Air Pollution and the Fate of Humans

Zimmer, C. (2020, January 13). Air Pollution, Evolution, and the Fate of Billions of Humans . The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/science/air-pollution-fires-genes.html 

The author writes about the effects of air pollution over the years. In particular, the author states airborne toxins are so pernicious that they may have shapes the DNA of human beings over the years. That means that the effects of air pollution might have been slow but gradual, such that the human genes might have experienced some mutations, albeit minimal over the years to try to adapt to the airborne toxins. Although there have been heightened and sensationalized protests about air pollution, especially by the current media, the author argues that air pollution is a phenomenon that has been happening for as long as records show; that air pollution might have existed for as long as millions of years ago. 

According to Zimmer, desert storms were a common source of air pollution, especially for people living close to the Sahara desert. Sandstorms could blur the sky, and the silica sand particles could be inhaled by people. Secondly, when fire was invented, people inhaled smoke from the burning woods, and that it is very common for people living in primitive societies to experience air pollution than even those living in industrialized societies. The most prominent reason is that people living in primitive societies use obsolete sources of energy for cooking, and could live in stuffy conditions. Although the Industrial Revolution gave rise to production processes that resulted into emission of huge clouds of smoke and smog into the atmosphere, the author argues that it is not the only source of pollution and that it is not very new. Nevertheless, although human beings could have adapted some benign mechanisms to cushion themselves against some effects of air pollution, scientists currently speculate that air pollution could lead to emerging mental conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Research is still ongoing to establish the relationship between air pollution and the incidence of these conditions. 

The qualifications and credentials of the author were not readily available on the New York Times website. However, Carl Zimmer seems to have his own website called carlzimmer.com on which he provides his qualifications, achievements and credentials. According to the website, Carl Zimmer is a popular science writer, columnist, blogger and journalist who mainly has a keen interest in evolution, heredity, and parasites. He is also an author of numerous books and contributes science essays to prominent publications such as the New York Times. According to the website, Zimmer is a graduate of Yale University, and has ever been awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for Natural Sciences, US & Canada. 

Zimmer uses credible sources and authoritative individuals to present the facts and information about the topic in the article. One such prominent source is the World Health Organization (WHO), which the author uses to quote that about ninety two percent of people in the world live in places where dust particles are dangerous to the human tissues. Obviously, WHO is a renowned world organization that is at the forefront of addressing various health issues that affect people throughout the world. Whenever any health crisis arises in the world, WHO responds fast, with the aim of putting in place the most appropriate intervention measures to curb the crisis. Zimmer also variously mentions Benjamin Trumble, a biologist at Arizona State University, and Caleb Finch of the University of Southern California. The two scientists are established scholars and authoritative figures on the topic under discussion, and therefore, any information they provide can be considered credible and accurate. It can be assumed that since they are established scholars, they might have conducted a lot of research concerning the topic, and, therefore, could have crucial knowledge and information to share. The two scholars mainly discuss about some of the genetic changes that might have happened among human beings as a consequence of being exposed to prolonged periods of air pollution. 

The article uses photographs to enhance the topic. The first image is that of smoke caused by bushfires in Australia retrieved from Getty images. Quite recently, there have been widespread bushfires in Australia, and the use of such an image at the beginning of the article might have been for the obvious reason of capturing the emotions of readers. Another image is about a desert storm that obscures vision of Amboseli National Park in Kenya retrieved from Alamy images. Using an image captured from a national park might also have the objective of appealing to people’s emotions because people may feel so strongly that biodiversity is being destroyed because of air pollution. 

Regarding the author’s attitude towards the issue, the author feels so strongly that air pollution is a great menace and could lead to disastrous effects, especially in the near future. Although the author begins by presenting the argument that air pollution is not a recent phenomenon, and that it started millions of years ago, the conclusion of the author shows that if the incidence of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia could be exacerbated by air pollution, then the human race might be in for big trouble. 

In conclusion, the article changed my perception towards air pollution. Most of the time, I have been thinking that everything is just normal, and that if indeed there is air pollution, then the trees might just absorb the particles. However, I now realize that slow and gradual inhalation of air pollutants might cause genetic mutations to the worst and increase the likelihood of developing certain undesirable health conditions. 

Reference 

Zimmer, C. (2020, January 13). Air Pollution, Evolution, and the Fate of Billions of Humans . The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/science/air-pollution-fires-genes.html