Should We All Be ‘#HouseBurping’?

The German practice of “#lüften” is gaining traction on social media. It may improve your home #AirQuality.

By Dorie Chevlen, Jan. 29, 2026

Excerpt: "Experts say lüften actually works. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends opening windows to reduce the concentration of volatile organic compounds [#VOCs] in the home, which are released by a vast array of household items, including furniture, mattresses, cosmetics and cleaning products. These compounds can cause adverse reactions like headaches, itchy eyes and breathing problems.

"According to Dr. Parham Azimi, research associate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, there’s also reason to believe airing out a home regularly could help control household #mold. In his research, keeping windows closed correlated with a higher likelihood of mold.

"Dr. Joshua Nosanchuk, a professor and microbiology researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and an infectious disease physician at Montefiore Health System, said that better #ventilation could eliminate many airborne toxins that cause people irritation in the U.S. 'Part of the problem is that we hermetically seal our houses. We don’t want the air conditioning to get out and we don’t want the heat to get it out,' he said. 'No one opens their windows.' "

Learn more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/realestate/what-is-house-burping-luften.html

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/pWByt

#SolarPunkSunday #FreshAir #Nature #VentilateYourHomes #AirExchange

6 Things to Know About Sheep’s #WoolInsulation

When it’s time to update your home’s insulation, consider what sheep’s wool has to offer.

By Alexa Erickson, Mar 24, 2021

"Sheep’s wool insulation uses a natural fiber base.

Among the most popular insulation materials today are #fiberglass and #rockwool (also known as mineral wool). Both consist of man-made fibers spun from, as their names suggest, molten glass or minerals such as basalt or diabase. While these insulation types are considered safe by institutes such as the U.S. National Toxicology Program and the International Agency for Research on Cancer, they do contain synthetic, hairlike fibers that can break off and become airborne during installation. They also contain #formaldehyde, which is known to release volatile organic compounds (#VOCs) into the air. Both airborne fibers and formaldehyde can irritate the skin and lungs, and long-term exposure to formaldehyde may cause some types of cancer. Even spray foam insulation can be especially dangerous due to the high level of VOCs that off-gas into the air during installation and before it cures completely.

Sheep’s wool insulation starts as sheared wool that grows naturally on sheep—often wool that is deemed too coarse to make into clothing or other fabric. It is important to note, however, that it is common manufacturing practice to treat sheep’s wool insulation with additives such as boric acid to repel insects and further reduce flammability. Ammonium sulfates may also be added as a fire retardant. So while the base material is inherently natural, the sheep’s wool insulation end product is also not completely free of toxins. Both additives are considered poisonous if ingested and can cause irritation to the skin, eyes, nose, and throat. Moreover, boric acid is classified as a reproductive toxin by the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation in Europe. [Boric acid does not pollute like #PFAS though]

When installing any type of insulation in your home, always use caution and wear the protective gear recommended by the insulation manufacturer."

Learn more:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/sheeps-wool-insulation/

#SolarPunkSunday #Insulation #AnimalProducts #Wool #SprayFoamAlternatives #FiberglassAlternatives #SyntheticAlternatives

Symptom: Mast Cell Itching

https://www.illmarks.com/symptom-mast-cell-itching/

#allergicreactions #Allergies #allergy #art #bodyHorror #bodyMapping #buildingSafety #chonicillness #chronicIllness #claws #eds #ehlersdanlossyndrome #environmentalIllness #environmentalillness #fingers #formaldehyde #heds #hypermobile #hypermobility #hypermobilityspectrumdisorder #immunology #itched #itching #longCovid #longcovid #mastCell #mastCellActivationSyndrome #mastcell #mastcellactivationsyndrome #mastcelldisease #mastocytosis #mcas #medicalArt #MillionsMissing #nails #POTS #prop65 #publicHealth #publicHealth #pwLC #pwme #scratched #scratching #scratchy #severeallergy #vocs

Unser #PaperdesMonats aus dem Themenfeld #Umwelt beschäftigt sich mit der Bestimmung von #Passivsammler-Aufnahmeraten zur Überwachung der #Innenraumluftqualität.

Ziel dieser Studie war es, die Rückführbarkeit und Vergleichbarkeit von mit Passivsammlern durchgeführten #Innenraumluftmessungen zu verbessern. Dafür wurden Aufnahmeraten von insgesamt 86 flüchtigen und schwerflüchtigen organischen Verbindungen (#VOCs und #SVOCs) für einen Zeitraum von 7Tagen bestimmt.

https://www.bam.de/Content/DE/Paper-des-Monats/2025/Umwelt/2025-10-01-paper-des-monats-umwelt.html

BREAKING! Massive Fire Erupts at #Chevron #Refinery Near #LosAngeles, Sending Flames into the Sky

by Andrew Powell
October 3, 2025

"Firefighters continued dousing a blaze Friday morning at a Chevron #OilRefinery in #ElSegundoCA, after a massive fire broke out the night before, lighting up the sky with flames visible for miles.

"According to The Associated Press, officials urged residents to stay indoors, though by early Friday the city said the fire was contained and posed no threat to public safety. No evacuations were ordered.

" 'All roads have been reopened after last night’s Chevron fire,' the city of El Segundo posted Friday morning. 'The fire is still burning but is contained at this time.'

"The South Coast Air Quality Management District said overnight monitoring detected 'elevated levels of volatile organic compounds” [#VOCs] at the refinery’s fence line, though local air quality readings Friday morning showed no major concerns. Officials noted that drizzle, marine layers, and light winds were keeping the plume aloft but warned conditions could shift as winds pick up."

Read more:
https://ijr.com/massive-fire-erupts-at-chevron-refinery-near-los-angeles-sending-flames-into-the-sky/

#California #ChevronRefinery #RefineryFire #AirQuality #AQI #AirQualityAlerts

🌱 International Day of Plant Health🌱

Today, we highlight an often-overlooked topic: plant health – vital for food security, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture.

In our current research at Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg and Julius Kühn-Institute, we’re tackling a key question:
How can we detect plant diseases and pests before visible symptoms appear?

🔬 The answer: With the nose of chemistry!
We analyze volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that plants emit when under stress or attacked by
🦠 bacteria,
🍄 fungi, and
🪲 insect pests.

Using advanced GC-MS technology (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry), we aim to identify these unique molecular “scent signatures” and use them as an early-warning system to detect harmful organisms before they cause damage.

🧪 Our goal: to “sniff out” plant diseases and pests.

#PlantHealth #InternationalPlantHealthDay #VOCs #GCMS #EarlyDetection #Pathogens #InvasiveSpecies #AnalyticalChemistry #ScienceForSustainability #PlantPathogens #PlantProtection #VOCAnalysis

Field trip to gather some first VOC samples of the invasive Asian hornet (Vespa velutina).
Really productive day, thrilled to get the data in the lab later.

#VOCs #chemistry #InvasiveSpecies #PlantProtection #Hornet #AnalyticalChemistry #science #FieldTrip #ScienceAtWork