It’s time for parents to step up the fight for clean air
In 1981, less than a month after evidence of global warming was first reported Front pageThe The New York Times asked BF Skinner about the fate of humanity. The famous psychologist had recently argued that a feature of the human mind virtually guaranteed a global environmental catastrophe. “Why don’t we act to save our world?” Skinner asked, citing countless threats to the planet.
His answer: Human behavior is determined almost entirely by our experiences – particularly what actions were rewarded or punished in the past. Since the future has not yet happened, it will never have the same influence on our actions; We will pursue familiar rewards today—money, comfort, security, pleasure, power—even if doing so threatens everyone on the planet tomorrow.
Skinner was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, yet he is rarely given credit for the prescience of this warning, which predicted the behavior of fossil fuel executives and politicians for the next four decades. I have often struggled with this. I am a pediatrician in Reno, Nevada fastest warming city in the USA. I look into the eyes of babies, children and teenagers every day. Skinner argued that our choices would only change when the consequences of environmental degradation shifted from “tomorrow” to “today.” I believe that by 2025, the harm to children will be so clear and immediate that parents – the sleeping giants in the fight against climate change – will wake up and realize what the fossil fuel industry has done.
For example, over the last decade, my city has been darkened for increasingly long stretches by wildfire smoke from California; 65 million Americans, Such “smoking crises” are now occurring, especially in the West. Everyone understands that smoke causes breathing problems; We all cough and wheeze when the air becomes dangerous for weeks. Less understood is that children are at greater risk from these events for several reasons, primarily due to their different physiology, their small size and their immature organs, which, as they are still developing, are very vulnerable to environmental damage are. Children’s lungsPeople, for example, are literally shaped by the quality of the air they breathe. Children who chronically breathe in particulate pollution — such as those who live in the most polluted neighborhoods of Los Angeles — tend to develop smaller, stiffer lungs.
In 2025, the media will recognize that the damage from these tiny pollutants is even more serious. That’s because a growing body of scientific evidence shows that fine and ultrafine particles, normally bound to toxic chemicals and heavy metals in wildfire smoke and exhaust, cause brain injuries in children. Worryingly, they appear to be contributing to the epidemic rise in autism Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as an increased risk of learning disabilities, behavioral problems, etc dementia.
Why? Because these tiny pollutants don’t stop at the lungs; They enter the bloodstream and invade other organs, including the brain, which, like the lungs in a child, is still growing and developing and is therefore more susceptible to damage.
Evidence for the neurological effects of particles comes from brain imaging, histology and epidemiology. We know that even before birth Particles inhaled by pregnant women can cross the placenta and injure the fetus; MRI studies in several countries have shown altered brain architecture in prenatally exposed children, many of whom had problems with cognition and behavior. After birth, particles can also enter the prefrontal cortex – the part of the brain behind the forehead – after being inhaled through the nose. When scientists studied the brains of children and young adults Mexico CityIn the city, notorious for its bad air, they found fossil fuel particles trapped in Alzheimer’s-like plaques embedded in the prefrontal cortex.
More than a decade of epidemiological studies around the world have found evidence of a link between autism and ADHD. In one several years of study For example, in nearly 300,000 Southern California children, prenatal exposure to PM2.5 (the smallest regulated particle) was found to significantly increase autism rates. And a recent study by over 164,000 children in China found that long-term exposure to fine particles increases the risk of ADHD. Although autism and ADHD are complex disorders with multiple genetic and environmental causes, it is becoming increasingly clear that air pollution – caused by fossil fuels and worsened by climate change – is a significant risk factor.
