Robert Leonard research blog.

What Can You do to Prevent Air Pollution in Your Home?

When most of you think about air pollution you may imagine things like those big trucks that you see all the time on the road or smoke from a power plant that maybe by your house. Air pollution is a number of bad things in the air that are bad for you and your family's health. The place where you probably don't expect to find air pollution is your house. I'm not saying that there is a truck inside your house or that your house is a power plant. but houses have their own kind of air pollution than that of the kind of outside. this blog is to tell you that you have the ability to help prevent your house from being polluted.

Figure 1. Parents smoking inside.

One of the many ways that you can help out around the house is the banning of smoking in the house (1). If one or both of both your parents smoke inside the house, you can ask them to go outside to smoke. Cigarette smoke can be just as harmful to the person smoking it as the people around them, but you and anyone else in the house. smoking can cause people to have more ear infections, coughs and cold, and breathing problems (3). But if you ask them to smoke outside you can help stop them from polluting the air in your house. 

A second way for you to help prevent air pollution in your house is simply opening a window (1). Although it sounds easy, opening a window allows fresh air to come into the house to replace the old stale air that was there before.

Figure 2. Bathing your dog.

The third way you can help reduce air pollution at home is to give your dog a bath. Giving your dog a bath at least once a week reduces the amount of dandruff that he might have floating around in the air (1). some people have allergies to dogs and that's because of their dandruff. Also, I know that it may be hard but it's better not to have your dog sleep in your bed with you. It spreads their dandruff. If you or a someone in your family has an allergy to dogs or asthma it can be bad for them to sleep with the dog (1). He might not enjoy it but it's better for everyone else if he's clean. Dogs are also easier to give a bath to than a cat.

Figure 3. Kids dirty shoes

Do you take off your shoes when coming back into the house? You should take shoes off at the door prevents the spreading of microorganisms. Microorganisms are tiny little things that can make people sick. Not taking your shoes off also brings into the house outdoor chemicals that shouldn't be in the house (2). A chemical is a thing like fertilizer your dad might use in the yard to grow things like grass and other plants. And you don't want that in your house. Also, mom will not be too happy if you walk around the house in dirty shoes. So, it's better to just take them off at the door to be safe. Especially if your shoes look like they do in figure 3.

What can you do to prevent air pollution in your house turns out to be a lot. From making your parents smoke outside so they don't dirty the air inside. And doing simple things you can do like opening windows in your house and taking your shoes off when coming into the house. Also, although he might not like it giving your dog a bath. These are great ways for you to keep the air in your house clean. So when you get home these are some of the ways you can help out.


If you're interested and want to know more go to this link to learn more. http://eschooltoday.com/pollution/air-pollution/what-is-indoor-air-pollution.html

References.

1. Farrell, M. H. website “13 Ways to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution.” Consumer Reports, (28 Sept. 2017), (https://www.consumerreports.org/indoor-air-quality/ways-to-reduce-indoor-air-pollution/)
2.  Lungs, Breathing and Allergy team website. (2015). 17 Simple ways to prevent air pollution in your home. (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/09/17-simple-ways-prevent-air-pollution-home/)
3. Healthy Children website (2017). (https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/tobacco/Pages/Dangers-of-Secondhand-Smoke.aspx)