(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON— In a review published today in the peer-reviewed journal Oxford Open Climate Change, top scientists issued an urgent warning that fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry are driving interlinked crises that threaten people, wildlife, and a livable future.
Today’s review synthesizes the extensive scientific evidence showing that fossil fuels and the fossil fuel industry are fueling not only the climate crisis but also public health harms, environmental injustice, biodiversity loss, and the plastics and agrochemical pollution crises.
The review focuses on the United States as the world’s largest oil and gas producer and dominant contributor to these fossil fuel crises. It presents the solutions already available to phase out fossil fuel extraction and use and transition rapidly and fairly to affordable clean, renewable energy and materials across the economy.
“The science can’t be any clearer that fossil fuels are killing us,” said Shaye Wolf, Ph.D., climate science director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the report. “Oil, gas and coal will continue to condemn us to more deaths, wildlife extinctions and extreme weather disasters unless we make dirty fossil fuels a thing of the past. Clean, renewable energy is here, it’s affordable, and it will save millions of lives and trillions of dollars once we make it the centerpiece of our economy.”
The review highlights that fossil fuels account for about 90% of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions, heating the climate, acidifying oceans, and fueling unprecedented climate disasters. Air pollution from fossil fuel combustion is responsible for millions of premature deaths worldwide and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the United States every year. The climate crisis causes additional deaths and physical and mental health harms from escalating climate disasters, disease transmission, food insecurity, and displacement of people.
Based on their findings and decades of research, the authors urge governments to immediately stop fossil fuel expansion and phase out existing fossil fuel development to limit the damages from the climate crisis.
“Fossil fuel pollution impacts health at every stage of life, with elevated risks for conditions ranging from premature births to childhood leukemia and severe depression,” said co-author David J.X. González, Ph.D., an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health. “We’ve got to work fast to end fossil fuel operations near our homes, schools and hospitals and trade fossil fuel infrastructure for healthy, clean energy.”
While fossil fuels harm everyone, the review details disproportionate harms of fossil fuel extraction, processing and use on communities of color and low-income communities.
“Decades of discriminatory policies, such as redlining, have concentrated fossil fuel development in Black, Brown, Indigenous and poor white communities, resulting in devastating consequences,” said Robin Saha, Ph.D., an associate professor at the University of Montana. “For far too long, these fenceline communities have been treated as sacrifice zones by greedy, callous industries. The most polluted communities should be prioritized for clean energy investments and removal and cleanup of dirty fossil fuel infrastructure.”
Fossil-fuel-induced climate change and pollution are also accelerating extinction risk. Up to one-third of animals and plants could be lost forever in the next 50 years if fossil fuels go unchecked. To protect biodiversity, the review highlights the importance of siting renewable energy infrastructure in the built environment and increasing protections for ecosystems that provide vital carbon storage, among numerous other benefits.
The review further shows that the fossil fuel industry is increasing the production of plastics, creating pervasive pollution that contaminates the air, water, soil, food systems, wildlife and human bodies.
The review recommends ambitious targets to reduce primary plastics production and plastic chemicals of concern while incentivizing safe and sustainable plastics alternatives and nonplastic substitutes, as well as sustainable agricultural practices to limit fossil-fueled petrochemical pollution from pesticides and fertilizers.
The review also discusses a key barrier to transitioning from fossil fuels to clean energy: The fossil fuel industry’s decades-long, multibillion-dollar disinformation campaign to conceal the dangers of its products and block policies to phase out fossil fuels.
“The fossil fuel industry has spent decades misleading us about the harms of their products and working to prevent meaningful climate action,” said Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard University. “Perversely, our governments continue to give out hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to this damaging industry. It is past time that stops.”
The 11 coauthors are Shaye Wolf, Ph.D. (Center for Biological Diversity), Robert Bullard, Ph.D. (Texas Southern University), Jonathan J. Buonocore, Ph.D. (Boston University), Nathan Donley, Ph.D. (Center for Biological Diversity),Trisia Farrelly, Ph.D. (Cawthron Institute), John Fleming, Ph.D. (Center for Biological Diversity), David J.X. González, Ph.D. (University of California Berkeley), Naomi Oreskes, Ph.D. (Harvard University), William Ripple, Ph.D. (Oregon State University), Robin Saha, Ph.D. (University of Montana, Missoula), and Mary D. Willis, Ph.D. (Boston University).
END
Research: Top scientists issue urgent warning on fossil fuels
Fossil fuels drive interlinked crises that harm health, wildlife, planet
2025-03-31
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Thinner Arctic sea ice may affect the AMOC
2025-03-31
One of the ocean currents in the Arctic Ocean is at risk of disappearing this century because of climate change, according to a new joint study from the University of Gothenburg and the German Alfred Wegener Institute. As a result, the North Atlantic could be flooded with freshwater which would weaken the global ocean circulation.
The weakening of the AMOC, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, is a hot topic among the world's climate scientists. However, it is unclear what the consequences will be when ...
How dreams, novelty, and emotions can shape memories: lessons from smartphone studies
2025-03-31
BOSTON - March 31, 2025 - A memory is not a straight line from one point to another, even if we sometimes think of them like linear stories. This key insight that cognitive neuroscientists have known for many years is now guiding a new type of research—to explore not only how memories evolve over time but also how they can be strengthened or changed. Assisting researchers with this new exploration is a powerful tool: smartphones.
“Smartphones are an incredible tool for understanding patterns of feelings, behavior, ...
Leveraging Preexisting Cardiovascular Data to Improve the Detection and Treatment of Hypertension
2025-03-31
About The Study: In the NOTIFY-LVH randomized clinical trial, a centralized population health coordinator–led notification and clinical support pathway for individuals with left ventricular hypertrophy on prior echocardiograms increased the initial treatment of hypertension. This work highlights the potential benefit of leveraging preexisting but potentially underutilized cardiovascular data to improve health care delivery through mechanisms augmenting the traditional ambulatory care system.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jason H. Wasfy, MD, MPhil, email jwasfy@mgh.harvard.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit ...
Study highlights barriers to including non-English speakers in research
2025-03-31
Health researchers omit including speakers of languages other than English (LOE) in their studies due to lack of training, challenges securing interpreter services, budget constraints and other barriers, according to a new JAMA Network Open study.
“Non-English-speaking individuals are being excluded from research, and we wanted to understand why,” said senior author Maya Ragavan, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh. “Ensuring that everyone can participate in research, regardless of the languages that they speak, helps ensure that the findings are representative of the entire community, ...
Queen Mary launches new regenerative medicine spinout to repair joint damage and prevent arthritis
2025-03-31
The method is substantially cheaper and easier to administer than even the best of today’s approaches – making it significantly more viable for healthcare providers.
The invention paves the way for a future restorative treatment for osteoarthritis.
Scientists at Queen Mary University of London have invented a new way to repair osteochondral defects – a common form of joint damage often caused by sports injuries or trauma – and to prevent progression to osteoarthritis.
The treatment uses Agrin, the protein which builds and maintains the link between our motor neurons and muscle fibres. A small soluble polypeptide ...
Make these scientific sessions part of your media coverage
2025-03-31
New York, NY – March 31, 2025 – Register now for a complimentary media pass for the ATS 2025 International Conference in San Francisco. We will have breaking news from the leading international conference for pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine.
See what scientific sessions we have planned:
Allergy/Immunology
Critical Care
Cellular/Molecular Biology
Bronchiectasis and COPD
Health Equity/Health Disparities
ILD
Pediatrics
Sleep
All registered media will receive a press release one week prior to the conference with ...
Common anticancer drugs may offer new hope to PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome patients
2025-03-31
During development, cells grow, expand, and migrate to generate tissues and organs in a highly controlled manner. Many intracellular pathways – series of signalling cascades within a cell – regulate these actions to avoid non-programmed growth that could lead to malformations or cancer. One of these pathways is the PTEN / PI3K axis, a complex series of perfectly balanced chemical reactions.
Mutations in the PTEN gene usually result in the overactivation of PI3K and the imbalance of the system. This may trigger the onset of different types ...
Boehringer Ingelheim and Lieber Institute for Brain Development advance development of COMT inhibitors to treat cognitive impairment in neuropsychiatric disorders
2025-03-31
Baltimore, Maryland (March 31, 2025) — The Lieber Institute for Brain Development, a nonprofit research institution dedicated to treating and preventing developmental brain disorders, today announced the progression toward clinical testing of a unique, centrally acting catechol Omethyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor from its collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim.
COMT is a dopamine-metabolizing enzyme involved in the regulation of neurotransmitter levels. These are critical for cognitive and behavioral processes that are impaired in several neuropsychiatric disorders. While peripherally ...
WSU researchers develop machine learning model to predict virus reservoirs
2025-03-31
PULLMAN, Wash. — A new artificial intelligence tool could aid in limiting or even prevent pandemics by identifying animal species that may harbor and spread viruses capable of infecting humans.
Created by Washington State University researchers, the machine learning model analyzes host characteristics and virus genetics to identify potential animal reservoirs and geographic areas where new outbreaks are more likely to occur. The model focuses on orthopoxviruses — which includes the viruses that cause smallpox and mpox.
The researchers recently published a study on their work using the model ...
Do authoritarian narratives shape Japanese public opinion?
2025-03-31
An authoritarian regime is a type of government system where power is restricted in the hands of a single leader or a group, limiting the participation of citizens in decision-making. As authoritarian states like China and Russia intensify their global information campaigns, a new study highlights Japan’s vulnerability to illiberal narratives. This research, led by Professor Tetsuro Kobayashi of Waseda University, Research Associate Yuan Zhou of Kobe University, Ph.D. student Lungta Seki of Koç University, and Professor Asako Miura of Osaka University, was published online on March 12, ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision
Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response
Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid
Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia
Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients
Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years
Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations
New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients
New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans
Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production
New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination
Study examines lactation in critically ill patients
UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award
Doubling down on metasurfaces
New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders
Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana
PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation
ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy
How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease
A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet
Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice
Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast
Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds
The experts that can outsmart optical illusions
Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk
Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase
Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows
Unintentional drug overdoses take a toll across the U.S. unequally, study finds
A step toward plant-based gelatin
ECMWF unveils groundbreaking ML tool for enhanced fire prediction
[Press-News.org] Research: Top scientists issue urgent warning on fossil fuelsFossil fuels drive interlinked crises that harm health, wildlife, planet