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0:00
Think of all the things you can
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do in 10 minutes or less. Scroll
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through social media, check your bank balance,
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make a sandwich, or learn about the
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surprising economics behind all these things. The
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Indicator from Plan of Money is a quick
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hit of insight into the economics of business,
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work, and everyday life. Every weekday
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in less than 10 minutes. Listen now to
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the Indicator podcast from NPR. You're listening
0:21
to Life Kit from
0:24
NPR. Hey,
0:27
everybody. It's Marielle Sagara. Not
0:29
too long ago, a report came out about
0:32
gas stoves. When you cook
0:34
with them, they emit pollutants like nitrogen
0:36
dioxide. And the report estimated that about
0:38
13% of current childhood
0:40
asthma cases in the US are
0:43
attributable to gas stove use. Suddenly,
0:46
it seemed like everybody was talking about gas stoves
0:48
and how you really need to be ventilating if
0:50
you have one. And I
0:52
honestly didn't know that. Never thought
0:54
about it. Don't have a fan over my
0:56
stove, and I wasn't opening the window consistently
0:58
when I cooked. I remember thinking,
1:01
oh my god, I've been poisoning myself
1:04
this whole time. Fact
1:06
check? No. However,
1:08
I have probably been exposing myself
1:10
to gases that might exacerbate respiratory
1:12
illness over time. When
1:15
we talk about health risks from the environment,
1:17
things get confusing and overwhelming fast. It's hard
1:19
to know just how big of a deal
1:21
these risks are, and also what
1:24
changes you need to make, and when you're going
1:26
overboard. But that's what we do here at LifeKit.
1:28
We help you figure this stuff out. So
1:31
in this episode, we're going to talk about
1:33
indoor air quality. With the help of researchers,
1:35
we will give you five practical ways to
1:37
improve your air quality at home, including tips
1:40
on how to clean your house, how to
1:42
choose an air filter, and how to test
1:44
your air. A quick
1:46
note here. One thing we're not going to
1:49
talk about in this episode is preventing the
1:51
spread of diseases or airborne viruses like COVID,
1:53
but NPR has done a ton of reporting
1:55
on that, so check it out. Support
2:04
for this NPR podcast and the
2:06
following message come from Amgen, a
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biotechnology pioneer leading the fight against
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the world's toughest diseases such as
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cancer, heart disease, asthma, and osteoporosis.
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In a new era of human
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health, Amgen continues to accelerate the
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pace of change, operating sustainably and
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drawing upon deep knowledge of science
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to push beyond what's known today.
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With each decade, they reliably deliver
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powerful new therapies to patients. Learn
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more at amgen.com. The
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following message comes from NPR
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sponsor MassMutual. The MassMutual Foundation
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empowers local nonprofits to increase
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financial resilience in their communities.
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Board member Dorothy Varen explains
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why building these partnerships is
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key. There's an interdependence
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between financial wherewithal, which the
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foundation can bring to bear,
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and leaning on partners who can
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be in the community, helping us
2:59
identify solutions, helping us identify other
3:01
partners to work with, Visit
3:03
massmutual.com/foundation to learn
3:06
more. When Argentina
3:08
won the World Cup, it meant so much
3:10
to so many people. But there's one person
3:12
in particular for whom it meant
3:15
everything. Soccer legend Lionel
3:17
Messi. In The Last Cup, a
3:19
bilingual podcast series, I explore why.
3:22
Listen now to The Last Cup
3:24
podcast from NPR and Fuduto Studios.
3:28
All right. If you want to improve the indoor
3:30
air quality in your house, one
3:33
of the first things to think about is the pollution
3:35
that's coming from inside. Andrea
3:37
Farrow is an environmental engineering professor
3:39
at Clarkson University and she focuses
3:42
on indoor air quality. She
3:44
says because of the things we
3:46
do in our houses, cooking, cleaning,
3:48
home improvement projects, we
3:50
have lots of pollution sources indoors.
3:54
And if you think about it, the volume
3:56
of air that the pollutants can mix in
3:58
is much smaller indoors than outdoors. So
4:00
if you walk away from this episode with
4:02
one piece of advice, I hope it's this.
4:05
Ventilate. That's right. It
4:07
may seem obvious, but we've got to say it.
4:09
You want fresh air? Open the
4:12
windows. We love a cross breeze. And if
4:14
you have one, maybe in your bathroom or
4:16
over your stove, turn on a fan that
4:18
vents outside. Make a habit of
4:20
this. Especially when you're doing something
4:23
that releases pollutants into the air. A
4:25
very common indoor air polluting activity? Cooking.
4:29
Look, cooking at home is a great choice.
4:31
It's often cheaper and healthier, but it can
4:34
release pollutants and particles into the air. This
4:36
is especially true if you use a gas
4:39
stove, because that means you're burning fossil fuel
4:41
in your house. Jeff
4:43
Brady is a correspondent on NPR's Climate Desk,
4:45
and he's been covering this topic. He
4:48
says, according to health experts, the biggest
4:50
indoor air quality concern with gas stoves
4:52
is nitrogen dioxide. And there is
4:54
some research that shows in homes with gas stoves,
4:56
kids have about a 20% increased risk of developing
5:01
respiratory illness. And
5:03
recently, there was a peer-reviewed study that found that
5:05
more than 12% of
5:07
current childhood asthma in the US is attributable
5:10
to gas stove use. So
5:13
the risk is highest for kids and for people with
5:15
lung diseases. If you're a healthy adult...
5:17
A lot of the researchers and epidemiologists I've
5:19
talked to over the last year and a
5:21
half, I've been covering this story, they say
5:24
you probably don't have a lot to worry
5:26
about, especially if you have one
5:28
of these hoods over your
5:30
range that vents all of those pollutants
5:32
outdoors. If you don't have one of
5:34
those, opening a window could help. The
5:37
experts we talked to said you also
5:39
want to ventilate when you burn things,
5:41
like incense, or when you spray cleaning
5:43
products, or use personal care products that
5:45
create fumes, like nail polish remover, because
5:47
all of those things can pollute the
5:49
air. We do have a caveat here.
5:51
Before you open a window, check the
5:54
outdoor air quality in the place you
5:56
live, because there are lots of pollutants
5:58
outside too. Ozone. fine
6:00
particulates, smoke from wildfires, biological
6:03
pollutants like pollen, and while
6:06
it's important to ventilate in general, you may
6:08
realize that right now you need to close
6:10
your windows. Okay,
6:12
number two. Keep your
6:14
house as dust free as possible. Dust
6:17
is made up of a lot of things. Fibers
6:19
from clothing and rugs, hair,
6:22
dead skin cells. I know, don't
6:24
think I bad it too much. But
6:26
also chemicals, for instance, from
6:28
your shoes. As you walk
6:31
around outside, you're picking up all kinds
6:33
of things on your feet. Some of
6:35
those pollutants include road dust,
6:37
you know, so heavy metals and other
6:39
things that end up in the road,
6:42
and then also pesticides
6:44
from lawn applications or
6:46
other applications. You don't need to
6:48
be licking your floors to ingest this
6:50
stuff. That's right. So, you know, once
6:52
those pollutants are part of the dust,
6:54
you can kick up the dust quite
6:57
easily and breathe it. An
6:59
easy fix? Take off your shoes at the door
7:01
of your house. And hey, bonus,
7:03
when you do this, you're much less likely
7:05
to find yourself on your hands and knees
7:08
scraping a piece of chewed gum off your
7:10
hardwood floor. Type into me. Also,
7:13
dust your home regularly. I think
7:16
the best way is just avoiding
7:18
dry dusting. So if you have
7:21
a damp cloth, that's the best
7:23
because you're not then putting
7:25
the dust back into the
7:27
air. Caro says you should also get
7:30
yourself a good vacuum with a
7:32
HEPA filter if possible. That stands
7:34
for High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter.
7:37
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, those
7:39
can theoretically remove at least 99.97% of
7:41
dust, pollen, mold, bacteria, and many other
7:47
airborne particles. When you're
7:49
cleaning, remember to open a window. And also
7:52
think about what cleaning fluids you're using
7:54
and any potential health risks associated with
7:56
them. Maybe try using vinegar or dish
7:58
soap as a little bit. elbow grease first.
8:01
See if that works. The other
8:03
thing to look for when you're cleaning, and this is our
8:05
number three, is mold. You've
8:08
probably seen it in your bathroom. It can
8:10
also grow on surfaces like drywall and paint
8:12
and even in dust. Nellie
8:14
Brown is a certified industrial hygienist
8:17
and a director of Workplace Health
8:19
and Safety programs at Cornell University.
8:22
Most of the time what draws people's
8:24
attention to the fact that there might
8:26
be a mold issue. It's either some
8:28
type of odor, a moldy
8:30
or musty odor, or they see
8:33
signs of water damage.
8:36
They see floor tiles lifting up
8:38
or wallpaper coming off. They
8:41
see stains coming through drywall or
8:43
showing up on ceiling tiles or
8:45
on ceilings. The problem
8:47
is mold releases spores into the
8:49
air that can cause allergic reactions or
8:51
trigger asthma symptoms. Brown
8:53
says if you have visible mold, your first step
8:55
is to figure out what's causing it. Is there
8:58
a leak under your sink or maybe in your
9:00
ceiling? Where is the moisture coming
9:02
from? You'll want to fix that and
9:04
then figure out how big of a cleanup job you've
9:06
got. The EPA says that if the
9:09
moldy patch is less than 10 square feet,
9:11
so that's about three foot by three foot,
9:13
you can probably handle it yourself. Brown
9:16
says you should also consider where the water
9:18
damage came from before you make repairs.
9:21
If the sources of the water is
9:23
one in which you are
9:25
going to find yourself needing to sue
9:28
someone, a landlord or someone
9:30
did a bad repair on your sewer line
9:33
or something, then you really want
9:35
to have a report from a licensed
9:37
mold inspector before
9:39
you do any remediation work. If
9:42
you do the cleanup yourself, she suggests putting
9:44
on some goggles, rubber gloves, and an N95
9:47
respirator. Then if the mold
9:49
is on a hard surface, scrub it down with dish
9:51
washing soap and water. A lot of
9:53
people think bleach is the answer to everything
9:55
and the reality is all that happens is
9:57
people get more bleach expensive.
10:00
inhalation exposure to it, accidental
10:03
higher skin exposure. It's a
10:05
very harsh material and
10:08
it's usually a lot more than people
10:10
really need. Now the goal here
10:12
is to make sure you're removing the mold. So
10:14
if it's a porous surface like drywall you may
10:16
have to cut out a section and if
10:19
we're talking about something like fabric upholstery you
10:22
just need to throw it out. A lot of
10:24
things you know you just can't salvage. And
10:26
then you can prevent mold in the future
10:28
by keeping your house as dry as possible.
10:31
One tip from Brown, think carefully
10:33
before you get a humidifier. I'm
10:36
always very cautious when people say, wow
10:38
you know it's been such a dry
10:40
winter I'm thinking of adding a humidifier.
10:42
Well here's the problem. If I were
10:44
you I would think about
10:47
how many days of dry weather you
10:49
really think you can't tolerate because the
10:51
problem is when you start
10:53
then adding moisture to the air
10:55
you can end up with condensation
10:57
and start creating mold problems you
10:59
don't want. Alright so while you're cleaning
11:02
surfaces around the house why not
11:04
clean the air too? That's number
11:06
four. Get yourself an air cleaner or
11:08
make one. Air cleaners
11:10
are machines that filter the air in
11:12
your home. You'll want to get
11:14
one with a HEPA filter that'll remove fine particles.
11:17
Even better if the filter also has
11:19
activated carbon in it because that can
11:21
trap volatile organic compounds in the air
11:23
like the kind that come from paints
11:25
or cleaning products. Caro says
11:27
when you're buying an air cleaner pay attention to
11:30
its clean air delivery rate
11:32
basically how much what
11:34
square footage of area that it will clean that
11:36
can tell you if you need a bigger machine
11:38
or maybe a few of them. If
11:41
you're looking for a more budget friendly way to filter your
11:43
air there are instructions for how to build
11:45
one online and one of the experts we
11:47
talked to recommended that. Okay
11:50
number five on our list is
11:52
test your air. Air sensors
11:54
can measure the levels of pollutants
11:56
in your home. Things like fine
11:58
particles, ozone, carbon. dioxide and
12:01
nitrogen dioxide. And if
12:03
you buy a sensor, you can use it to get
12:05
smarter about what you do at home and when you
12:07
need to ventilate. Farro says you might be surprised by
12:09
what you learn. Like, she lives on
12:12
a bus route, and one time she had students come
12:14
to her house to show them the impact that would
12:16
have on her air quality. I had
12:18
students come to my house, they said, well, the
12:20
buses are coming by every day. So you
12:23
will see the increase in the particulate
12:25
matter indoors in my house. And so
12:28
we put the sensors in the house,
12:30
or at this point it was more
12:33
expensive monitors. And really what we
12:35
could see more than the buses was us making
12:38
tea, turning on the stove. It
12:42
was a much bigger signal than
12:44
having, you know, 25, 30
12:47
buses drive by my house idling because
12:49
I lived in there at the stop
12:51
sign. So that was quite interesting because the buses
12:53
are an outdoor source, so only
12:55
some of that makes it indoors, but that
12:58
stove is an indoor source. And
13:00
so the pollutant levels rose very
13:02
quickly. Farro's family had just moved
13:04
into the house, so they didn't have a range hood
13:06
over the gas stove yet, but she got
13:08
one after that. But again, you've got
13:11
to make changes that are possible for you. If you
13:13
can't afford to install a fan over the
13:15
stove, maybe you start opening a window and
13:17
using other appliances when you can, like an
13:20
electric tea kettle to heat water. If you
13:23
are looking for an air sensor, the EPA
13:25
has a website with suggestions. And Farro says
13:28
the Air Pollution Control Agency for Southern California
13:30
has also tested the quality of air sensors
13:32
on the market, and you can find those
13:34
results on its website. She says
13:37
keep in mind, some air sensors are not
13:39
the most user-friendly because they spit out an
13:41
overwhelming amount of data without telling you what
13:43
it all means. These air quality
13:45
sensors typically will give you a reading
13:47
every minute, so you know, after
13:50
a day, you've got a 1,440
13:52
reading. So what do you do
13:54
with all this? So
13:57
I suggest using a company or
14:00
working with a company that also helps you
14:02
interpret the data. One
14:04
pollutant that your air sensor might not pick
14:06
up but you should consider testing for is
14:09
radon. Radon is a
14:11
naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes
14:13
from bits of uranium that are
14:15
decaying in our soil, our rocks,
14:17
and our water. It seeps
14:19
into our homes through cracks in the floor
14:22
and the walls or gaps or on pipes
14:24
and it can cause lung cancer over time.
14:27
According to the CDC it's actually the
14:29
second leading cause of lung cancer in
14:31
the US after cigarette smoking. It's
14:34
hard to get rid of radon entirely but you
14:36
can lower your risk. First though you'll want to
14:39
find out how bad the problem is and you
14:41
can do that with an at-home radon test
14:43
kit. You'll order it online, set it on
14:46
a table for two to three days and
14:48
then mail it back. In some states
14:50
you can get a test kit for free, that's what I
14:52
just did in New York, and you can also
14:54
buy one for $17 from National Radon Program Services,
14:58
a partnership between the EPA and
15:00
the University of Kansas. If
15:02
your radon levels are higher than the
15:04
EPA's recommended threshold, the agency suggests that
15:07
you hire a contractor to fix your
15:09
home because it does require some technical
15:11
knowledge and special skills and if you
15:13
do it wrong you could make the
15:15
problem worse. If you do
15:17
take on the work some state radon offices
15:20
offer training courses. One
15:22
thing we want to note here is that
15:24
we understand it may be harder to do
15:26
things like get a radon remediation or a
15:28
mold cleanup professional if you rent than if
15:30
you own because you've got to get
15:32
your landlord involved and they might be slow to respond
15:34
or they might say it's not really a problem. That's
15:37
why testing or getting official estimates can
15:39
be really helpful but this is
15:41
a bigger conversation and it's a topic for
15:43
another episode of LifeKit. Lucky
15:46
for you we do have an episode
15:48
about how to be an empowered renter so
15:50
check that out. Okay
15:53
it's time for a recap. A
15:55
few simple things you can do to improve the
15:57
air quality in your home. Open
16:00
the windows. Keep your house
16:02
as dust free as possible. That
16:05
means take off your shoes at the door. Clean
16:07
up your mold. Buy an
16:09
air cleaner or make one. And
16:11
test your air. In particular, get yourself
16:14
a radon test kit. And
16:16
look, you don't have to do all of these things.
16:18
We live in the world. Risks are everywhere. And
16:21
we're never gonna create a 100% safe environment. But
16:25
this is about being safer and making
16:27
trade-offs and smart choices when you can.
16:32
For more Life Kit, check out our other
16:34
episodes. We've got one on how to
16:36
make hybrid work successful and another on
16:39
how to raise happy houseplants. You can
16:41
find those at npr.org/Life Kit. And if
16:43
you love Life Kit and want even
16:45
more, subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org
16:48
slash Life Kit newsletter. This
16:54
episode of Life Kit was produced by
16:56
Thomas Liu and Mia Venkat. Our visuals
16:58
editor is Beck Harlan. And our digital
17:00
editor is Malika Grebe. Meghan
17:03
Kane is our supervising editor and Beth Donovan
17:05
is our executive producer. Our
17:07
production team also includes Andy Tagle,
17:09
Audrey Wynn, Claire Marie Schneider and
17:11
Sylvie Douglas. Engineering support
17:13
comes from Neil T. Vault. I'm
17:15
Mary Elsigara. Thanks for listening. Every
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weekday, NPR's best political reporters come to you on
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