If you spend any time at all reading or listening to the news about climate change today, you have probably heard some pretty scary things lately.
For example, recently headlines around the world trumpeted the news about how our planet has passed what they are calling the “point of no return” for greenhouse gases. Scientists have been tracking levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere around the globe, and they are now higher than they have ever been before.
Frightening.
If that isn’t enough to absorb, climate change is now so real and so well-documented that the Canadian government has formed a national coalition on climate change. The coalition states that global warming is one of the most significant threats our planet faces.
Terrifying.
But there are things you can do starting right now to take back control of your local air quality and your family’s health and safety…
Here is a selection of our favorite ways to take action!
Grow Your Own Clean Air by Planting Trees
Tree Canada is a not-for-profit organization run as a charity by an all-volunteer board of directors. It is not a new organization—Tree Canada has already been working to clean up Canada’s air for the last-quarter century by identifying appropriate sites where trees can be planted. In fact, they just passed the 80-million-trees mark!
But today it is clear that Tree Canada’s time has truly come. We need strong, healthy, air-cleaning trees now more than ever before. The truth is, trees provide many health benefits, and we need all of those benefits. But we need their ability to clean toxic particulate matter and carbon out of our local air supply most of all.
Trees capture greenhouse gases (atmospheric carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane) and particulate matter and purify the air all around them. You can get involved by:
- Making a donation
- Buying a tuque
- Giving tree seed kits as gifts
- Asking your employer to participate
Bring the Green Outdoors Indoors
Another fabulous way to clean up your indoor air is to start bringing some green indoors at home and work. Smaller houseplants can work the same magic as their taller tree counterparts, and unlike with trees, you don’t even have to wait for them to grow to get the benefits!
Check out the list of our top 10 houseplants to purify your indoor air!
Take Back Control of Your Daily Habits
With life being busy, it can be so easy to just go on autopilot and stop thinking about how we make use of the conveniences of modern life.
Climate Change Canada offers some simple tips to help you take back control over daily life habits that may be lessening your air quality as well as your quality of life:
- Air-dry your washing and save the energy that would have gone to power the clothes dryer.
- Beef up the insulation in your home to stop air leaks.
- Switch to energy-efficient everything—appliances, light bulbs, vehicles.
- Do the same with water by installing low-flow fixtures.
- Check into incentives and rebates in your province for installing solar panels.
- Recycle and repurpose everything you can to keep it out of landfills.
- Conserve fuel by consolidating car travel whenever possible.
What Clean Air Solutions Can Do to Help
Of course, here at Clean Air Solutions Hamilton, pure and breathable air is our passion and our life’s work. Each and every day, we get up and spend another full day helping people just like you learn how to lower their monthly energy bill, improve the energy efficiency inside their home and workplace, rid their air supply of potent toxins, and adopt an allergen-free lifestyle.
Here is a selection of different ways we can help you breathe the cleanest, purest possible air at work and at home:
Schedule an indoor air quality test
An indoor air quality test will tell you everything you need to know about the quality of your indoor air at work and home. From identifying the most common and prevalent allergens and toxins residing in your air supply to finding out if you may have a problem with invisible toxins like carbon monoxide and radon, an indoor air quality test functions like a guide to tell you exactly what to do.
Get your air duct system professionally cleaned
A professional indoor air duct cleaning gets all the way back into the deepest crevices in your HVAC system’s air ducts. From rodent droppings to mildew, particulate matter to airborne pollens, we can remove it all in one cleaning. As such, a professional indoor air duct cleaning is the closest thing you will ever get to a total air quality reboot.
Get your dryer vents professionally cleaned
Many of your home’s most potent toxins and allergens are actually hiding out in plain sight in your dryer vents. Here, we are not just talking about the lint catcher, but also the vents hidden deep in the recesses of your dryer itself. With a professional dryer vent cleaning, the pet dander, dust mites, mould spores, ragweed, bacteria, and other allergens will be removed completely.
Install a heat recovery ventilator
Heat recovery ventilators place a secure barrier between fresh incoming air and stale outgoing air to make sure the two air sources never mix. While pollutants, moisture, and toxins are being removed, well-ventilated fresh air is being introduced.
Switch to HEPA-rated filters
HEPA stands for “high-efficiency particulate air.” HEPA filters come in whole-home systems, individual room systems, and air filters. A HEPA filter can filter out 99.97 percent of indoor airborne toxins. No other system can say the same. Switching to HEPA filters can be especially critical if your family suffers from seasonal allergies or asthma or someone in the household smokes.
Contact Us For a Free Consultation
Clean Air Solutions is here to give you professional advice. Contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
