Response to the Canadian Wildfires

In response to the Canadian Wildfires and North American smoke pollution, Allie Rosenbluth, Oil Change International US Program Co-Manager, said:

“The climate crisis is here and now. If U.S. President Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the UN Climate Conference leaders need a reminder to take bold action on climate, the out of control Canadian wildfires and consequent smoke pollution should be all they need.

“As the climate talks kicked off at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany to assess progress on climate action and look ahead to COP28, President Biden rubber-stamped yet another fossil fuel project by greenlighting the Mountain Valley gas pipeline, and PM Trudeau’s government continues to provide billions in domestic fossil fuel finance, including an additional C$3B in loan guarantees to Trans Mountain tar sands pipeline.This has to stop if we want to have a livable planet.

“While Global South, Indigenous, coastal, and other frontline communities feel effects of the climate crisis first and worst, the inability to breathe clean air for millions who are unaccustomed to climate fires, should be a wake up call.

“We see the dangerous impacts of the climate crisis in the heat waves, droughts, flooding, mega climate wildfires, and storms. Every year they worsen, with longer fire seasons and droughts, bigger floods, and deadlier consequences. We know who is to blame, and how to get out of it: Oil and gas companies, and the politicians that back them. More than a third of the area charred by wildfires in Western North America can be traced back to fossil fuels. Only 100 fossil fuel producers are responsible for 70 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

“We cannot dig our way out of this hole with false solutions that prolong the life of fossil fuels. The response must be to slash carbon pollution by phasing out fossil fuels. And fast.”