Protecting Climate Labor – State of the Planet

During the summer of 2022, I was part of a 16-member crew doing trail maintenance in California’s Trinity Alps. The job required us to live in tents and work outside. For several days, smoke from three different forest fires in the region had been burning our throats and giving us headaches, despite the masks we wore. Finally, one morning our supervisor stood in front of us, holding back tears because the forest he loved was burning so intensely. “You have to go; it’s not safe,” he said.

Two years later, in 2024, the Park Fire blazed across acres of forest three hours south of where my crew had been evacuated, belching smoke into areas miles away from the burn site. Over 400,000 acres of forest burned and over 600 structures have been destroyed by the fire, according to CalFire.

This year will most likely be hotter than 2023, which is the hottest full year on record, according the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The negative effects of climate change are here, right now, and lives are at risk, especially those of people fighting back.

To prevent climate impacts from getting worse, we need workers whose job is to implement climate solutions. Many jobs in different sectors contribute to mitigating or adapting to the negative effects of climate change, so “climate laborers” could include wildland firefighters, wind turbine technicians, seawall construction crews, emergency responders and organic farmers, among others. As the list suggests, many of these jobs take place outside, and so we need to protect these workers from the same risks that they’re fighting to curb.

The stakes are enormous: the International Labor Organization estimates that 2.4 billion workers globally are likely to be exposed to health risks such as cancers and heat stroke due to climate change. Wildfires and heat waves, abundant in 2024, contribute to these risks.

Health effects, while potentially devastating, aren’t the only risk. In early 2023, more than a year after my crew and I evacuated from the Trinity Alps, I worked as a water conservationist in the mountains around Yosemite National Park. Nine consecutive atmospheric rivers came and brought incessant rain, flooding, landslides and cancelled work.

When a day came that was dry enough for us to return to our worksites, we found destruction: mud and rocks covering paths; chasms formed where there used to be flat land; stagnant puddles that had drowned tree roots; and a log that had ridden water flows down a hill and plowed through a cabin. The rain started again the next day, and my supervisor called. He said I could wait around a few months for things to dry up, or I could quit. I couldn’t remain renting in California without an income, so I moved out of the state.

Climate laborers need both safety measures and job-security measures. Many current safety measures, such as calling off work due to dangerous weather, unsafe air quality, or taking breaks during high heat, can lead to pay cuts for workers who are paid hourly. Safety protections need to include financing to keep climate workers afloat when conditions are too risky, so that they aren’t forced into other sectors for financial security.

Worker protections such as robust health insurance, paid leave for days with unsafe conditions, and stronger standards for health and safety are some possible solutions that could save lives and help pay rent. Whether these protections come from a union, legislation or from employer-designated safety protocol, having elevated safety standards for workers is necessary to maintain the workforce we need to combat the climate crisis.

These ideas have some support. The Biden-Harris administration announced in July that a proposed rule under the U.S. Department of Labor would protect both indoor and outdoor workers from extreme heat. Globally, countries including Chile, Qatar, China and Mexico have implemented guidelines, risk analyses and/or robust protections for workers regarding conditions in high heat, such as defining temperature thresholds for low intensity and high intensity work.

But that’s not the only story. Florida has recently banned mandatory heat breaks with water and shade for outdoor laborers. As both climate change and labor rights are often considered “blue” causes, these protections could fail in more conservative areas, even though more than half of Americans support labor unions, according to a 2024 report by the Pew Research Center.

Regardless of partisanship, massive forest fires like the Park Fire are happening more frequently as the climate crisis worsens, abetted by rising temperatures. To support those who protect us, we must advocate for climate protections, for their health and ours.

Ian Hunt is a recent graduate from the Columbia Climate School’s MA in Climate and Society Program.

Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Columbia Climate School, Earth Institute or Columbia University.