6 ms·

For those looking to change something today, for themselves, consider indoor air pollution and your contribution to it inside your own home with various househo

For those looking to change something today, for themselves, consider indoor air pollution and your contribution to it inside your own home with various household "cleaning" chemicals and "fragrances". I have been to several communities which are entirely fragrance free, including entire towns (rules for public spaces) but it's still behind the threshold of public awareness outside of "canaries" and their allies and a few NYTimes articles. Google is your friend on this issue, WHO and EPA have information pages about it.

giuliomagnifico 4y ago
Europe is doing the best to mitigate the pollution, but Europe produces only 8% of global pollution. China and India should do something, but instead they’re doing almost nothing.
- murderfs 4y ago
  "We did all of our polluting in the past and achieved our industrialization already, why doesn't everyone else just choose to stay poor?"
  - adrianN 4y ago
    Industrialization can be achieved with less pollution today than two hundred years ago. You're allowed to skip some steps and immediately start with clean technology.
- hedora 4y ago
  They've outsourced the vast majority of their air pollution to India and China, but still somehow produce 8% of global pollution. One way to fix this is to change international trade agreements to place producers under the environmental (and human rights) jurisdictions of the places where their goods are ultimately sold. It would force a race to the top instead of the current race to the bottom.
- tsol 4y ago
  And where are Europe's cheap goods being made?
Arrath 4y ago
I've always been a proponent of fragrance free products, had a disdain of 'air fresheners' etc. I need to find some sources to try to help convince my GF. WHO and EPA it is! Thanks.
aaron695 4y ago
> fragrance free > WHO and EPA have information pages about it. This is wrong. Where does WHO say this?
- forgotmypw17 4y ago
  EPA: https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality > Cleaning supplies, paints, insecticides, and other commonly used products introduce many different chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, directly into the indoor air. > Health effects associated with indoor air pollutants include: > Irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. > Headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. > Respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer. ===== WHO: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/156970/euro_series_78.pdf https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/156970/... > Many air pollutants in the indoor environment are present in mixtures at low concentrations of each of the compounds, thus providing simultaneous multiple exposure. This is typically the case with volatile organic compounds (VOC). Indoor air sam- ples may typically contain 50 VOC each in concentrations of 1-100 mg/m’>. > Few of these VOC are covered by air quality guidelines. Fur- ther, such guidelines mostly refer to the health effects associated with cach individual compound. No general procedure exists for setting such guidelines for the indoor environment. Also, no pro- vision is made for assessing combined exposure to mixtures of VOC and for predicting the health and comlort effects originat- ing from such simultancous multiple exposures. > Given the increasing concern for the quality of indoor envi- ronments, which is triggered in part by the large number of build- ings in which occupants report health and comfort problems, adequate methods are needed to assess the effects on health and comfort of exposure to multiple air pollutants. Three types of procedure can be envisaged for such assessment. > One approach is the use of sensory effects, such as odour and sensory irritation, as substitutes for possible health and comfort effects. A second approach could be to add together the risks of causing health and comlort eflects for each individual compound (as for the occupational environment). These approaches have not yet been developed to a level that can be recommended for general use in indoor environments.
  - aaron695 4y ago

giuliomagnifico 4y ago

Europe is doing the best to mitigate the pollution, but Europe produces only 8% of global pollution. China and India should do something, but instead they’re doing almost nothing.

murderfs 4y ago
"We did all of our polluting in the past and achieved our industrialization already, why doesn't everyone else just choose to stay poor?"
- adrianN 4y ago
  Industrialization can be achieved with less pollution today than two hundred years ago. You're allowed to skip some steps and immediately start with clean technology.
hedora 4y ago
They've outsourced the vast majority of their air pollution to India and China, but still somehow produce 8% of global pollution. One way to fix this is to change international trade agreements to place producers under the environmental (and human rights) jurisdictions of the places where their goods are ultimately sold. It would force a race to the top instead of the current race to the bottom.
tsol 4y ago
And where are Europe's cheap goods being made?

Arrath 4y ago

I've always been a proponent of fragrance free products, had a disdain of 'air fresheners' etc. I need to find some sources to try to help convince my GF. WHO and EPA it is! Thanks.

aaron695 4y ago

> fragrance free > WHO and EPA have information pages about it. This is wrong. Where does WHO say this?

forgotmypw17 4y ago
EPA: https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality https://www.epa.gov/report-environment/indoor-air-quality > Cleaning supplies, paints, insecticides, and other commonly used products introduce many different chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, directly into the indoor air. > Health effects associated with indoor air pollutants include: > Irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. > Headaches, dizziness, and fatigue. > Respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer. ===== WHO: https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/156970/euro_series_78.pdf https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/156970/... > Many air pollutants in the indoor environment are present in mixtures at low concentrations of each of the compounds, thus providing simultaneous multiple exposure. This is typically the case with volatile organic compounds (VOC). Indoor air sam- ples may typically contain 50 VOC each in concentrations of 1-100 mg/m’>. > Few of these VOC are covered by air quality guidelines. Fur- ther, such guidelines mostly refer to the health effects associated with cach individual compound. No general procedure exists for setting such guidelines for the indoor environment. Also, no pro- vision is made for assessing combined exposure to mixtures of VOC and for predicting the health and comlort effects originat- ing from such simultancous multiple exposures. > Given the increasing concern for the quality of indoor envi- ronments, which is triggered in part by the large number of build- ings in which occupants report health and comfort problems, adequate methods are needed to assess the effects on health and comfort of exposure to multiple air pollutants. Three types of procedure can be envisaged for such assessment. > One approach is the use of sensory effects, such as odour and sensory irritation, as substitutes for possible health and comfort effects. A second approach could be to add together the risks of causing health and comlort eflects for each individual compound (as for the occupational environment). These approaches have not yet been developed to a level that can be recommended for general use in indoor environments.
- aaron695 4y ago