Air Pollution Solutions: How to Reduce Your Exposure
Air pollution can be easy to dismiss as just another part of modern life, something we know is bad, but don’t always feel day to day. Unlike sickness or car crashes, for example, its effects can be harder to recognize. That’s part of why many people only take action when air quality suddenly worsens like during wildfire smoke events or pollution spikes.
But air pollution isn’t just an occasional issue. It’s something we encounter every day, both indoors and outdoors. So the question is: instead of being reactionary to in-your-face air pollution events, how can we be proactive in creating air pollution solutions and reducing our exposure to poor air quality?
A Brief Overview of Common Pollutant Sources
Before we look at ways to reduce exposure, it’s helpful to understand where air pollution comes from.
Air pollution comes from a variety of sources that differ depending on where you live and whether the air is indoors or outdoors. In urban areas, high population density, transportation, and industry, such as vehicles, factories, and power plants, are the primary contributors, leading to elevated levels of smog and harmful pollutants. Rural areas, by contrast, face challenges from agricultural emissions, including methane and ammonia from livestock, as well as dust from unpaved roads.
Outdoor air quality is also affected by natural sources like wildfires, volcanoes, and windblown dust, while indoor air pollution often stems from outdoor infiltration and everyday household activities such as cooking, heating, and cleaning. Recognizing these diverse sources, urban or rural, indoor or outdoor, is key to improving air quality and taking steps to protect both personal health and the environment.
Defining Air Pollution Solutions: How to Reduce Your Exposure
Reducing your exposure to air pollution involves two key steps:
- Minimizing outdoor exposure.
- Improving indoor air quality.
The reason these two steps need to be separated and clearly defined is that the strategies for addressing air pollution indoors and outdoors differ significantly. Indoors, you generally have control over your environment, allowing you to take steps to reduce or even eliminate sources of air pollution. Outdoors, however, the situation is quite different: you can’t control most pollution sources. As a result, outdoor air quality strategies focus more on minimizing your exposure rather than eliminating the pollutants themselves.
Outdoor Mitigation
As mentioned in the previous paragraph, you generally have little control over sources of air pollution outdoors. You can’t influence the emissions from a nearby power plant or stop a wildfire from producing smoke, these are factors beyond your control. What you can control, however, are your own actions and choices. So, instead of focusing on what you can't control, solutions focus on what’s within your power. You can take meaningful steps to protect yourself. The following suggestions provide a framework to help you make informed decisions when navigating outdoor environments with poor air quality.
- Check Real-Time Air Quality: Use air quality maps and sensors, such as PurpleAir, to see real-time air quality levels before spending time outside.
- Identify Hyper-Local Sources: Be aware of localized pollutants that may not show up on a regional air quality map, such as neighbors burning trash, smoking, or nearby grilling. These can dramatically increase exposure in your immediate area.
- Adjust Activities Based on Conditions: Avoid strenuous outdoor activities such as exercise or lawn care, when air quality levels are poor. Focus on remaining inside or moving to a clean air environment. If you need to be outside, consider shorter durations or rescheduling.
- Avoid Polluted Micorenvironments: Certain areas, such as near busy roads, are called microenvironments. Avoid running, biking, or walking in these areas when possible. If you’re in a car, keep your windows closed and set air circulation to “recirculate” to prevent pollutants from entering.
Indoor Mitigation
Indoors, you do have some control over your environment. This means that instead of just changing how you interact with air pollution, indoor solutions focus more on eliminating pollution sources and actually improving air quality. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there are three primary strategies for improving indoor air quality: source control, improved ventilation, and air cleaners/filters.
Source Control
Source control means identifying and removing sources of indoor air pollution. As mentioned earlier, there are many potential culprits. Cooking, for instance, can produce smoke and fine particles, while burning candles or using a fireplace releases similar pollutants. Take a look around your home or workspace and think about which sources might apply, are there any you can reduce or eliminate?
If you love the cozy glow of candles, consider switching to a non-combustion option, like an electric candle. You’ll get the same ambiance without adding pollutants to the air.
Improved Ventilation
When it’s not possible to eliminate a pollution source completely, like when you’re cooking, the next best step is to improve ventilation. Open doors and windows to let cleaner air circulate through your space. If you have a range hood or kitchen fan, turn it on while cooking to help vent out smoke and fumes.
The EPA recommends taking as many of these steps as possible during short-term activities that can produce high levels of pollutants, such as cooking or cleaning.
Before opening up your home, though, make sure that outdoor air quality is actually better than what’s indoors. You can use the steps from earlier to check air quality levels first, if outdoor air is worse, you’ll want to keep it out instead of letting it in.
Air Cleaners/Filters
If removing sources and improving ventilation aren’t enough, air cleaners and filters can help. These devices pull air through filters that trap various pollutants and particles, leaving your indoor air cleaner.
You don’t have to spend a lot to get results: DIY box fan air purifiers can be surprisingly effective and affordable alternatives to expensive brand-name units.
Air pollution may sometimes be easy to dismiss, but its impact on health is real and lasting. However, a few small, informed choices can dramatically reduce your exposure.
By staying aware of real-time air quality, eliminating indoor sources, and using filtration wisely, you can take control of the air you breathe every day.