Wendy Zuniga was busy in the kitchen over the holidays.
Between baking desserts and cooking on the stovetop, Zuniga spent hours preparing food at her home. On Christmas Eve, as she and her son put pies and cookies in the oven and took them out, an air quality monitor on her counter tracked spiking levels of pollutants.
Cooking releases pollutants, especially when powered by natural gas, which is a source of nitrous oxides, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. The health impacts of those pollutants are under growing scrutiny from scientists and health experts.
Zuniga spent a month using a uHoo monitor, which tracks several pollutants in real time. When she reviewed the data, levels were the highest on Christmas Eve, when carbon dioxide and monoxide levels jumped.
“When you get real data, you can’t ignore it,” Zuniga said.
That data is part of an educational effort by Minnesota nonprofits Fresh Energy and Comunidades Organizando el Poder y la Accíon Latina (COPAL), where Zuniga works. The project aims to educate Minnesotans about health risks posed by gas stoves, and to encourage them to take advantage of programs to replace polluting cooking equipment with electrified alternatives.
Around 38% of Americans cook with natural gas at home, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Getting more Minnesotans to make the change to electrically powered cooking could improve health outcomes and help the state reach its greenhouse gas reduction goals.
Dr. Curt Nordgaard, a pediatrician at Hennepin Healthcare who serves as an environmental health consultant with Fresh Energy, was the first to host the air monitor in his home. Nordgaard grew up in Minnesota and completed his medical residency in Boston. He sees climate change as a pediatric issue, with impacts hitting children the hardest.