Wander With Wild Things

A new study reported at National Geographic News shows that inhaling polluted air (like that normally encountered in cities, that grey haze we have all witnessed) can mutate your DNA in as little as 3 days. This can lead to cancer and other respiratory and cardiac problems.

Awesome.

You could just hold your breath. But then, chances are, asphyxiation will take a lot less than 3 days. So, breathe we must then.

Folic acid (vitamin B9, found in leafy vegetables such as spinach, turnip greens, lettuces, dried/fresh beans and peas, fortified cereal products, sunflower seeds and certain other fruits and vegetable) has promise, showing that it slows down the damage done by pollutants, so keep that one in your diet.

More importantly, we need to put our foot down and demand that air pollution is reduced. Less driving, stricter emissions rules, cleaner energy sources -- be noisy and be noisy often. It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease, so you, wanderers, need to squeak at your elected officials in counties, cities, states, and in Washington to make these issues a priority.