This image shows a tension in narratives surrounding the improvement of environmental pollution in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The top image is a graph which shows ultrafine particles decreasing by around 50% since the beginning of the pandemic roughly a month ago, in my fieldsite, Toronto, Ontario. Levels of these particles have an important relationship to understanding the overall amount of toxic outdoor air pollution, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in city air. Other gases such as Nitrous oxide, which combines with VOCs to create ozone in the atmosphere, have also gone down. Many satellite images around the world are celebrating a sudden return of visibility, which is in part due to the reduced haze of atmospheric aerosols, again related to the reactions which occur when VOCs and other gases combine.
Yet, there is little discussion of the relevance or importance of ongoing, and possibly intensified, indoor atmospheric toxicity. During the current state of emergency the use of cleaning products indoors is of vital importance to sanitize surfaces and reduce viral transmission. Most cleaning products are derived from petrochemicals and release significance amounts of VOCs during use, while they are sprayed, spritzed, and soaked. The bottom chart is from a study conducted by a Toronto-based non-profit organization which showed that after using cleaning products in a typically way, the air quality in 12 of the 14 tested households exceeded the German recommended level for indoor VOC levels, and for nine where conventional cleaners were used, total VOCs increased by an average of 120 per cent.
These images raise the question of essentialized notions of toxicity as they relate both to ideas of environment, and to ideologies of “cleanliness.” While reduction of outdoor pollutants may seem as though the world is getting “cleaner,” ironically, the use of indoor cleaners continues to pollute the atmosphere.
This image shows a tension in narratives surrounding the improvement of environmental pollution in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic. The top image is a graph which shows ultrafine particles decreasing by around 50% since the beginning of the pandemic roughly a month ago, in my fieldsite, Toronto, Ontario. Levels of these particles have an important relationship to understanding the overall amount of toxic outdoor air pollution, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in city air. Other gases such as Nitrous oxide, which combines with VOCs to create ozone in the atmosphere, have also gone down. Many satellite images around the world are celebrating a sudden return of visibility, which is in part due to the reduced haze of atmospheric aerosols, again related to the reactions which occur when VOCs and other gases combine.
Yet, there is little discussion of the relevance or importance of ongoing, and possibly intensified, indoor atmospheric toxicity. During the current state of emergency the use of cleaning products indoors is of vital importance to sanitize surfaces and reduce viral transmission. Most cleaning products are derived from petrochemicals and release significance amounts of VOCs during use, while they are sprayed, spritzed, and soaked. The bottom chart is from a study conducted by a Toronto-based non-profit organization which showed that after using cleaning products in a typically way, the air quality in 12 of the 14 tested households exceeded the German recommended level for indoor VOC levels, and for nine where conventional cleaners were used, total VOCs increased by an average of 120 per cent.
These images raise the question of essentialized notions of toxicity as they relate both to ideas of environment, and to ideologies of “cleanliness.” While reduction of outdoor pollutants may seem as though the world is getting “cleaner,” ironically, the use of indoor cleaners continues to pollute the atmosphere.