Self-immolation of Wynn Bruce
On April 22, 2022, climate activist Wynn Alan Bruce set himself on fire in the plaza of the United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.
The fatal self-immolation, which took place on Earth Day, was characterized by Bruce's friends and his father as a protest against the climate crisis.
[11] In the years before his self-immolation, Bruce expressed intense concern about climate change on his Facebook account, sharing related news articles and praising activists including Greta Thunberg.
[5] Additionally, in January 2022, Bruce posted a photo of antiwar activist Thích Nhất Hạnh, who wrote in 1965 on the self-immolation of Buddhist monks that "to burn oneself by fire is to prove that what one is saying is of the utmost importance".
[5] Bruce later commented on the post with a quote he attributed to Hanh: "The most important thing, in response to climate change, is to be willing to hear the sound of the earth’s tears through our own bodies.
[15] It is not known how he reached Washington, D.C.[4] At roughly 6:30 p.m. on April 22, 2022 (Earth Day), Bruce approached the plaza of the United States Supreme Court Building on foot,[16] silently[4] sat down, and self-immolated.
[18] While no suicide note or manifesto was located after Bruce's death,[5][16] friends of his stated that he was protesting inaction with regard to the climate crisis.
[20] His father Douglas Bruce also attributed the self-immolation to the climate crisis, saying that "this was a fearless act of compassion about his concern for the environment".
[2] His friend G. Michael Moore wrote in an opinion article for the Daily Camera that he believed Bruce "simply followed the logic of his convictions without flinching", deciding that the value of an individual life was "negligible compared to the havoc we are rapidly and irrevocably bringing to our planet".
[16] An article published by MSNBC linked the self-immolation to climate grief;[10] The Guardian compared it to a similar act by civil rights lawyer David Buckel four years earlier.
[15] Climate scientist Peter Kalmus, who had been arrested earlier in April 2022 for locking himself to the doors of the JPMorgan Chase building in Los Angeles as a protest against the bank's investment in fossil fuel projects, tweeted "Rest in power Wynn", adding that "we must fight side by side in solidarity for every fraction of a degree.
"[19] In The New York Times, writer Jay Caspian Kang argued that "we should resist the urge" to dismiss self-immolation as "the last act of the mentally ill and the desperate".
He stated that "Wynn Bruce lit himself on fire on Earth Day 2022 because he believed it might inspire people to work against climate change.
"[24] In a letter to the editor also published by The New York Times, Margaret Klein Salamon wrote that "collective action is a uniquely effective antidote to despair", arguing that "we can find a sense of purpose and community in the face of the climate crisis" rather than resorting to acts like self-immolation.
