Since Jan. 7, the country has watched wildfires ravage Los Angeles County, devastating neighborhoods like Eaton and the Palisades.
It’s estimated the fires have killed at least 28 people thus far, ranking amongst the deadliest in Californian history, according to a Jan. 22 New York Times article.
However, this figure doesn’t account for the additional indirect deaths predicted to be uncovered only in the aftermath of the wildfires.
The climate crisis has been found to be the leading factor in the increasing occurrence of wildfires in the U.S., according to a Nov. 9, 2021 article from the National Integrated Drought Information System.
As wildfires continue to become more common, the public health impact of exposure to smoke should not be overlooked. Deaths during wildfires are more likely to be associated with smoke exposure than directly with the fire itself, according to an Oct. 2020 Stanford policy review.
Thus, it’s highly likely the death of beloved film giant David Lynch on Jan. 15, a little over a week after the fires’ onset, may very well have been one such death triggered by the diminished air quality due to the LA fires.
Lynch, a lifetime cigarette smoker, revealed his debilitating emphysema diagnosis in an Aug. 1, 2024 Sight and Sound interview. Emphysema is a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that causes shortness of breath, typically due to long-term exposure to smoke.
He could no longer direct in person nor even leave the house due to fears of contracting illness—his COPD rendering even the mildest of colds a deadly threat, according to an Aug. 6, 2024 article in The Guardian.
Still, despite avoiding things that might exacerbate disease, Lynch had no choice but to evacuate his Palisades home, which was in the path of fire. In the process, he would have been exposed to wildfire smoke which likely increased the progression of disease.
The California Resources Board has indicated a strong link between short-term exposure to wildfire smoke and the escalation of COPD severity, according to a Jan. 16 article from Yale Climate Connections.
In retrospect, it’s a miracle Lynch—who began smoking at age 8—almost made it 80.
Instead, it’s hard not to wonder how much longer Lynch might have lived if he quit smoking, say, 20 years earlier. Maybe if he hadn’t been in LA the past two weeks, he would have had another few years and been able to finish the remote project he’d been planning.
While his love for cigarettes shows through in much of Lynch’s work, in the end, they were his undoing.
In the U.S., smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, according to the American Lung Association.
COPD is the fourth most common cause of death globally, according to the World Health Organization. Even if you don’t smoke, air pollution can also cause COPD, according to the Mayo Clinic.
The current trajectory of the climate crisis might not seem promising. We are already beginning to face the consequences of the increase in frequency and severity of natural disasters like the wildfires.
The climate crisis is an existential threat to public health. David Lynch’s death represents the intersection of the two major addictions of the twentieth century: tobacco and fossil fuels.
If we can’t quit, we will be the ones to pay for it.
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