Is burning fossil fuel like smoking tobacco?

One of the most successful public health campaigns in the world was to stop people smoking tobacco. We know that smoking tobacco increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease; science shows that smoking generally harms every aspect of human health, reducing fertility, lifespan and physical fitness. The facts were pretty clear 50 years ago and the response of governments around the world was slow, but eventually quite effective. Tobacco advertising on TV was banned. In many countries cigarette packaging must now conform to strict rules, involving plain labels, sometimes requiring bold imagery of diseased lungs and cancerous tumors. Taxes on tobacco products were greatly increased as a disincentive. The result is that today smoking is in decline and people are better off.

Prudhoe Bay oil field, Alaska. Click image for credits and attribution.

Burning fossil fuels can be equated with smoking tobacco on certain levels. We know that burning fossil fuels causes air pollution and increases CO2 in the atmosphere which leads to global climate change and acidification of our oceans. Air pollution alone kills around 7 million people every year. Science shows that CO2-induced climate change leads to dying coral reefs, shrinking Arctic sea ice, retreating glaciers, rising sea levels and increased frequency of damaging storms. Burning fossil fuel is harming the health of our planet and putting peoples’ lives at risk. Just as in the case of smoking tobacco, the facts are clear and governments around the world have been slow to respond. Advertising of fossil fuel products on TV has not been banned. Petrol pumps do not display imagery of polluted air, dead coral reefs or hurricane ravaged coasts. Taxes on fossil fuel products have not been greatly increased to the point where cost is a disincentive.

If we’re going to kick our “oily” habit we we need governments to treat burning fossil fuels in a similar way to smoking tobacco. The result could be that use of fossil fuels would decline. And the planet, and people, would be healthier.