It’s time for parents to step up in the fight for clean air

In 1981, less than a month after evidence of global warming was first reported first pageon The New York Times asked B. F. Skinner about the fate of mankind. The renowned psychologist recently argued that one feature of the human mind virtually guarantees a global ecological catastrophe. “Why aren’t we acting to save our world?” asked Skinner, citing myriad threats to the planet.

His answer: Human behavior is guided almost entirely by our experience—in particular, by what actions have been rewarded or punished in the past. The future, because it has not yet happened, will never have the same influence on what we do; we will seek familiar rewards today – money, comfort, security, pleasure, power – even as it endangers everyone on the planet tomorrow.

Skinner was one of the most influential thinkers of the 20th century, but he rarely gets 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 the fastest warming city in the USA. Every day I look into the eyes of babies, children and teenagers. Skinner argues that only when the consequences of environmental destruction move from “tomorrow” to “today” will our choices change. I believe that in 2025 the harm to children will become so clear and immediate that parents – the sleeping giant in the climate fight – will wake up to what the fossil fuel industry has done.

Over the past decade, for example, my city has been blacked out for longer and longer stretches by smoke from California wildfires; 65 million Americans, especially in the West, are now experiencing such “smoke crises”. Everyone understands that smoke causes respiratory problems; we all cough and wheeze when the air turns dangerous for weeks. Fewer understand that children are at greater risk of these events for multiple reasons, mostly related to their different physiology, small size and immature organs – which, because they are still developing, are very vulnerable to environmental damage. Children’s lungsfor example, they are literally shaped by the quality of the air they breathe. Children who chronically breathe in particulate matter — such as those living in Los Angeles’ most polluted neighborhoods — tend to develop smaller, stiffer lungs.

In 2025 the media will realize that the damage from these small pollutants is even more serious. That’s because a growing body of research shows that fine and ultrafine particles, usually associated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals in wildfire smoke and exhaust, cause brain injuries in children. Worryingly, they appear to be contributing to an epidemic-like rise in autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as increasing the chances of learning, behavior problems and later dementia.

why Because these tiny pollutants don’t 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 the child and is therefore more susceptible to damage.

Evidence for the neurological effects of particulate matter comes from brain imaging, histology, and 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 show altered brain architecture in prenatally exposed children, many of whom struggle cognitively and behaviorally. 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 examined the brains of children and young adults in Mexico Cityknown for its bad air, they found fossil fuel particles encased in Alzheimer’s-like plaques embedded in the prefrontal cortex.

Evidence for a link between autism and ADHD has emerged in more than a decade of epidemiological studies from around the world. In a multi-year study in almost 300,000 Southern California children, for example, prenatal exposure to PM2.5 (the smallest particle regulated by law) was found to significantly increase autism rates. And a recent study of over 164,000 children in China found that long-term exposure to fine particles increased the odds of ADHD. Although autism and ADHD are complex disorders with multiple causes, both genetic and environmental, it is becoming increasingly clear that air pollution—caused by fossil fuels and made worse by climate change—is a significant risk factor.