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Lawyer Self-Immolates in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, as Protest Against Climate Change

HeadlineApr 16, 2018

In New York City, a prominent gay rights lawyer named David Buckel died after setting himself on fire as a protest against climate change. In a handwritten suicide note found next to his body in Prospect Park, he explained he doused himself in fossil fuels before lighting himself ablaze as a metaphor for the destruction of the planet. He also emailed news outlets a statement that included: “Most humans on the planet now breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result—my early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves.”

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