For context, this is kid me from the time I got tested for lead. He would want every kid to have a lead free future.

(He would also want some cake, what he's celebrating here. But who among us...)

But globally? The picture is still devastating. 600-800 million children worldwide—1 in 3 kids on the planet—have blood lead levels of at least 5 mcg/dL. That's roughly the entire population of Europe. India alone has ~200 million affected children.

Progress in the US has been extraordinary. Mean blood lead levels in US kids dropped 95% from the late 1970s to 2016. Only 1% of kids under 11 now have levels above 5 mcg/dL (vs 99%+ in the late 70s). The CDC called it a top 10 public health achievement of the 21st century.

Chicago was hit especially hard. Between 1993-1998, the city had to test 33-59% of kids under 7 EVERY YEAR. Chicago youth were 2-4x more likely to have severely elevated lead levels compared to the rest of Illinois.

I still remember getting my blood drawn for lead testing as an elementary schooler in Chicago. I was just under the intervention threshold of 10 mcg/dL. Many of my classmates weren't so lucky. Today, lead poisoning continues to afflict 800 million kids worldwide. 🧵

I'm uncertain about how best to help improve the world, but I also know it would be naive to think everyone shares this vision.

After all, Lincoln originally proclaimed "charity for all" during the middle of a civil war!

Still this mandate is hard! I have real uncertainty about what to do.

At my day job, at Rethink Priorities, we've worked with a huge range of actors which includes GiveWell and Charity Navigator but also farm animal welfare, nuclear risk, and how to make decisions in the face of moral uncertainty.

Broadly, I try to apply the principles of effective altruism, namely caring about the scope of how much good you can do, trying to be impartial, and explicitly recognizing there are tradeoffs to make as you can't support every cause. But this isn't a panacea.

These are guidelines, not dictates.

That I work to do the same doesn't make me special. What I think does distinguish me a bit is how I approach doing good. I think we should seek to help improve the world as much as is viable.

This means not treating the accident of my birthplace as important. It means prioritizing based on need.

Millions of people get up every day and try to make the world a better place. This includes people from all walks of life. From people protesting governments, to those battling homelessness in wealthy countries, to those in low income countries working tirelessly to improve child nutrition.

I mean this man’s brain is cooked. This is caveating nonsense but he seems to think it is reasonable for some people to conclude that plane crashes could be linked to DEI