Today, Fossil Free Media is releasing a new video that connects the dots between the fossil fuel industry, pollution, racism, public health, and the coronavirus.
Thanks to fossil fuel pollution, Black, Brown and poor communities are more likely to suffer from asthma, heart problems, and other diseases. It’s also why COVID is devastating those same communities. #YEARSproject pic.twitter.com/nJDHnT4TQA
— The YEARS Project (@YEARSofLIVING) June 29, 2020
The fossil fuel industry is doing everything it can to stop the public from associating them with the coronavirus. The last thing they want right now is to be seen as bad for public health. They especially don’t want people to understand how they’ve systematically endangered the health of Black communities and communities of color.
That’s why the industry is cranking out ads about how they’re supporting healthcare workers, when in reality, they’re lobbying the Trump administration for handouts so they can keep polluting our communities and climate.
We know the truth: burning coal, oil and gas creates pollution that harms people’s health and makes them more susceptible to diseases like the coronavirus. This is particularly true for communities of color that are most likely to live next to toxic facilities or breathe higher levels of air pollution because of environmental racism.
We’re seeing a terrifying new surge in coronavirus cases right now, so the timing couldn’t be more important. If we can help people connect the dots it will do lasting damage to the fossil fuel industry and their political power.
This is the first in a series of videos that Fossil Free Media, a new nonprofit media lab that supports the movement to end fossil fuels, will be producing with the YEARS Project to tell the truth about the fossil fuel industry.