James McCormack

Vancouver

Professor and Host at Best Science Medicine Podcast

Pharmacist/Professor/Medication Mythbuster/Healthy Skeptic at the Fac of Pharm Sci at UBC. Author of The Nutrition Proposition - you can find it on Amazon.

Articles

Trouble with holding Peabody to account

4 days ago | theillawarraflame.com.au | James McCormack

By Helensburgh’s James McCormack, editor of Wild MagazineOn March 21, the NSW Land and Environment Court released its long-awaited decision on the EPA vs Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd. The case stems back to September 2022, when I was travelling through a little-visited part of the Royal National Park and saw inky, black water flowing through what is usually a lovely rainforested section of Camp Gully creek.
Aldi One-Z Sleeping Bag Suit

1 month ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

It wasn’t long after I thought about making this issue of Wild a fiasco-themed one that I wandered into an Aldi and spotted a OneZ sleeping bag suit, not just on sale, but at a reduced price ($49.99 down to $34.99). Perfect! What better product to review for this particular issue. I proudly took it to the checkout, where the middle-aged lady there raised an eyebrow as she scanned it through.
Patagonia Stormstride Jacket and Pants

1 month ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

Backcountry skiing isn’t easy. Fun, yes, of course, but damn it can be hard work. Especially for your outerwear. First and foremost—because your life literally depends on it; because hypothermia kills; because out on the Main Range or Feathertop or wherever, when conditions turn south, you are a long way from help—you want something that can keep you dry. Something that will keep alpine storms at bay; something that will keep Australia’s snotty, wet snow out.
Sea To Summit XR Series Sleeping Mats

2 months ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

While it’s unremarkable to observe that outdoors gear has been evolving for the better over the last decade, few areas have seen change as quite as rapid as have sleeping mats. A decade ago, a mat a few centimetres thick yet bulky and having an R-value of 3 or less was pretty close to the norm.
Deuter Speed Lite 30L Pack

2 months ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

I’m old enough to remember when there were no packs on the market with hip-belt pockets. Whenever I wanted an on-the-go snack, or to grab sunscreen, lip balm, wallet, etc, etc, it meant either shoving this stuff in my pocket beforehand (very dangerous when it came to sunscreen) or removing my pack and rummage around in it. But once hip-belt pockets became available, I quickly began demanding at least one, if not two, on any pack I used.
Court Ordered Notice

2 months ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

Metropolitan Collieries Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Peabody Energy, has been convicted in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales for three offences under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act 1997 (NSW). Metropolitan Collieries was prosecuted by the Environment Protection Authority (‘EPA’) and pleaded guilty to two offences of water pollution and one offence of contravening its environment protection licence relating to the maintenance of a dam.
The North Face Papsura Jacket

2 months ago | wild.com.au | James McCormack

Deep in the Indian Himalaya, there’s a mountain known as the ‘Peak of Evil’—Papsura. Some time back, OK decades back, I spent more than a week backcountry skiing in the next valley over, near Ali Ratna, but diabolical conditions and constant avalanches meant very little skiing took place. In fact, it seemed for the most part that setting foot beyond our safe location was asking to be swatted away by the next slide. Evil, indeed.
Gear: Whippa wollemi review

Mar 26, 2025 | wild.com.au | James McCormack

A few issues back, I did a review of a pack I’ve quickly come to rave about: the Whippa Overland 60 Ultralight. Made by Summit Gear—a small but thriving company that have been making packs up in NSW’s Blue Mountains since 1981, yes, the very year Wild Mag launched—the Overland is an extremely well-thought-out ultralight pack that, despite its featherweightness at just 942g, is nonetheless almost preposterously robust.
From the Editor: Fiascos – A Recommendation - Wild

Mar 11, 2025 | wild.com.au | James McCormack

When I first began thinking about a fiasco theme for this issue, I decided my Ed’s Letter should chronicle some of my own outdoors fiascos. Man, I thought, this will be a rich vein for me to tap into. I sat at my desk, fingers hovering at the keyboard, ready to tap out a long list of bungled adventures that had gone preposterously south. But nothing came. Zip. Zilch. Zero. Give it time, I figured, something will come. But days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and still nothing came.
Opinion | Why not weaponise US Treasury holdings against Trump tariffs?

Mar 3, 2025 | scmp.com | James McCormack

As policymakers around the world struggle to keep up with US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, they seem to struggle more with determining the appropriate policy response. So far, they have leaned towards imposing trade restrictions of their own. This is an own-goal approach that reduces growth, raises inflation and places an unnecessary burden on domestic households and businesses. Trump is often credited with thinking outside the box. It is time policymakers elsewhere did the same.