Carbon emissions are damaging women’s mental health – to suicide levels, new research finds

Oil and gas plants in North America are the most harmful to women and communities of color, a new report finds. And they’re only building more.

The Women’s Earth, & Climate Action Network (WECAN) released a report this month on the harmful impacts of pollution and emissions from oil and gas companies on women and communities of color. According to the report, women are disproportionately vulnerable to health threats caused by air pollution in particular, because their bodies biologically inhale more pollutants and are more sensitive to toxins. And those toxins can cause a host of health problems, including breast cancer, as well as heart and reproductive diseases.

In addition to the physical harm, fossil fuel activity is also a source of “great mental and emotional stress for women” living in frontline communities, researchers found.

One woman who has witnessed the psychological impact of environmental injustice firsthand is Roishetta Ozane, founder of The Vessel Project, a Louisiana-based grassroots organization that combats environmental racism and provides emergency relief to vulnerable communities. Ozane told researchers, as part of the study, that financial insecurity caused by extreme weather, chronic health care costs from exposure to pollution and a general lack of tangible emergency support can exacerbate mental health issues for women, particularly single mothers.

“I can’t tell you how many women have called me and they’ve given up,” Ozane said. “Sometimes it’s as simple as, ‘I didn’t pay my rent today; my kids and I don’t have a place to live, so I’m suicidal.'”

Women in communities along the Texas Gulf Coast are among those suffering the most, the study also notes. Other research efforts bear this out: A 2023 study found that Total Refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, was emitting levels of benzene — a toxic carcinogen — that were about 148% above the EPA’s action limit, significantly impacting the endocrine and reproductive health of women in the area, most of whom are Black.

Even exploitation of workers in the oil industry has been linked to an increase in violence against women, the WECAN report found. The construction of the Mount Milligan copper and gold mine — built between 2010 and 2013 in Alberta, Canada — resulted in a 38% increase in sexual assaults by workers on Indigenous women and girls.

Despite these damaging effects, fossil fuel companies continue to expand into communities across the country. In fact, crude oil and gas extraction in Texas reached record levels in 2023, the Texas Tribune reported, with the state supplying 42% of the nation’s oil supply. And GlobalData estimates that more than 550 oil and gas projects are poised to come online in the U.S. within the next four years.

In an effort to save their communities and protect them from further harm, women leaders like Ozane of the Vessel Project, Sharon Lavigne of Rise St. James in Louisiana, and others are organizing movements to stop oil and gas companies from building near their homes. Women as leaders in the fight for climate justice could be a game changer, the WECAN report states, citing research showing that “involving women in environmental governance and decision-making leads to more successful outcomes and improvements in conservation.”

As one such community organizer, Maricruz Ramirez, said in the report, “Without women, there is no life – we give life. When women suffer, children suffer, men suffer, everyone suffers. We are all connected.”