policies and management, and urban growth into these fire-prone ecosystems have all contributed to a rise in local wildfire smoke occurrences over the past few decades. During wildfire peak seasons, the toxic combination of transportation and wildfire pollution proliferates the outdoor air in the IE, making the inside of homes one of the few places that people think are safe from the hazardous air. As a field researcher, I saw plumes of smoke up in the mountains while stuck in traffic next to diesel trucks making the air hazy. When I went inside to measure particulate matter with my GeoAir2 monitor (Park et al. 2021), I was surprised to see that pollution levels were sometimes higher indoors despite closed doors and windows. After realizing that the evaporative cooler (a device designed to cool the air in a home) was introducing a lot of particulates inside the home, I quickly became curious about what other things could be contributing to indoor air pollution. As an anthropologist, I am trained to examine how social relationships affect environmental phenomena, so I delve into an observational study indoors to document how InnovatED | Issue 4 | Page 17
chemicals, smoke, and other things became suspended in the air. Houses and other buildings are built with materials that host a range of microorganisms in the air influencing our health (Dunn et al. 2013), and researchers found that social practices like hygiene regimes also introduce synthetic chemicals, shaping micro-species relationships in homes (Wakefield-Rann, Fam, and Stewart 2020). Building on this research, I focused on the multi-scale social relationships contributing to toxic air inside of homes. Echoing researchers like Rachel Wakefield-Rann et al., I found that hygienic practices, like mopping, wiping down countertops, and getting rid of pests introduced synthetic chemicals into the home, but the social dimensions of pollution did not stop there. I identified two other overarching themes contributing to indoor pollution. First, the household understands critters like ants, lizards, and flies as signs of uncleanliness – warranting pesticide attacks if spotted indoors. During the hot seasons in the IE, residents expect an abundance of critters around their homes. However, cultural and social notions of