A Nose for Survival - Smell Your Way to Safety

Ahh the smell of freshly baked bread, ribs on the barbeque or a summer storm ... they grab our attention, transport us to another place and time, evoking distant memories. All because of VOCs - Volatile Organic Compounds sensed by receptors in our noses, triggering the most primative and basic of human emotional and memory responses. We carry in our noses a powerful analytical laboratory capable of spotting minute traces of organic chemicals and identifying conditions critical to our survival.

It's no accident that our olfactory sense is the one that is most powerfully linked to the emotions that trigger us to act - flight, fight, pursue food or sex. For millions of years our ancestors used this sense above all others as an early warning system to keep us safe, supplied with food and equipped for survival. Everything we breathe, eat or touch is sampled and tested when trace amounts of it pass through our noses.

The EPA monitors VOC levels in the air, and regulates industry to limit VOC emissions. This is good, as it reduces the "soup" of solvents and other toxic organic molecules that attack our lungs, membranes and skin every day. It is somewhat blind, however, as all VOCs are NOT created equal, even though they are lumped together for regulation sake. It is doubtful that many people die each year from bakery emissions, but in some regions bakery aroma VOCs are regulated just as chemical plant, body-shop and glue solvents are. In fact, everything you can smell, from roses to rotten eggs, you detect due to VOCs- airborne organic molecules that you inhale.

In our modern technocentric world we learn to ignore our noses and judge things by eye and ear; this can be our downfall. A fire in the attic, a lethal infection, a bio-terror attack, a toxic chemical accident - all these events are likely to be evident from odor before they are lethal. These things DO happen, though not every day; when they do, we won't likely see or hear them. If we pay attention to our noses, and alert ourselves to danger as our ancient ancestors did, we may well survive due to our ability to smell our way to safety.

Choosing a Non-Toxic Home

I don't want to sleep or eat in a toxic home, and most people I know feel the same way. The reality is that toxin-free is too much for most of us to pull off. Even the wilderness has poisonous plants, venomous animals, insect-borne diseases, toxic minerals and solar radiation. Many of these hazards were here before people, and now they are worse.
The sensible compromise is to make your home relatively toxin-safe, by avoiding the most likely risks. Here is a quick list to consider:

1. Avoid leaded paint, asbestos insulation & formaldehyde insulation
2. If you are in an area where radon may be present, have the house tested for it
3. Avoid homes with past insecticide treatments that are still hazardous
4. Watch out for industrial facilities nearby, or old industrial pollution from past activity on or near the property
5. If you have allergies, sensitivities or autoimmune issues, check out the risks of the house and neighborhood related to those concerns

Ultimately, you can live a relatively clean life where toxins and disease are not putting you at a high risk of illness or death with some effort. Depending on what you are willing to give up, you can live cleaner but more rustic, or a little riskier, with more conveniences. The choice is yours.

Nobody is Cleaning Our Cage

Our planet is toxic. It gets more toxic every day. The problem is the "rats in a cage" problem; too many rats, so the cage WILL get messy. Sadly, nobody cleans the cage. Cleaning the cage is hard to do when Earth is the cage; it isn't easy dumping "rat droppings" into interstellar space.

The reason we have a toxic planet is that we CHOOSE growth and consumption over having a "clean cage" that is better to live in. The ZPG (Zero Population Growth) movement was on the case, but they don't make much noise these days; tired of pushing a rope uphill, I guess. Unless YOU know a good way to get people to stop having lots of babies, driving lots of miles, burning lots of oil and filling lots of trash cans, a dirty cage life is in your future, and mine. Ozone, unstable radionuclides, avian influenza, clorodane and angry people with toxins, pathogens or explosives are here for the long haul. Shaking our fists at big bad industry, big bad government or mindless polluters won't fix the problem. If we are to survive and protect ourselves, we need to learn how to live in a "dirty cage" toxic world and that means avoiding contamination and damage.

I appreciate your ideas about surviving on this toxic planet. I will share mine regularly.