Fossil Fuel Companies are responsible for much of the Wild Fires and Climate Change, says new study by the Union of Concerned Scientists

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) recently released a ground breaking report, entitled, “The Fossil Fuels behind Forest Fires,” which found that:

“19.8 million acres burned—37% of the total area scorched by forest fires in the western United States and southwestern Canada since 1986—can be attributed to heat-trapping emissions traced to the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. Emissions from these companies also contributed to nearly half of the observed increase in conditions that raise the risk of large, severe forest fires across the region since 1901, the study found. The findings provide new data that can advance efforts to hold companies accountable for past, present, and future climate damages and risks.”

The report findings go on to say: 

The study builds on a growing body of climate attribution studies that connect emissions from the extraction and use of fossil fuel products to increased average temperature of the Earth’s surface, global sea level rise, and ocean acidification. Using attribution research like this as a foundation, more than 30 states, cities, and counties are currently suing major oil and gas corporations to seek redress for the harm they have suffered from climate change and to limit future emissions. The novel, interdisciplinary findings in this UCS research are positioned to accelerate improved corporate accountability.

More importantly, BIPOC communities and low income communities are at a higher risk because of the air quality from wild fires, in part caused by heat trapped emissions from the extraction of fossil fuels. The report states: 

Communities of color and low-income communities face disproportionate public health risks from wildfire due to systemic socioeconomic injustices and are less able to recover. People of color, particularly Native Americans, are also more geographically at risk of wildfires and smoke exposure.

This video provides for an excellent explanation of the new report, with compelling visuals on how BIPOC communities are impacted.

Despite this crisis, US President Joe Biden will not declare a Climate Emergency, despite pressure from hundreds of environmental groups. As we wrote earlier this week, we cannot rely on governments to solve the Climate Crisis, we must engage in direct action to reduce the amount of suffering that will continue if we do not act.