Deadly Climate Change, the Inevitable Result of Intensified Capital Accumulation
Capital, in the process of its development and domination, has turned and is turning everything, absolutely everything, into a commodity. The most general and natural phenomena of nature, such as water and soil, with the formation of capitalist relations of production and the transformation of labour into a commodity, lost their former status and became goods that could be bought and sold. This is true of all phenomena. Governments, hospitals, and clinics have become centers for the purchase and sale of human organs. It goes without saying who the sellers are. Unemployed workers or those employed but with very low wages and those who, despite working long double-shift days, are unable to provide for their own and their children’s basic needs. For about two decades, the capitalist governments of Sweden, Iceland and some other countries have been selling embryonic stem cells to large biogenetic and pharmaceutical companies. The commodification of each and every organ of the human body is a forced phenomenon of the existence and survival of capitalism. On the one hand, capital creates new diseases and crippled organs by polluting every aspect of the living environment, and on the other hand, it forces the working masses to sell their body parts under the pressure of poverty, deprivation and hunger. You must remember the days when the advanced universities and biochemistry institutes of the world were completely discovering and unlocking all the genetic codes of humans, that is, DNA. It has not been long since about 30,000 proteins of the human body were molecularly identified. The giant capitalist corporations started a huge and competitive war for the ownership of these discoveries. What was the result of this war, which trusts eliminated the competitors, which international industrial and military companies currently have the largest share in the production of biological goods, or similar matters, with all their importance, is not the subject of our discussion here. The point to emphasize is that the process of dissolving everything in the process of profit production is inherent, ongoing, and permanent in capitalism. This system decides what the vast mass of workers throughout the world will eat, not eat, starve to death, or, if they have food, in what composition and through what transformations it will reach them. What to drink, whether they have water to drink or not, whether this water carries a world of pathogenic bacteria or is prepared in a healthy and hygienic way, what clothes to wear or whether they are naked and bare in the cold and heat, whether they have a roof over their heads or whether they are left without a hut or a house, and in the first case, how and from what the materials, mortar, and fine construction and architecture of this nest are produced. The process of commodification of air has also begun a long time ago. The air that all humans and living beings, both plants and animals, have breathed for millions of years, and that humans have inhaled without paying a price or enduring any fear during their short lives, is now all under the pressure of the profit-seeking process of capital. For a century, capital has been converting the components and elements of the air into commodities that can be bought and sold, and this process is expanding faster with the progress of capital in more delicate areas of commodity production, such as the production of electronic devices, astronomical instruments, pharmaceuticals, oil products and their derivatives, and chemical and petrochemical products. Elements of the air (the earth’s atmosphere) such as oxygen, nitrogen (these two together make up 99% of the air), inert or rare gases (these gases do not combine with almost any element or substance) such as argon, neon, krypton, and xenon are obtained from the distillation of liquid air and are used in countless and expanding areas of capital reserves. In the process of its commodity production, capital not only converts the components of the air into commodities, but also sends all its waste, production residues, and toxins into space as air pollutants at no cost, thus spending huge sums of money, just as it does on water and land.
Monsoon rains: The world’s most powerful weather phenomenon, which plays a very important role in determining the seasons from Australia to the Himalayas, is known by this name. When the Asian monsoon rains do not occur, the resulting drought can determine the fate of large parts of Asia, almost half of the world’s population. For thousands of years, the inhabitants of countries such as India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Burma, parts of China, Cambodia, etc. have lived by celebrating this phenomenon, turning these praises into religions, rituals and traditions. Whether the monsoon season starts and ends on time is a matter that profoundly affects the lives of people and animals from Australia to India, at least for parts of the year. The entire air flow begins where the hot, dry Australian summer heats the vast land like a frying pan, and the waves of the sea, hitting its warm shores, cause the accumulation of water vapor that gradually turns into formidable clouds. The heat from Australia’s surface warms the air in the region and sends it high into the atmosphere, while simultaneously drawing in new, cold air from the sea. When the sea breezes hit the Australian coast, the vapours from this intersection rise into space. The vapours condense at high altitudes to form condensed water vapor, while the lower clouds near the ground reach kilometers high, and between the two, a huge amount of electricity is generated. The energy released by this collision is equivalent to that of an atomic bomb. The result of this accumulation of electrical energy is 1,000 lightning bolts per hour. As these lightning bolts occur, the air in the area reaches 25,000 degrees Celsius (four times the temperature of the surface of the sun). At this time, the monsoon rains begin. Gradually, these rains cover Sumatra and its rainforests, quenching the long-standing thirst of these vast forests. Every year, in the spring, a large amount of rain falls from Cambodia to India. In April, Cambodia’s Mekong River, known as the Mother of Water, is low in water. The monsoon rains have not yet reached Cambodia, and during this period, the river and lakes in the country are almost empty of water. However, with the onset of the monsoon, the lakes and the river fill up with water. Fish is one of the main foods of the Cambodian people, who are the largest consumers of fish in the world. In Thailand, the monsoon rains reach the forests of Thailand in May. As spring turns to summer, warm air rises from the earth and in return water vapor is absorbed by the land from the Indian Ocean, marking the peak of the monsoon, which in India begins at the tip of the subcontinent. The average rainfall in Sweden, one of the wettest countries in the world, is 700 mm per year (about the same as Mazandaran Province in Iran), while in India during the monsoon it is 1000 mm per day and this process continues for four months. At this time, everything changes. While during the dry season, a large part of the subcontinent is dry, during the rainy season, the entire vast country of India and its neighbouring regions turn green. When the monsoon rains are at their most intense, 17 million tons of water fall every minute, the most intense of their kind in the world. The whole of East Asia is green everywhere, and vast forests are submerged up to the waist in water. When the monsoon rains come, lakes swell to about eight times their normal volume, providing food for animals and humans. In the dry lakes, where wooden shacks on stilts are turned into fishing huts as farmlands are submerged, the Bay of Bengal, bordered by the Himalayas on land, becomes the wettest region in the world, and the great Brahmaputra River floods. When the water turns to dry land, the remaining sediments become a source of food for agricultural land. In Bangladesh, about 70 percent of the country is subject to flooding. The gulf where the Brahmaputra meets the Ganges is the most fertile land in the world (the world’s largest delta). The sediments in this area are up to a kilometer deep. In October, when the monsoon rains end, the last fish in the rivers of this area are a source of food for humans during the autumn and winter, so that the rivers of Cambodia produce 13,000 tons of fish annually. (The most fish in a river.) Fish also means money in Cambodian. Let’s look at the capital’s role in these waters, rains, and lakes and their impact on human life. In recent decades, these life-giving rains have become environmental disasters. The Asian monsoons, which for thousands of years brought greenery, increased and enriched soil content for thriving agriculture, have now become a destructive factor. And this is due to acid rain, the death, disease, and misery that capitalism has brought to the workers of Asia. The most important cause of acid rain is the precipitation of nitrogen and sulphur oxides from the use of fossil fuels such as oil and coal. These oxides, combined with moisture in the air, produce nitric and sulfuric acids. Acidification of soil, groundwater, lakes and wetlands is a result of these rains. Fish in these lakes and wetlands are reduced, and acid rain causes a decrease in soil minerals due to unequal competition with harmful heavy metal elements such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. The release of aluminium from the soil and its entry into the lakes causes respiratory problems in fish. Monsoon acidification has been recorded by the China Meteorological Administration (CMA-ARMN) 54 since 1992. Data from 1992 to 2006 show that when monsoons are more intense, their acidity increases by 0.33 pH units (lower pH) compared to the normal period. In other words, the acidity of monsoons during intense monsoons is 65% higher than that of moderate monsoons (Figure 3).
Figure 3 shows the increase in acidification (low pH ∆) with the intensity of monsoon rains (●) in Beijing between 2001 and 2004. 78% of the annual rainfall falls in the months of June to September 55.
At the same time, experiments and data obtained in this report 54 show that most of the changes in acid rain are caused by toxic gases from traffic, factories, agricultural chemical fertilizers and other factors resulting from the development of capitalism in these areas. Acid rain has been one of the most important environmental problems in China since 1970. The emergence of this phenomenon coincided with the astronomical growth of capitalism in this country, especially in the south and southwest, and later in central China. Among the ions that cause the acidification of monsoon rains, sulphates, nitrates, and carbonates, which themselves are caused by sulphur oxide, nitrogen oxide, and carbon dioxide, are all gifts of capitalism to the entire world. Similar studies conducted almost simultaneously in India confirm the damaging effects of acidification of monsoon rains. 56 These oxides combine with moisture in the air to produce nitric, sulfuric, and carbonic acids. Acidification of soils, groundwater, lakes, and wetlands is a result of these rains. Acid rain not only reduces soil mineral content due to unequal competition with harmful heavy metal elements such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic, but also facilitates their circulation in the air, soil and water, especially by releasing heavy metals. We have discussed the issue of acid rain and its harmful consequences for the health of the working masses of the world in numerous articles, and here, considering the importance and enormous dimensions of monsoon rains, we draw the attention of workers to the role of acidification of these rains in the release of some heavy metal elements of the soil in the countries where these rains fall, which is a vast area where the most important plant material for the majority of the world’s workers, namely rice, is cultivated.
The phenomenon of acidification of monsoon rains adds a new dimension to the air flow, which is, for example, the main cause of high arsenic in rice cultivated in China, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. It is important to note that rice has been the main supplier of energy-rich food (carbohydrates) for the majority of the world’s population for nearly two decades, and the countries mentioned are its main producers. For this reason, arsenic, which is a toxic and carcinogenic substance, threatens the health of a large part of the consumer masses. Here, it seems necessary to mention another important point: arsenic in the soil of these areas enters the organism through the roots of the plant and through this way penetrates the grain, that is, rice, and for this reason it is not destroyed by washing and cooking rice. Although the long-term effects of arsenic on the body, such as the occurrence of various types of cancer, are not hidden from anyone, this is not something that will be evident the next day by eating rice today. But the destructive effects of monsoon rains and winds are as clear as day to us, given the location and living conditions of hundreds of millions of poor working masses in the regions that are under the pressure of this weather phenomenon every year. If millions of poor agricultural workers in China, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Laos used to obtain edible plants and fish suitable for their diet thanks to the benefits of monsoon rains, and of course, in proportion to the price of their labour, today they no longer have the same. A large part of these workers, enduring the more severe pressures of capitalism, have joined the vast hordes of chained people who live in slums and slums on the outskirts of cities and on riverbanks, seashores, and in short, places where even animals avoid living. These places are the worst places due to their exposure to winds and monsoon storms and the subsequent rains, and we witness their huge victims every year. For hundreds of millions of poor workers in these regions, the monsoon rains are no longer life-giving rains, but under the attention of capitalist relations, they have now become the focus of human disasters that claim the lives of thousands of workers and displace hundreds of thousands every year. With the onset of winds and monsoon rains, all the sewage and factory water enters the lives of its inhabitants, causing various diseases. These cities, which were created without any accounting, without any water supply or sewage system, were created solely by the gathering of workers. Even with a strong breeze, their entire structure collapses, and the environment of their residents becomes a swamp of faces and factory sewage. Environmental pollution caused by the spread of urban and industrial sewage into the surface and deep waters of these regions not only directly causes illness to their residents, but also creates a plague, along with monsoon rains, that humanity has never seen before. Most importantly, it is the new dimensions of these disasters every year that give the history of capitalist relations a new colour in terms of criminality.
Yellow Dust weather phenomenon in China, Korea and Japan
What was said above about monsoons also applies to the wind and air currents we are going to describe here. Wind and air were also a natural meteorological phenomenon until centuries ago and before the onset of capitalist nightmares. The air current we are discussing started from the east of the Caspian Sea and ended in eastern China. The fate of this air flow gradually changed with the drying up of the Aral Sea (Khwarazm Sea) in Kazakhstan. This lake, which was the fourth largest lake in the world until 1960, was a major source of water for the region. With the agricultural policies of the Soviet camp, ordered by the Central Committee and implemented by managers who engineered the production of surplus value, all the plains of this region were transformed into cotton and rice fields, exploiting the almost free labour of millions of working masses. The immediate result of this process, which continues even after the collapse of the former Soviet Union, was the rapid decline of the lake’s water. In 2010, its water level fell to less than a tenth of its previous levels. The incalculable increase in salt, like other lakes, rivers, and wetlands on the planet, plus the consequences of years of military-nuclear testing in the region, the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and all the remnants of industrial projects from the Soviet state capitalist era and beyond, led to the emergence of a new phenomenon called Yellow Dust. This phenomenon, which generally begins in spring with winds from the eastern side of the Caspian Sea and travels to East Asia, carries light and low-weight particles of salt, sediments from the plains left by the lake, other pollutants such as those mentioned above, and finally pollutants from industrial cities on its way into the air flow under discussion. The indicator of this ominous environmental disaster is thick yellow fog and smoke (Smog), which obstructs human vision and causes pulmonary complications and other diseases. Meanwhile, the increase in sulphur particles, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, carbon particles, aluminium, heavy metals (cadmium, lead and zinc), other carcinogenic substances including polyaromatics and phthalates, radioactive substances, bacteria and fungi, give new dimensions to this disaster. The area of passage of this air flow is the vast distance of the plains of Kazakhstan, the cities of China, Russia, the plains of Mongolia, the cities of Russia, North and South Korea to Japan. These particles even reach the east coast of America and the phenomenon of air pollution caused by them acquires new dimensions every year. So much so that this year (February 2015) parts of the mentioned areas, especially the cities of Seoul and Pyongyang, had darkened for days 57,58.
Air pollution in Iran is part of the capital crime case in this part of the world.
In December 2013, the World Health Organization recognized Ahvaz as the most polluted city in the world for the second time, with Sanandaj and Kermanshah also among the top ten. The history of these honours can be traced back decades, but the current state of air quality in Iranian cities only reveals a small part of the brutality and decay of the Iranian capitalist regime. Light, air, and fresh air, which are the most vital human needs, are no longer natural phenomena available to humans. They all revolve around the valuation and profiteering of capital, and the extent to which workers have access to them, or whether they are healthy or not, is subject to the will of the tyrannical and all-powerful capital. To find them, like other goods, money must be paid. The filth, putrefaction, and stench of capitalism and what is called the cesspool of human civilization have invaded all channels of human existence to an extreme extent. The most brutal methods and means of production are used to make a mountain of profit from human labour, to sacrifice the most vital needs of human survival for the greater profit of capital. Hor al-Azim, or the Great Wetland of Hoveyzeh, is the largest wetland in Khuzestan Province and one of the largest wetlands in Iran. The area of this wetland, as far as it is located in Iran, is 2% of the total area of Khuzestan Province, which is of course one third of the total wetland, two thirds of which are located in Iraq (Figure 25). The Azadegan oil field, which is the third largest oil field in the world after the Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia and the Burgan oil field in Kuwait, is located below this wetland. Since the Shah’s regime, plans to drain this wetland to access the oil resources beneath it had been underway, but after the Iran-Iraq war, this gained momentum, and oil extraction began in 1997, and in 2000, the China National Petroleum Corporation became the main contractor for this large project. The draining of this wetland turned the water border between Iran and Iraq into dry land, and instead of aquatic ecosystems and vegetation, only oil rigs are visible in this area. The result of this work, in simple words from the people of the region, is as follows: “What we have seen during these eight years confirms that the oil company is preventing water from entering the Hur and, on the other hand, is removing water from the Hur from the Iraqi side to facilitate the work of drying the Hur and extracting oil. This dries the wetland and what remains is soil that is spread in the air of the region as the air warms and the wind blows. To the extent that in the summers you can barely see a meter ahead.” According to reports, the activities of the Iranian Oil Company and the National Oil Company are currently focused on the northern part of this dried-up wetland, and 59 oil wells are operating in this area, which means that oil production has just begun. An expert from the National Iranian Oil Company, who did not want to be named, said in an interview: “Since the oil field is located completely inside the lagoon and the depth of the lagoon water at its deepest points does not even reach four meters, it is not financially viable to install a rig to extract oil.” The most economical thing to do is to dry it, and of course, if the Environmental Protection Agency declares the need, we can mulch the surrounding land at our own expense after drying the wetland water.” Of course, this is completely contrary to the history of the National Iranian Oil Company’s activities in this area. A look at the satellite image below shows that not only the capitalist government of Iran but also the Iraqi government has acted to dry this large wetland with the aim of accessing oil resources at a low cost, and by 2000, only a very small part of this large wetland in Iran and Iraq remained. The main issue here is its catastrophic consequences. A disaster that the masses of the region have understood well. The winds combined with the soil particles of this region and the general pollution caused by smoke and particles from factories, traffic, heavy metals and oil pollution from oil extraction have caused the flow of life of the masses of workers to stop from time to time, not only in Khuzestan but in recent years even in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan.
Figure 25: The drying of the Hur Wetland (Hor al-Azim, From 1973 to 2000) began during the Shah’s reign, and now (2015) less than 10 percent of it remains. Instead, 59 oil extraction centers have been built, and on the other hand, it has become a vast desert of soft soil soaked in oil pollutants that, with the slightest breeze, turns dark and pollutes the air from Khuzestan Province to Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, the fact that the officials of the capitalist governments of the region, including Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Turkey, blame each other does not diminish the dimensions of their disasters and only exposes the charlatanism of the rulers of capital. The Anatolian Project in Turkey, based on which more than 22 dams and 19 hydroelectric power projects will be built in the Tigris and Euphrates watersheds, is causing the drying up of the wetlands of Turkey and the course of these two great rivers and the spread of the air disaster further. Although accurate and precise statistics on the level of air pollution and its results and effects are not published in Iran, the scattered reports of the regime’s organs reveal at least some of the truth. In a report published in the fall of 2011, Fars News Agency wrote, among other things, about the causes of air pollution in Ahvaz: “According to the latest studies of air pollution in Ahvaz, the oil industry is responsible for the largest share of environmental pollutants and their release into the air around Ahvaz due to the burning of large amounts of sulphur-containing gases (2SO) and waste liquids in fire pits, the emission of carbon monoxide (CO) and particles. The next largest pollution load from sulphur dioxide (2SO) is in the electricity industry, especially the Ramin Power Plant, which is a result of heavy fossil fuel consumption (For more information on these substances and particles and the damage caused by them, see Appendix 2 at the end of this book). Regarding the emission of suspended particulate matter, the largest share of emissions belongs to steel factories, and the largest percentage of hydrocarbon emissions belongs to the production activities of non-metallic mineral industries. According to these studies, although the amount of dust decreases noticeably during the cold and humid seasons of the year (January and February), the amount of carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides increases significantly, which is dangerous given the stability of the air during these seasons. These studies show that the total of these emissions causes the air pollution level in Ahvaz to always be at least twice the standard limit.” According to reports from websites in January 2012, residents of the capital have only enjoyed clean air for 200 days each year over the past 10 years, spending the rest of the days in unhealthy air or under alert conditions. In January of last year, the Islamic Republic’s health minister’s advisor announced that 4,460 people had died in Tehran due to air pollution in one year. The Kermanshah Provincial Environmental Laboratory Affairs Department told the Islamic Republic of Iran News Agency (IRNA) on July 25, 2015: “The average dust concentration in Kermanshah reached 710 micrograms per cubic meter of air, which is four times the standard limit and indicates a crisis situation.” It should be noted that according to the standards of the Capital Environment Organization in Iran, the amount of fine dust in the air of each city is normal up to 100 micrograms per cubic meter. From 100 to 250 micrograms per cubic meter is “alert conditions”, from 250 to 350 micrograms per cubic meter is “emergency conditions”, and above this amount is subject to the designation of a critical situation. According to the report of the Environmental Department of the same city, last year the total number of unhealthy days in Kermanshah reached 24 days, of which 22 days were in alert conditions, one day in emergency conditions, and one day in crisis conditions. The Meteorological Organization of Khuzestan Province announced that in February of last year, the dust concentration in some cities of Khuzestan Province reached 66 times the permissible limit! Also, officials of the capitalist government of Iran announced in July 2015 that although a complete investigation of the amount of waste caused by the drying of Lake Urumia has not been conducted, the “Urumia Lake Restoration Headquarters” said that with the drying of the lake, fine dust is seriously threatening people’s health. According to this organization, problems such as eye irritation, lung cancer, skin and respiratory diseases, and high blood pressure are among the consequences of this environmental event for residents of the areas surrounding Iran’s largest inland lake.
In addition, the drying up of Lake Urumia has led to the migration of 7 million people as a result of salt storms, desertification, and the spread of sand. According to the organization, “currently, agriculture on the eastern and northwestern shores of Lake Urmia has disappeared, and salt dust has put people’s lives at risk in terms of health and well-being, and skin cancer in animals and humans has increased more than 30 times.” It is also important to note that the masses of the people of Sistan and Baluchestan, despite living hundreds of kilometers away from Khuzestan, complain greatly about air pollution and the increase in dust concentration in the region. Here, too, the air pollution level has reached 35 times the global standard and sandstorms are creating disasters. Capital government officials say that air pollution has become more severe since 18 years ago and the duration of the 120-day wind season has now reached more than 150 days. The reason is the same as we said about Khuzestan and Azerbaijan, namely the drying up of lakes and wetlands, which continues at a rapid pace. The occurrence of these disasters in the provinces of Fars, Khuzestan, Sistan and Baluchestan and other regions of Iran is not a new phenomenon. The most important factors are as follows. In recent decades, a large number of dams have been built on rivers in Iran, including the rivers of Fars and Khuzestan provinces, and in Afghanistan on the Helmand River. These dams control the water that would flow into lakes and wetlands. The destruction of the aqueduct system and the replacement of surface water extraction and the digging of deep wells to extract water from deep underground (for agriculture) have led to a decrease in the groundwater level, which in turn limits the water resources of the wetlands. The main purpose of building dams (generally funded by the Revolutionary Guards) is to provide electricity and water for large-scale industrial crops. Building dams for the purpose of providing energy disrupts the water balance over large geographical areas. This means that first, the accumulation of water in one place causes intense evaporation and wastage. Second, by preventing it from passing through its thousands of years old path, the water reservoirs of these paths gradually dry up (one of the reasons for the drying up of the canals). Third, as the natural path of the rivers dries up, the possibility of greenery and the ecosystem impact of the rivers on the surrounding environment is lost. In contrast, deserts and salt marshes are expanding and bringing with them a greater influx of fine dust. As we said about the Yellow Dust weather phenomenon, desertification, along with pollution from traffic, factory smoke, agricultural pesticides, heavy metals, and various chemicals, has created a complex phenomenon that only increases the suffering and misery of the millions of working people of Iran. Why do the IRGC and other capitalists in Afghanistan, Turkey, etc. do this? Because this energy supply system is one of the cheapest and most hassle-free energy production techniques for capitalists in this area. Because industrial capitalist agriculture is thirsty for water, this is a cheap raw material. A substance for which there is a deep competition and a relentless war between different sectors of capital for access to it. The capitalist beasts are not willing to give up the astronomical profits from the use of this low-cost commodity. The capitalists and their governments are not at all thinking about planning to combat air pollution, the destruction of surface and underground water reserves. This is the nature of capitalism that has turned the world into a series of various environmental holocausts. Air pollution and destruction, the transformation of natural atmospheric phenomena into destructive factors, are the inevitable result of the existence and survival of these production relations and the transformation of everything into commodities. Something we observe everywhere, in every pore of capitalist existence, in the field of food production, industrial agriculture, energy production, and other areas of capital advance. With the aim of achieving greater profits, capital is engaged in poisoning the working masses with pesticides, chemical additives to food, massive extraction of oil and minerals harmful to humans and living nature, destruction of water, air pollution, incalculable increase in greenhouse gases, etc. In all its fields of advance, capital is engaged in a fierce competition for raw materials and the lowest possible cost of these goods, and in the scope of this competition, it sacrifices humanity as far as the eye can see. Here, the role of various organizations and organs of capitalist governments in covering up and hiding the root cause of the suffering of the working masses is very important because they cannot deny the reality of these destructions, but all their efforts are to make them seem natural, formulate them in the form of figures and calculations, and ultimately feed this sloppy mess to the working masses.
In Europe, so-called environmental laws separate toxic gases from polluting particles in the air for outdoor air and set a certain limit and unit for each. This limit, in turn, changes based on the number of times the air becomes critical per year. This means that whenever the air becomes critical per hour, the amount of harmful gases should not exceed a certain limit. (micrograms per cubic meter of air, µg/m3) and this of course depends on the number of pollution events per year. The higher the number of events per year, the lower the threshold (red line of gases per cubic meter). This calculation is also applied to each separate toxic gas and has a separate red line. The same rules apply to airborne particulate matter, considering that the size of the particles (PM, particulate matter) is itself an influential unit in the degree of health threat. In this case, the concentration of particulate matter is 10 µm (10 micrometres or less than 10 microns in diameter).
The above-mentioned thresholds have a different fate, even in Europe they change from time to time, it goes without saying that in other parts of the world from America to China and Japan there are also various red lines for the acceptable limit (red line) of air pollution. A question arises here. That capitalist organizations and research institutes publish their achievements regarding air pollution in various and sometimes apparently contradictory ways. Doesn’t it mean that the reality of air pollution is something outside the relative relationships or types of measurements that they express? Apart from these statistics and measurements, are there no other undeniable facts that show that the air we breathe today is much more polluted with gases and particles harmful to human health and polluting nature than it was decades ago? If the relationship between these various red lines and the reality of air pollution is not arbitrary, contingent, and baseless, if this relationship is not deceptively designed but fundamental and real, then all these air research organizations and their governments should state just one issue. It is vital that any air pollution, in any amount, is harmful to human health. They must accept that in fact there is no conflict between these organizations over the air being polluted, what is pretended to be a conflict is just demagoguery and lies. Each meteorological organization expresses the existing reality of air pollution in its own style and manner, and over time, depending on the amount of these particles, their frequency of repetition also changes. This means that the relative quorums only reveal a corner of reality, and the purpose of putting them forward is to establish and make them acceptable to the masses of the people. Therefore, all these shows are just for playing on the stage, otherwise no capitalist government or its affiliated institutions would even think about purifying the air and eliminating the concerns of the working masses about diseases caused by air pollution. They themselves know that this is impossible in capitalist relations of production. The main message of these organs of capital to the working masses is that a little poison, dirt, and carcinogens in the air are not that dangerous. In fact, air pollution, regardless of the amount, the threshold, and the degree, is a red line, and this is true of all the poisons that capital gives us. In this regard, many are trying to show that since the level of air pollution in some capitalist countries is not as high as in Iran, they are presenting them as models of ideal societies and, by establishing green parties or similar programs, they can take action against the impurities of Iranian capitalism, and thus breathe new life into its dying body with reforms in this direction. These groups or individuals, however, are and think that they are just a bunch of incurably backward people. First, the governments, institutions, and representatives of the long-standing ruling capital, who, by understanding the historical situation of this system, have realized with their historically backward, reactionary intellect that they must change the meaning of reform, and they have done so. For the bourgeoisie, unlike in the distant past, reform is not a retreat from the workers anywhere in the world; on the contrary, it is only the organization of the most terrible nightmarish attacks against their remaining existence and non-existence in all areas, including the environment. The speed and enormous dimensions of capital accumulation, the rapidity of the fall in the rate of profit, the relentless competition of capital, the rapidity of the return of crises and the unprecedented crushing of each crisis demand that bourgeois governments and parties do so, and they do so with all ferocity. Secondly, and for this reason, the whole nonsense of the bourgeois romanticist reformists is rejected and unresponsive from the point of view of the governments and rulers of capital. The mission of this group has historically been to deceive and create illusions to eliminate the threat of the anti-capitalist movement of the working masses from capital, but look at capital, which has even boarded up the shop of these illusionists, its own guards. Responding to the illusions of the working masses requires a lot of money and capital is in a situation where it is not only unwilling to pay any costs, but every day it has to patch up a new part of the life of the worker that was slaughtered yesterday and calluses it with the challenge of reducing its profit rate. As far as the working masses of the world, including Iran, are concerned, there is no other way forward. We must fight against capital and pursue this war with the conscious Marxist orientation of the complete abolition of wage labour. As long as this has not happened and as long as the labour movement has not been transformed into a global war, naturally both the rulers of capital and the demagogue reformists of the opposition will have the opportunity to achieve a new form of deception and lies every day. But they, even the apparently non-systemic researchers! Should know that what they say is neither a scientific explanation for environmental disasters nor are they able to propose any solutions. Their entire propaganda revolves around the idea that it is possible to live a healthy life by maintaining capitalist production relations!! As if the workers should accept that all these socially destructive phenomena are natural and accidental matters and the force of nature and have no relation to the capitalist mode of production!
Brain and mental illnesses caused by air pollutants
In previous sections of these articles, we discussed the destructive effects of air pollution on human health and the role of these pollutants in causing diseases such as lung and respiratory tract infections, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), stroke, lung cancer, stroke, and heart disease. The scope of the destruction and pathogenicity of the aforementioned pollution, however, has been continuously expanding in recent years, in parallel with and in step with the increasingly widespread invasion of capitalism into all aspects of human life, and up to the present moment, diseases such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s, i.e. diseases of the nervous system and brain, have also been added to it. Previously, attention was usually paid to gases emitted into the air from traffic smoke, gases resulting from industrial activities (radioactive substances, carbon monoxide and dioxide, sulphur gases, polyaromatics, and phthalates), but now the scope of exploration has broadened and includes particles emitted into the air such as heavy metals, carbon particles, rubber and asphalt wear particles, nanoparticles (see Appendix 2 at the end of this book), sand and dust particles, etc. If previously we were talking about 10,000 to 100,000 particles per cubic meter of air, now we are talking about millions of particles per cubic meter and their effect on producing diseases. Particles that not only cause the diseases mentioned above but are also important reasons for the emergence and spread of complex and hitherto unknown diseases, namely degenerative brain diseases. While coarse particles do not pass below the upper respiratory tract, fine and ultra-fine particles enter the brain through the nose and nervous system, gradually causing brain diseases.
Autopsies and research on the brains of people who have lived in high-traffic areas show the occurrence of these diseases along with the damage caused by these particles in certain parts of the brain, and this has been confirmed in research conducted on people who work and live in the workplace or in densely populated and high-traffic residential areas of cities subject to air pollution such as smoke and dust (smog). Of course, the results of the aforementioned research do not absolutely contradict the idea that these tiny and very tiny particles enter the respiratory tract, because the smaller the particles, the deeper they penetrate the cavities of the lungs, where they cause lung diseases, and when they enter the bloodstream through the vessels, they cause blood and heart diseases (Figure 28). Many European and American countries have passed laws to control traffic in terms of gas and particulate emissions for decades and have also created and enacted large institutions such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Clean Air Act in 1970. Institutions and measures that have had significant effects on the air quality of the cities of these countries, but first, in a sense, they have played the role of a posthumous panacea, because they have always emerged after repeated warning signals, after massacres and the outbreak of diseases, and especially after the factors and causes of these diseases have left their chronic effects for a long time, and have not played a preventive role. Second, these measures have sought to eliminate and alleviate the symptoms and have less addressed the underlying causes of the problem. Third, the authorities have always agreed to these manipulations and manipulations and have set a quorum table for these bureaucratic adjustments, but they have never wanted to eradicate the problem and are only bringing the issues to a head with parliamentary arguments between representatives of the bourgeoisie and the profit-seeking elites. Fourth, capitalist production continually adds bigger and more complex problems to the previous ones, for example, even though the air in European cities and most American cities is better than in other parts of the world, even though pollution from car engines has decreased and the amount of gasoline and diesel consumption has decreased, even though the mandatory catalytic converter system has made the smoke from engine fuel cleaner, or the pollution from heating homes with coal has decreased (of course, all this is due to the intensification of the more brutal exploitation of workers and the spread of costs over the low price of their labour). But the level of air pollution and the extent of the damage and disease caused by this pollution have not improved worldwide but have worsened. As a result, about 15% (46 million) of the American population now suffers from chronic lung disease and 44 million people suffer from respiratory ailments. This is the conclusion of a study published in Mother Jones magazine by researchers at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s) 59. But this is not all true, because the above research focuses only on a new area of diseases that, until now, have apparently not been discussed as being related to air pollution.
Figure 26 shows the size of particles (in micrometers or one millionth of a meter, µm) compared to the diameter of a human hair (50-70 µm) and sand particles (90 µm) along with the distance each group of particles can travel in space. While sand particles and ultrafine particles travel about 10 km with the wind, fine particles travel thousands of kilometers.
Around the world, 50 million people suffer from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. The situation is even worse in cities in India and China, where the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that their air pollution levels are 3 to 6 times higher than their own standards. It goes without saying that if the air quality and pollution in Iranian cities is not worse than in Chinese and Indian cities, it will not be better. Many studies and researchers have tried to link diseases such as Parkinson’s, MS, and Alzheimer’s to the presence of compounds of this element in the body by pointing to factors such as genetics, viral diseases, high fat, and the spread of aluminium in the body (this element passes through the protective tissues of the brain and fetus, causing damage to these organs, and neurotoxicity and brain toxicity are among its complications 60). But this research, except for the case of aluminium or possibly some other factors, has not been able to answer many scientific questions in this field. While air pollutants have been shown in recent studies to play an important role in the occurrence of degenerative brain diseases. Although it is not yet known whether these are the initiators of the process of producing these diseases or their accelerators. Among the factors that always play a role in intensifying and weakening the effect of polluting particles on the organs of the body, in addition to the chemical content of the particles, is their size. So that large particles at the beginning of the respiratory tract cause coughing and lung reactions and are thrown out, while smaller particles penetrate the lower cavities of the lungs, and even smaller particles enter the brain through delicate nerve channels (Figure 28).
If large particles do not pass through the upper respiratory tract, fine and ultrafine particles can instead pass through narrow nerve channels into the brain, thus beginning a journey that ultimately leads to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases 61. In experiments on mice exposed to gases and particles from traffic pollution, their brains showed traces of these particles and gases. Even dogs living on the smoky streets of Mexico City showed signs of dementia. In a study in Mexico City, a city with 20 million people, 3.5 million cars and many factories, a city that almost every year receives the prestigious award of the dirtiest city in the world in terms of air. Ground-level ozone, particulate matter, bacteria and metal particles are among the most important components of the city’s air. These components were the focus of a study that was conducted on dogs in this city and on their brain, structure using the MR camera technique. The result of this study opened a new window on the science of diagnosing brain diseases because here, for the first time, profound changes and signs of brain infection and Alzheimer’s were seen in dogs in connection with air pollution 61. Dogs live longer than mice and are more likely to develop brain disease later in life. Furthermore, dementia has been seen in dogs before. Dogs studied in Mexico City (in 2005) were less active and inattentive to what was happening around them, a sign of forgetfulness. Autopsies of their brains and noses revealed major tissue and cellular changes in the brain, as well as the destruction of their olfactory center, which was indicative of important factors in their environment. Scars on their noses were indicative of lesions that had been seen in human autopsies in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Dogs have a high sense of smell, which includes 220 million olfactory neurons. Cells that number between 5 and 12 million in humans, and it is not without reason that this animal suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, but before that, it suffers from a reduced sense of smell. Such a sign, namely a decrease in the sense of smell and the appearance of scars in the area of the olfactory system, has been observed in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s in humans before these diseases have progressed. Doctors pay attention to the decrease in the power of smell to identify the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s without knowing the causes of this decrease. They have only discovered the relationship between the two without knowing why and how they are related. Studies on dogs and mice exposed to polluted air and showing such effects led some researchers to focus their attention on polluted air, and especially on particulate matter in the air, and the result of these efforts over a period of 5 to 10 years has been repeated scientific reports that confirm each other. The workers of the world must know what capital has brought or is bringing upon them and upon all of humanity in various aspects of its existence, in the entire process of profit-making or reproduction and development and the struggle for its survival, in addition to the daily intensification of exploitation and the spread of poverty, misery, unsanitary conditions, war, corruption, prostitution and addiction, even in the realm of disease-making and disease-causing.
It is precisely for this reason and in this context that we address these issues in these writings. Issues that the reformist and capitalist narrative of class struggle, under the pretext of their scientific nature, considers to be beyond the understanding of the working masses and outside the sphere of the workers’ lives, concerns, and struggles, and consciously and deliberately denies the necessity for the working masses to become familiar with them. It is as if a deep scientific understanding of what capital brings upon man is not the work of the workers at all, as if the working class is not supposed to deal with science, think scientifically, and be aware of and knowledgeable about the world, society, and classes, and struggle to radically change the existing world. As they themselves call it, they consider “anti-capitalist awareness” to be the intellectual discoveries of the wealthy classes and do not see it as within the capacity of the workers. They also consider any level of scientific and real understanding of the environmental disasters resulting from the profit-making cycle of capital and affecting humanity beyond the power and competence of every worker and see it as irrelevant to his life. The reformist narrative of class struggle thinks and does so, but the anti-wage labour consciousness and the real anti-capitalist approach of the working class see things the opposite way. Recognizing what capital brings upon us in every realm of social life, including the realm of the environment, is an integral part of our process of striving to raise our anti-capitalist awareness and consciousness. Our effort, of course, should be to make these issues as simple and easy as possible, with images, available to us and to communicate them to each other. To better understand how very small particles of pollutants reach the brain from the nose, we need to take a brief look at the anatomy of the human respiratory system. When we breathe, pollutants enter our nose and mouth along with the air, while large, dusty particles are stopped at the very beginning of the upper respiratory tract, the trachea, before the lungs, and are expelled by sneezing and coughing. Smaller particles pass through these barriers and penetrate into the lower lung tissues. They cause lung inflammation, infection, and even lung cancer. Depending on their size, these particles may pass through the walls of the lung vessels and enter the bloodstream, where they combine with tissues, cells, and chemical elements of the body and produce byproducts. Products that themselves cause various diseases in the body. But tiny particles that pass through the nose can be even more harmful. The inner membrane of the nose is made up of millions of specialized nerve cells that extend themselves by tens of millions of thin fibers embedded in the nasal mucosa. These thin fibers, in their wave-like movements, detect tiny particles and chemical gases in the air that is passing by and, upon contact with them, convey the olfactory information obtained to the olfactory center in the middle of the brain (Figure 27 Olfactory bulb). This is the process by which we can, for example, tell whether the milk in the package is sour or spoiled. The nerve fibers in the nasal mucosa that are exposed to the air from outside extend to the brain and are connected to it (Figure 27, Olfactory nerve receptors). This close and direct connection with the brain causes rapid transmission of information about the substances in the inhaled air to the brain, but this also causes fine particles in the air to reach and penetrate the brain directly along the olfactory nerve fibers. In other words, just as cocaine addicts inhale this powder directly into the brain and affect it, fine pollutant particles also enter this important organ of the body. These substances, which are composed of metals, heavy metals, asphalt and rubber crumb particles, soil particles that are formed with chemicals from fuel, enter a process that results in damage to brain tissues and nerve cells (Figure 28).
Figure 27 Parts of the brain related to the olfactory system
Human olfactory system
2: Mitral cells
3: Bone
4 Nasal epithelium
5: Glomerulus 6: Olfactory receptor neurons
Figure 28 shows the path of pollutants through the nose to the brain, as well as larger particles through the trachea to the lungs.
But the most important impact and impact that these substances cause is to disturb and mislead the brain’s special defence system, or microglia. One of the tasks of these defence cells is to search for and identify harmful and pathogenic organisms (Pathogens) and the remains of dead brain cells and render them harmless. When microglia encounter a contaminant particle, they treat it as a living organism such as bacteria and viruses, and this causes serious consequences for the brain. This means that microglia, upon contact with a pollutant, begin to secrete a large amount of various chemicals, the purpose of which is to kill the living organism, even though there is no living organism in this situation. The result of this process is that, firstly, the toxins secreted cause damage to the surrounding cells, and secondly, the pollutants cause the microglia cells to engage in a continuous and fruitless struggle, which prevents them from their main and dangerous tasks, which are to defend against harmful living organisms and collect waste resulting from the death of cells, bacteria, and viruses. In general, inherent inflammation and abnormal activity of the body’s immune system are harmful, even when this activity is at a low level. In this regard, numerous experiments and studies confirm that the body’s immune system attacks and damages the body’s own organs when it is overactive, and similarly, inherent inflammation of the brain leads to degenerative brain diseases. Scans and autopsies of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients show that the immune cells called microglia are overactive in the parts of the brain where the most nerve cells are lost. Research in mice has shown similar results, including that the overactive immune cells called microglia kill nerve cells in the brain.
Thus, the capitalist system, in the process of its development and evolution and achieving what is needed for its expansion and survival, has practically confronted human biological evolution with new and very serious problems. This means that until now, the brain’s defence cells against viruses and bacteria have had a reliable and advanced defence system, but the excessive development of capitalist production relations, which is the natural destiny of this mode of production, has in its process caused the creation of polluting particles in the air inhaled by humans and animals, which has shattered this entire ancient system. As if there is no other way left for humanity but to destroy these relationships. In this way, our researchers, who never give a clear and definitive explanation of the mechanism of the main factors of environmental destruction, despite all the environmental laws that are enacted and sometimes implemented, only describe the story. It is certain that we must roll up our sleeves and find a solution for our lives. Capitalists and their intellectual, political and academic representatives are doing their utmost to hide from view the full truth about what capital has done and is doing to us in various areas, including the environment. It is we, the workers, who must revolt against this situation. We must overthrow this inhuman system before the brain diseases born of capital destroy us and disable the last cells of our brains. We must establish a society in which all scientific and technical achievements to date, plus the world’s scientific achievements after the fall of capitalism, all serve to provide and guarantee the highest level of physical and intellectual well-being, health, growth, comfort, and advancement of all human beings.
Extensive research is currently being conducted around the world on the effects of air pollution on the occurrence of disorders, lesions, and various types of brain diseases, and detailed reports have been published. In some studies, large groups of people with and without a history of brain diseases are tested, and their genes, lifestyle, and environmental factors are taken into account in these studies. Of course, there are also limiting factors here. For example, in the United States and most European countries, fine air pollutants have been measured for about 15 years, and researchers have to resort to mathematical estimates for periods longer than this. However, environmental factors are considered in these studies, and in general, older people who live in environments with air polluted with pollutants and in poor areas lose their mental abilities more quickly. For example, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a mental disorder. In 2008, German researchers looked at 399 elderly women who had lived in a certain area for more than 20 years. The study found that the closer the women lived to busy roads, the more likely they were to develop symptoms of MCI. 62. In 2010, researchers at Harvard University discovered a link between fine particulate matter from traffic and a decline in short-term memory. In a larger, nationwide study in the United States, they studied the mental state of more than 19,000 retired nurses over the years. The results of this study also showed a relationship between the decline in brain activity and memory in these women over the age of 70 and the fine particulate matter in their environmental air, such that the more polluted the air was with these particles, the faster the decline in mental activity and short-term memory loss. 63. In Taiwan, 95,690 elderly people were studied for 10 years, and the results showed that people living in environments with polluted air had a 138% (approximately 1.4 times) risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to people living in a different environment 64. This raises the question of how much particulate matter the human brain can tolerate. A Taiwanese study published in 2015 concluded that an increase of every 4 micrograms of particulate matter per cubic meter of air (4 µg/m3) is enough to increase the risk of Alzheimer’s. But it is important to consider what initial level of air pollution this increase is compared to, as this level is already high, an increase (4 µg/m3) certainly has a lot of damage to the brain. The study begins its conclusion by saying that every 4 seconds, one person in the world suffers from dementia, and the number of people suffering from this disease doubles every twenty years. A study of retired American nurses found that an annual increase of 10 micrograms of pollutants per cubic meter of air (10 µg/m3) increased the rate of brain damage by a factor that aged the brain by two years. 63 It is important to note that there is ample evidence that not only older people experience brain deterioration, but also that young people and children exposed to air pollutants under similar conditions show the same symptoms and complications. Research on Mexican children in Mexico City shows that six- to seven-year-old street children carry signs of brain damage, such as high activity of brain defence cells (Microglia), and a decrease in white matter, the part below the gray matter of the brain that plays a fundamental role in communication between different parts of the brain. Considering the computer, the gray matter of the brain can be considered as a whole computer. While the white matter plays the role of a cable and a network connecting to computers) and damaged vessels that are only seen in old people, have been seen in these children. It should be noted that the brain growth of children is much more than that of adults in a unit of time and generally the growth of this important organ of the body is in childhood. This growth is very slow in later periods of life and in the meantime the role of blood flow and oxygenation of this organ is very important. Autopsies of street children in Mexico City have shown higher levels of amyloid beta, a protein that accumulates in the gaps between brain cells (synapse) and blocks their communication, compared to their peers from other areas that were less polluted. This is the beginning of Alzheimer’s and precedes cell death. Once brain cells die, it is no longer possible to treat the problems that have arisen. Amyloid proteins move easily in nerve cells and when they accumulate in the center of intercellular communication, they create something called senile plaques that disrupt the communication of brain cells, that is, the transmission of information between its different parts. However, no traces of these proteins have been seen in children in Mexico City who live in balanced conditions. It is necessary to examine the extent of brain lesions, especially in street children. First, these children live in similar conditions all over the world. That is, they spend their days and nights in the most polluted and congested cities. They have no health care or medical coverage, so like their peers in Mexico City, their brain problems have nothing to do with drugs or their genetic problems. The only reason they are developing Alzheimer’s disease and brain degeneration despite their young age is simply the living conditions of being street children in Mexico City. Here we draw your attention to a brief discussion about street children. The United Nations definition of a street child is “a boy or girl whose home and place of residence is the street, as well as abandoned buildings and land, and who is not under adequate protection and supervision of adults and authorities.” The Iranian Welfare Organization also defines street children as follows: “Street children refer to people under the age of 18, both boys and girls, who are forced to work or live on the streets in large cities to survive.” Of course, there are exceptions here. In Africa, a large population of children live according to customs outside the home (in some parts of Africa, the definition of home is still different from other countries in Asia, Latin America, and other regions), but this does not mean that they have to deal with the industries, traffic, and pollution of big cities. This does not mean, of course, that poverty and poor children do not exist in Africa, but rather that the factors we are considering here, namely the polluted environment with high traffic and factories and all the factors that a metropolis like Mexico provides for childhood brain diseases, are very rare in Africa. In any case, street children are the poorest and most unprotected part of the global working class, and not only do their current living conditions suffer the worst, but because of these conditions and their catastrophic deprivation of any basic living facilities, they are exposed to all kinds of harm, including all kinds of diseases and, in our specific case, brain infections. A study conducted on these children in Mexico City shows that, despite their young age, they are at risk of serious brain complications caused by air pollution. It can be estimated that their peers in other parts of the world, under similar biological conditions, have the same lesions and infections. Any other conclusion is impossible. Now, let’s look at approximate statistics around the world published by organizations such as UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In 1988, 27 years ago, UNICEF estimated the number of street children worldwide at 100 million, and 14 years later, it gave the same figure, explaining that it was difficult to estimate their exact number. UNICEF says that no government agency or institute has recorded information about these children, but the organization estimates that the number of these children has increased due to the growth of the world’s population. We will not go into other important factors here, such as the increasing problems of the working masses of the world, especially after the 2008 crisis and its consequences, which are still far from over (Figure 29), factors that are enough to increase the number of street children in the world astronomically. India 11 million (1 million in New Delhi, 1 million in Kolkata and 1 million in Mumbai), Indonesia 170 thousand, Pakistan 1.2 to 1.7 million, Philippines 1.5 million (1998), Vietnam from 21 thousand in 2003 to 80 thousand in 2007, Bangladesh 670 thousand, are among these statistics. There are no accurate statistics on street children in Iran. Different sources put the numbers between 20,000 and 2 million! However, if we compare them to other countries with similar social and economic conditions, there are more than one million street children in Iran. In Latin America, according to estimates by UNICEF and the International Development Bank (1996), the number of street children is 40 million. Of this number, 2 million live in Mexico, and 7 million in Brazil. (Brazil has the largest number of street children in this region of the world.) In Europe, the Netherlands has 7,000, France 10,000, Ireland 1,000, Turkey 6,000, and Russia 1 to 4 million street children. In the United States, according to statistics from the organization related to these children, there are currently more than 1.5 million street children. This figure has tripled since 1983 (Figure 29).
The number of homeless children reached record highs in 2011, 2012, and 2013 at about three times their number in 1983.
Figure 29: The growth in the number of street children in the United States between 2005 and 2013. According to the report (The National Center on Family Homelessness, America’s Youngest Outcasts), the number of these children has tripled since 1983. After this explanation of street children and the harm they suffer from living in crowded places in big cities and from polluted air, we continue to the main topic of this chapter.
Pollutant particles are not uniformly dispersed in the Earth’s atmosphere. Fine particles travel up to thousands of kilometers, so they can pollute long distances and cross large areas, while ultrafine particles travel a more limited distance (10 kilometers) with the wind (Figure 26). This means that if we live and work within a relatively short distance of a busy road, factory chimney, oil rig, or metalworking plant, the most pollution we breathe in with the air is ultrafine particles. A study by the EPA shows that the concentration of ultrafine particles in Los Angeles near busy freeways is 25 times higher than in places with little traffic in the city. It goes without saying that fine particles are also not good for human health (lungs, blood vessels and heart), but the smaller these particles are, the more likely they are to pass through the respiratory tract and into the brain. It is clear that high-traffic and polluted areas are generally the places where poor people, retirees and migrant, displaced and unemployed workers live and work. The aforementioned report also confirms this 65. In 2014, researchers at the University of Minnesota showed that the working poor minority in American cities were 38% more exposed to polluted air. In 2012, a group of researchers at Yale University, in their exploration of the damaging effects of particulate matter, concluded that across the United States, the people most at risk from air pollution were black workers, the less educated, the unemployed, and the poor.65. Another study of older adults conducted by the University of Southern California (USC) confirms the findings of the study of street children in Mexico City and retired nurses. This large study, conducted on 1,403 older women, examined the effects of air pollution with particulate matter. The results of a study published in the journal Annals of Neurology show that these particles reduce brain volume. Specifically, the white matter of the brain, which is responsible for connecting different parts of the brain, decreases, thereby accelerating brain aging and deterioration. This study shows that when particulate matter (PM) levels (particles 2 micrometers or smaller) increase by 3.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (3.5 µg/m3), brain volume decreases by six cubic centimeters, meaning the brain ages one to two years faster. 66 Here, too, the reduction in brain white matter volume is directly proportional to the amount of ambient air pollutants. The report cites another study of 943 people (52% women) with an average age of 68 in New England and New York, which also showed a decrease in brain volume associated with air pollutants. This latter study noted a one-year premature aging of the brain. The difference between the New York-New England study and the Southern California study is the short duration of their studies. The latter lasted for seven years (seven times longer than the latter). The California researchers attribute the changes in the women’s brains to a decrease in white matter in the brain related to particulate matter. This decrease in white matter was seen in most different parts of the brain. Although the capitalist government in Iran and its colorful environmental institutions do not spend even a dime on researching air pollution and its destructive effects on the health of the masses, it is not necessary to explain, considering what has been said in this text, that similar conditions in the major cities of Iran, from Tehran with 165 days of unhealthy, smoky and dark air per year, Kermanshah with 710 micrograms per cubic meter of polluting particles in the air for a long time of 46 days per year, the cities of Khuzestan with 66 times the international permissible limit of pollutants in the air, the severe air pollution of the cities around the declining Lake Urmia, to the air of the cities of Sistan and Baluchestan province whose pollution is 35 times the international standard, from Isfahan, filled with traffic smoke, factories and dust, can yield very shocking and deplorable results. Capitalism has made more progress in the art of disguising the poverty and misery of the working class than in disguising its own environmental damage and disease. It may be funny, or indeed too much, that in all the reports and research mentioned in the above lines, from beginning to end, there is talk of philanthropy and what efforts are being made for the environment, what organizations, institutes, circles and assemblies are being created with astronomical budgets to save humanity, how the officials of capitalist governments are reducing the amount of damage caused by air pollution! How they create very prosperous and healthy living conditions for the working masses!! And such nonsense is being talked about! Covering up the dimensions of the misery of the working class and all that capital brings upon the working masses of the world is the routine work of the capitalist class and the governments of all countries and the common feature of the global bourgeoisie. In this passage, Iranian capitalism and its government do not even need to camouflage environmental destruction because what is obvious, what need be said, as a result, it has even made itself comfortable with research and has not given itself a single riyal of the huge volume of added values to this work. The workers of Iran know very well that in capitalist relations of production nothing can and should not prevent the production of profit, any obstacle to this must be ruthlessly removed. This is the melody of capital in all its forms and colours. The Islamic Republic of capital acts in its own way. The capitalists of Europe and America, with their governments and environmental organizations and their mushroom growth, are sending a message to the workers with demagoguery that everything is under control. What is vital is that capital increases more and more rapidly and profits become more and more galactic. If this is the history of capitalism and continues to be so, how sad it would be if millions of workers in the world and their wives and children were sacrificed in various ways, including through the invasion of all kinds of diseases born of capital’s profiteering. In their logic, politicians, bosses and managers guarantee the health of the climate and society by enacting the necessary laws! Just as they try to make the system of slavery seem like an eternal reality, they also make the presence of disease-causing pollutants in the air we breathe, and the presence of toxins and dirt in the food and goods we consume seem very natural! The production and spread of deadly environmental pollution is an integral part of the process of capital appreciation. From the perspective of the owners of capital, what should remain is capital and profits, and what should be sacrificed is human beings. This is the logic of capital in any form of planning, order, and type of government. The debate is about a radical change in this situation. A great historical event that is the task of the workers of the world. History stands at a great crossroads. Either capitalism must be destroyed or humanity must be sacrificed.