As Southern California battled devastating wildfires in early 2025, Make Polluters Pay teamed up with content creator and climate activist, Lauren Bash, on a piece of content to hold Big Oil’s feet to the fire they helped cause.
Lauren’s video set out to remind people that these fires weren’t an accident.
They were caused by greedy oil and gas companies who have known for decades that burning oil and gas would cause this kind of destruction, and have spent decades discrediting climate science, downplaying its implications, and protecting their bottom line at all costs.
Meanwhile, we pay the costs of climate change in every way: with our lives, our homes, our communities, our livelihoods, and our tax dollars spent to rebuild.
Lauren's video went viral
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reaching more than 17 million views
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reaching nearly 1.5 million engagements
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driving more than 40,000 actions taken to demand a Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act in California
Taking Digital Activism Offline
As climate activists, we know that petition signatures only go so far. We have to organize on the ground to make those signatures count. With Lauren’s help, we dropped off more than 100,000 signatures at LA City Hall and held a rally where she spoke about the devastating wildfires, their impact on the community, and the California legislature’s opportunity to Make Polluters Pay their fair share to rebuild.
What started as a viral moment became a physical presence at the doors of the people with the power to pass this bill into law, and we didn’t stop there.
We kicked off a year-long partnership with Lauren, where she became a Make Polluters Pay ambassador with a focus on getting the Climate Superfund Act passed in California.
Several other influencers drew inspiration from Lauren’s video, reaching millions
Building off of this momentum
Lauren joined Make Polluters Pay as a creator panelist alongside climate disaster survivors to brief other influencers on how to get audiences to channel collective grief into action in the aftermath of the wildfires.
Lauren walked her audience through how to call their representative, and how easy it is to do – even giving viewers a call script with inspo for what they could say.
More collaborations
