Rachel Carson's Silent Spring speaks volumes about the detrimental effects that the pesticides we breath in have on our bodies and on society. She makes it clear that from the moment of conception till death, we are inevitably exposed to the harsh chemicals in the air. But a new study published in the Journal Proceedings of the Nation Academy of Sciences shows that the polluted air that we breath in, the air that we can't escape no matter what, has even greater effects than causing cancer-- it actually makes us dumber. Especially in the elderly and in men, air pollution has a significant impact on intelligence and memory, suggested in a study covering 162 countries that are more or less strongly impacted by air pollution at points throughout the year. The results show a distinct difference in verbal and math test scores in older people and in men when exposed to air pollution. So now, in addition to worrying about the diseases and other detrimental health effects, we have to worry about this new cycle that makes us dumber, despite our search for ways to save the planet.
Questions:
Where do you think the problem of air pollution ranks in terms of danger and of all the consequences we are facing due to climate change / global warming?
What do you think Rachel Carson would have to say about this study and what approach might she take to address/battle it?
How much does knowing this concern you? Does it change your perspective on the environment in anyway, or maybe inspire you to use a car less?
This article illustrated a study that is very concerning. This study furthers Rachel Carson’s point about the tremendous effect we have on the environment around us, even if we cannot visually see these changes. The study showing the effects on verbal scores vs math scores is intriguing as they show the brain connected with verbal skills is more damaged by air pollution. The fact that future generations of children could be exposed to pollution that harms their brain development is sad. This problem of air pollution should be addressed immediately as it is not only bad for the environment, but also bad for the health and well being of everyone. If Rachel Carson was still alive, she would probably collect facts and data regarding the effects of air pollution on human health and the brain and present it to the public, even if it was received in a negative way. Rachel Carson may provide some solutions to the problem by trying to show alternatives to the air pollution, like possibly electric cars. This problem is very concerning and makes me think about how I can do my part in protecting the environment, but I am unsure of how aware other people are of this growing problem.
ReplyDeleteThis article outlines a troubling problem in our society. Immediately, this takes me to the podcast we listened on about Mossville. Because many of the smog-heavy cities are situated in areas with incredibly low-income, you cannot separate demographics from this issue. With these people dealing with this issue being high in poverty, the problem becomes less prioritized in the minds of lawmakers and people who can effect change. I think problems like these should become more and more prioritized, but sadly we have ignored these issues and we continue. I think that the difficult part with many of these issues is the lack of consensus on how to deal with it. When researches show that many of these issues will take millennia to undo, it doesn’t inspire confidence in everyday people. I think that Rachel Carson would have to say that she warned us of many of these dangers long ago.
ReplyDeleteAir is everywhere, and the human species needs it to survive. In the face of these simple realities, it would not be a stretch to describe air pollution as among the more deleterious effects of climate change. The article manages to make the already urgent issue of climate change more pressing by revealing how air pollution negatively impacts human psychological development. Rachel Carson would undoubtedly have much to say on the matter of air pollution, as she spent so much effort spreading awareness of how humanity’s impact on the environment could endanger itself. Carson would certainly once more condemn what she once dubbed as “indiscriminate death” from the sky, yet there is no telling as to what solutions she would propose. The issue of air pollution and its effects on the mind is indeed of great concern to me. However, given that I do not drive a car, I question what positive impact I could possibly have. Perhaps I could spread awareness of the issue, but I doubt that I could do so at a level of efficacy anywhere near reminiscent to that of Carson’s.
ReplyDeleteI think that air pollution is one of the largest contributors to climate change. Air pollution is a very large distributor of CO2 into our atmosphere. Studies have shown that carbon dioxide and temperature are directly correlated. The exponentially rising levels of CO2 will lead to a dramatic increase in temperature--the cause of climate change. This article is reminiscent of Rachel Carson’s silent spring, because it engages the reader by forcing them to think about what air pollution can do to their own personal health, like she did with DDT. I think that this news is very concerning, but that there are most likely a host of other factors that lead to lower cognitive ability as well.
ReplyDeleteRachel Carson would use this study to strengthen her argument against chemical pollutants. Since her audience is most likely the white middle-class who value education and intelligence, she probably would have emphasized the effects on intelligence to appeal more to these values. Moreover, as both Carson and this study warn, society should direct more of its attention onto air pollution. Nevertheless, it has not done so already because those affected the most are of low status and are often forgotten as they are not the ones with the power to do so, but I think this article which appeals to intelligence, which authoritative voices highly value, could usher in more efforts to reduce or eliminate air pollution. After reading this article, the impacts of the environment have proven to be broader than I previously imagined. I understood that pollution and disaster can leave a person in bad health, without a home, maybe without a national identity, with lost loved ones and material belongings, but I never imagined that a person could in theory lose a sense of personal self in the process as intelligence and the mind are so inextricably attached to identity.
ReplyDeleteBefore I dive into the questions I want to lead by saying that there are a couple concerns I have with this study. Mostly, people in general will get less good at math as they age, especially those who do not go into a math field, because when you are younger and tested you are still in school learning these things. Also, people just get dumber as they age, and that's just how it is. This is a statistical experiment that does a better job of displaying correlation then it does causation. This may not seem like a big issues, but I could poke holes in this all day, and data like this is a feeding ground for capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI digress, younger generations do appear to have greater cognitive difficulty then those prior, and that could be addressed to a slimmer amount of oxygen in their body (due to the concentration in the air) but it is not at a point that I would declare it the major issue in global warming. If we want to slow down the progression of climate change, there's plenty of issues to address, and the air conditions are already one of them, but I would not say that it is because we get dumber.
I found this article incredibly sad and distressing. Smog affecting the impoverished is unimaginably cruel, and to lawmakers, it will never seem an issue of high priority because of the demographic it affects. Yet, even if they did attempt to help, an elephant in the room still stands: how? It seems a bleak and hopeless battle; with modern society's reliance on fossil fuels and other such polluting agents, there seems little that can be done without major upset to the current infrastructure. However, if it is causing such serious effects as loss of intellect, such serious, jarring choices may have to be made.
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