Technically the two library posts were the real start of the series, but this is about how we got started with the idea.
There were some difficulties.
Initially we were thinking April... spring... spring cleaning... spring rolls! A plan!
If spring rolls seem like a stretch, they are traditional eating at the Spring Festival. I once helped roll up many for Lao New Year, which was happening in April. I have also seen them described as a delicious "celebration of the season"... it works.
It was also the primary thing that stayed the same.
Shortly after we'd committed to that theme, an article popped up about more frequent cleaning causing decreased lung function.
There's a sexist assumption in the title there, and RFK's CDC is sharing the study, which makes me suspicious, but that didn't seem like a good start.
Then, the night before the activity, April 6th, Maria saw that the day of the activity, April 7th, was National No Housework Day:
https://nationaltoday.com/national-no-housework-day/
Come on!
We had been doing some reconfiguring anyway, but it did give a general sense of doom.
Regarding the study, the issue appears to be the harsh chemicals that can be used in cleaning. Conducted in Norway, are their chemicals worse? I don't know.
Regardless, it doesn't have to be that way. You don't have to choose between cleanliness and the ability to breathe.
For starters, you can wear a mask when cleaning. You can use more natural products. That can mean purchasing gentler products or following those guides where you just use vinegar and water and maybe some lemon.
There are options.
It did get me thinking about something else.
In Patricia McLachlan's book, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Sarah blows the hair she cuts out onto the wind so that the birds might take curls and weave them into nests.
Some time ago I was thinking about that and did a search. I found someone really angry about it. That hair will catch the birds feet and they will get stuck and die!
I'm not sure that's true, but someone else said you can compost hair (and dryer lint), and there was more anger:
Do you color your hair? Those chemicals are bad!
I still have not put hair or dryer lint to compost -- better safe than sorry -- but I find that there are internet comments where anything about feeding wildlife or gardening things like sheet mulching or humans existing in general is just attacked.
There are a couple of problems with that.
One is that if all you do is yell at people -- especially people looking for good things to do -- they are going to stop listening and maybe even trying.
So when you show the pictures of angel wing in ducks who eat bread thrown to them, if you are shaming humans rather than explaining what you can safely feed them, maybe they will stop feeding ducks altogether, but maybe they will keep feeding them bread because how can you feel confident in these rabidly yelling people who hate you?
The other problem, though, is that I don't think it's very helpful to view yourself and your loved ones as contaminants.
You should think about your impact on those around you -- wild and domesticated -- but it should be possible to believe that you can do some good.
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