In 1981, less than a month after the first evidence of global warming was reported on its front page, The New York Times asked BF Skinner about the fate of mankind. A prominent psychologist has recently argued that features of the human mind almost guarantee a global environmental disaster. “Why don’t we act to save the world?” Skinner asked, mentioning the many threats to the planet. The answer: Human behavior is almost entirely governed by our experiences—specifically, which actions have been rewarded or punished in the past. The future, which has not yet happened, will not have the same effect as what we do; we will seek the familiar rewards of today – money, comfort, security, pleasure, power – even if it threatens everyone on the planet tomorrow. Skinner is one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, but he rarely gets credit for the prescience of this danger, which predict the behavior of fossil fuel executives and politicians for the next forty years. I have often fought with it. I’m a pediatrician in Reno, Nevada, the fastest growing city in the US. I see the eyes of babies, children, and teenagers every day. Skinner argues that only when the consequences of environmental damage are moved from “tomorrow” to “today” will our choices change. I believe that by 2025, the harm to children will become clear and immediate if parents—the sleeping giants of the climate war—will wake up to what the fossil fuel industry is doing. For the past decade, for example, my city has been dark for long periods of time because of the smoke from the California wildfires; 65 million Americans, mostly in the West, are currently experiencing a “smoke crisis”. Everyone knows that smoke causes respiratory problems; we are all coughing and wheezing when the air becomes dangerous for weeks at a time. Little is known that children are more at risk from these events for various reasons, usually related to their different physiology, small size, and immature organs-which, because they are still developing, are very vulnerable to environmental injury. A child’s lungs, for example, are literally shaped by the quality of the air they breathe. Children who constantly inhale particulate pollution—such as those who live in the most polluted neighborhoods in Los Angeles—tend to develop smaller, stiffer lungs. This is because a growing body of science shows that fine and ultrafine particles, usually bound to toxic chemicals and heavy metals in smoke and exhaust, cause brain injuries in children. Alarmingly, they appear to contribute to the rise of epidemics like autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as increasing the odds of learning disabilities, behavioral problems, and later dementia. Because these small pollutants do not stop in the lungs; they invade the bloodstream and penetrate other organs, including the brain-which, like the lungs, is still growing and developing in children, and thus more vulnerable to harm. epidemiology. We know that even before birth, particles inhaled by pregnant women can cross the placenta and harm the fetus; MRI studies in several countries have shown altered brain architecture in prenatally exposed children, many of whom struggle with cognition and behavior. After birth, particles can also penetrate 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 in Mexico City, which is notorious for its bad air, they found fossil fuel particles, embedded in Alzheimer’s-like plaques, embedded in the prefrontal cortex. Evidence of a link between autism and ADHD has emerged in more than ten years of epidemiological studies from around the world. In a multiyear study of almost 300,000 children from Southern California, for example, prenatal exposure to PM2.5 (the smallest particle regulated by law) was found to significantly increase the rate of autism. And a new study of more than 164,000 children in China found that prolonged exposure to particulate matter may increase the likelihood of ADHD. Although autism and ADHD are complex disorders with multiple genetic and environmental causes, it is increasingly clear that air pollution—caused by fossil fuels and exacerbated by climate change—is a significant risk factor.
