As independent journalist Emily Atkin astutely points out, this is the kind of thing that happens when “the fossil fuel industry is not made to pay for climate disasters.”

In a Monday morning post for her climate-focused newsletter HEATED, Atkin highlights the story of an Australian sex toy company who is now crowd-sourcing relief funds for the devastating wildfires in that country by selling a signature dildo.

The effort, Atkin explains, is emblematic of a dynamic in which the people most responsible for the climate crisis—namely the executives and investors in major oil, gas, and coal companies—avoid paying the cost of their destruction while leaving that burden to the individuals, taxpayers, and creative (and voluntary) efforts of the private sector.

According to Atkin:

Amid the devastating fires in Australia, as Common Dreams reported last week, the demand for the fossil fuel industry to pay for fire-fighting and relief efforts has been intense.

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