. Jordan Peterson, while credentialed as a clinical psychologist, has no expertise in climate science, yet was allowed to spread wholesale climate science denial without pushback. The combination of climate misinformation, problematic racial commentary, and millions of listeners makes this episode particularly harmful. Scientists from NASA and the IPCC felt compelled to publicly rebut Peterson’s claims, with Dr. Mann calling the “seemingly-comic nihilism” about climate science “dangerous.”

This episode demonstrates why fact-checking and accountability for large platforms matters—misinformation at this scale can shape public discourse and delay urgent action on existential threats like climate change.

Sources

Mann, Michael E. (Pennsylvania State University climate scientist), quoted in CNN coverage, January 27, 2022
Schmidt, Gavin (NASA climate scientist), responses on Twitter, January 2022
Rolling Stone: “Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson Wax Idiotic on Climate Change and What It Means to Be Black,” January 2022
Newsweek: “Jordan Peterson Tells Joe Rogan Poor People ‘Not Resource Efficient,’” January 2022
Newsweek: “Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan—Five Wildest Moments,” January 2022
LADbible: “Scientists Tear Apart Claims Made By Joe Rogan And Jordan Peterson About Climate Change,” January 28, 2022
San Antonio Current: “Bad Takes: The 7 dumbest things Jordan Peterson said on Joe Rogan’s podcast,” January 2022
The Daily Beast: “Trevor Noah Schools Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson on Blackness,” January 2022
The Root: “Joe Rogan: Only ‘100 percent African’ people should be called Black, Trevor Noah Claps Back,” February 2022
Media Matters: “Jordan Peterson put on a master class of climate denial on Joe Rogan’s podcast,” January 2022
DeSmog climate misinformation tracking database