Overview

• Violet Affleck published an essay in Yale's Global Health Review on May 18, 2025, drawing parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and climate disaster responses.
• The essay recounts her family's experience fleeing the January 2025 Pacific Palisades wildfires, which claimed at least 30 lives and devastated the area.
• Affleck highlights generational tensions, detailing a hotel-room argument with her mother, Jennifer Garner, over the scale and inevitability of the crisis.
• She critiques unsustainable consumption patterns by wealthy nations and calls for adopting public health measures, like those used during COVID-19, in climate disaster planning.
• Previously, Affleck advocated for mask availability and long COVID recognition during a July 2024 speech to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.