Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: We are soon making the decision to bring or not bring gas to the community

[Joanie Connors (jvcphd]

Why experts are sounding the alarm about the hidden dangers of gas stoves
By Jonathan Mingle <https://qz.com/author/jonathan-mingle/>
December 4, 2020
https://qz.com/1941254/experts-are-sounding-the-alarm-about-the-dangers-of-gas-stoves/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

"...While many Americans might think illness linked to indoor cooking and
heating is a problem confined to smoke-filled kitchens in the developing
world
<https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/07/guatemala-cook-stoves/>,
the natural gas-burning stoves and furnaces found in millions of US
kitchens and basements can produce a range of health-damaging pollutants,
including particulate matter (PM), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide
(CO), and formaldehyde. Over the past four decades, researchers have
amassed a large body of scientific evidence linking the use of gas
appliances, especially for cooking, with a higher risk of a range of
respiratory problems and illnesses.

Since the publication of two new reports on the subject from the nonprofit
research group the Rocky Mountain Institute
<https://rmi.org/insight/gas-stoves-pollution-health/> (RMI) and the UCLA
Fielding School of Public Health
<https://coeh.ph.ucla.edu/effects-residential-gas-appliances-indoor-and-outdoor-air-quality-and-public-health-california>,
this past spring, the existence of these gas-fired health hazards has
garnered increasing
<https://grist.org/energy/study-gas-powered-appliances-may-be-hazardous-for-your-health/>
media
<https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/5/7/21247602/gas-stove-cooking-indoor-air-pollution-health-risks>
scrutiny
<https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/10/gas-stoves-are-bad-you-and-environment/616700/>.
But less discussed has been how the Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the
risks of this pollution, especially for low-income and vulnerable
populations, and how key regulatory agencies have lagged decades behind the
science in acting to protect them.

“There’s no question this has been a neglected issue,” said Jones, who has
drawn on lessons from his long career in public health epidemiology and
disease prevention in sounding the alarm throughout Massachusetts and with
former CDC colleagues over the past few years. The first step, he said, is
“letting people know what the risks are—particularly when they can be
substantial, life-threatening risks that can kill kids.”


On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 2:32 PM Henning Mortensen <hmortensen [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Thank you for the book report Sharon. I have ordered it from amazon and
> look forward to reading it. I am a longtime follower of carfree.com (no
> longer exists) and the carfree movement. Especially the ideas for car free
> cities such as that developed by Joel Crawford.
> Henning Mortensen
>
> On Mon, Nov 30, 2020 at 3:18 PM Sharon Villines via Cohousing-L <
> cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org> wrote:
>
> > > On Nov 30, 2020, at 1:00 PM, Jenny Guy <jenstermeister [at] gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Here's something else I wonder about: our buildings have been here for
> 80
> > > years without air conditioning. [snip] When I was a kid, it was
> > unthinkable that anyone
> > > would have air conditioning in San Francisco, but now it's full
> >
> > Pollution. Air pollution. Noise pollution. Not just from exhausts, from
> > all the activity that keeps the “cement dust” moving. Changes in planting
> > for the convenience of cleaners but produce higher pollution.
> >
> > Stuff like that.
> >
> > I think it also has to do with higher stress levels. Or ambition. We put
> > in AC so we can work harder and faster even when it is 100 degrees out
> > there. We don’t have to get up early to avoid the heat. We don’t take
> > siestas.
> >
> > One of the book reports I haven’t written is on “Carjacked: The Culture
> of
> > the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives,” It is cowritten by a
> professor
> > of Anthropology and International Studies at Brown University and her
> > analysis is from a totally different direction than we usually hear. She
> > examines how expectations of children have been changed. It isn’t just
> that
> > cars made more activities available but we expect kids to "take
> advantage"
> > of all those activities. I used to sit in a big elm tree and read books
> for
> > hours. How many parents worry about children who don’t have any
> > “activities" this week?
> >
> > Carjacked shows how our lives have changed without our being aware of it
> > once we have a car.
> >
> > Sharon
> > ———
> > Sharon Villines
> > http://affordablecohousing.com
> > affordablecohousing [at] groups.io
> >
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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