Fossil fuels are poisoning Black America

It's by no means new news that there are myriad ways that extracting and burning fossil fuels — or making them into other products, like plastics — is bad for public health, and particularly so for Black and Brown Americans.

- By WILLY BLACKMORE

But we still continue to burn methane, gasoline, and even coal, so the point bears being made again (and again).

The latest to do so is a broad coalition of medical and health organizations that released a new report last week titled "Fueling Sickness: The Hidden Health Costs of Fossil Fuel Pollution." It makes the case that society's ongoing reliance on fossil fuels is severely damaging public health already — particularly demographics overburdened by such pollutions, including Black and Brown Americans — and it will only get worse as the effects of climate change get worse.

"Fossil fuels harm our health in more ways than most people realize," said Dr. Mark Vossler, board president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, one of the organizations that put out the report, in a statement. “This report makes it clear that every stage of the fossil fuel process, from extraction, to transportation, to burning for energy causes widespread damage to the heart, lungs, brain, and other organs. Rapidly transitioning away from fossil fuels is not just an environmental necessity; it's a public health imperative."

"Fueling Sickness" shows that fossil fuel pollution is everyone's problem, while also making it clear that it is even more of a problem for some groups, including Black Americans.