What strategy can help mitigate the impact of outdoor air pollution indoors?

Using air filters and maintaining good ventilation systems is a highly effective strategy for reducing the impact of outdoor air pollution indoors. Air filters, especially those with HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) ratings, can trap a significant portion of particulate matter, allergens, and other pollutants from the air before they enter living spaces. This helps improve indoor air quality by reducing the concentration of harmful substances.

Additionally, properly maintained ventilation systems facilitate the exchange of indoor air with outdoor air, which can help in diluting indoor pollutants. However, effective ventilation also requires that the system is well-designed to filter incoming air, thereby ensuring that ventilation doesn’t inadvertently introduce more outdoor pollution.

In contrast, other strategies like using fewer windows may reduce drafts but can also limit natural ventilation, potentially trapping pollutants indoors. Sealing all indoor sources completely could lead to stagnation of air and a build-up of indoor pollutants that may not be effectively exchanged, and increasing the use of chemical cleaners could introduce more volatile organic compounds (VOCs) indoors, deteriorating air quality rather than improving it.