Letter from Alexis Cohen

Real Story of Climate Crisis Should be Told

As someone who follows local and national news reports, I must tell you I am worried about the recent extreme heat and wildfires raging across the country. I feel for people who lose their lives and livelihoods to extreme weather, and it’s only a matter of time until it directly hits me and my community.

Seeing headlines in news outlets covering these climate disasters made me realize that most news stories show no connection between them and the main cause: fossil fuels. This is dangerous, because many people will continue to refuse to see that longer, hotter, and deadlier summers are caused and perpetuated by the fossil fuel industry.

The science is clear—the longer we allow fossil fuel companies to dig and burn, the worse the impacts of the climate crisis will be. But the fossil fuel industry continues to ignore these alerts and undermine our chances for a safer future. We all know this is causing the climate crisis, and yet they keep burning and profiting, with zero accountability.

Climate impacts—like the recent wildfires—disproportionately affect people and communities who are already marginalized. People who did the least to cause the climate crisis suffer the worst from its impacts. They lose livelihoods, hope, and worse, their lives, while oil companies continue to hit record profits. This is wrong on so many levels.

Media have an important role to play—and a moral obligation to tell the whole truth. It’s time to make one thing about extreme weather very clear: It’s not a “crisis” that just happens to us—it’s a crime, and the fossil fuel industry is to blame. Media has an important job to do to turn the tide of public opinion, and help the world avoid the worst of the climate impacts.

Please tell the REAL story about the climate crisis.

Alexis Cohen
Bovina Center