Researchers issue warning on major health risk affecting millions of children: 'Sacrifice zones'

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who wants to live near a dirty fuel operation, even if they otherwise support gas, oil, and coal projects. However, a first-of-its-kind report discovered that millions of children live within potential "sacrifice zones."    

What's happening?

Amnesty International partnered with Better Planet Laboratory to examine the potential scale of harm from dirty fuel infrastructure. 

The researchers, who first shared their findings exclusively with the Guardian, overlaid data of known dirty fuel sites with multi-country qualitative research and open-source data involving population density, ecosystem indicators, daily global emissions, and indigenous land tenure. 

They found that dirty fuel projects posed a health risk to approximately one-quarter of the global population, or two billion people. Around 16% of dirty fuel infrastructure sat in indigenous territories, while 32% "overlapped with one of more 'critical ecosystems.'" 

Why is this important?

While dirty fuels have undeniably driven technological, social, and economic development, the pollution they produce when burned creates a host of unintended effects. 

According to internal documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee in 2021, the oil and gas industry has been aware of these consequences for decades, including changes in climate associated with unpredictable and severe weather patterns.  

As Amnesty International noted in its report, proximity to dirty fuel infrastructure is also linked to an increased risk of cancer, respiratory illness, heart disease, adverse reproductive outcomes, and depression, among other physical and emotional challenges.   

An estimated 520 million children live within 3.1 miles of dirty infrastructure or in a "sacrifice zone " — defined as "a heavily contaminated area where low-income and marginalized groups bear the disproportionate burden of exposure to pollution and toxic substances."

What's being done about this?

The report found that the number of dirty fuel projects is increasing on all continents. Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's Secretary General, declared in a press release, "The age of fossil fuels must end now," to mitigate the human costs associated with fossil fuel development. 

To that end, many innovators, policymakers, and members of the public have been advocating for a mindful transition to cleaner energy sources and technologies.

A handful of countries are already demonstrating that a cleaner path is possible, producing more than 99% of their power from renewables. Breakthroughs in nuclear fusion — which would provide virtually limitless power with no long-lasting radioactive waste — suggest another wave of development is underway that could spur a new, cleaner era of economic prosperity.

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