The Vehicle for Change is a Prototype for Accessible Housing
Environmental Illness[1]
· Can affect every system and organ in the body, with symptoms ranging from mild to life threatening.
· Affects each individual differently, depending on their specific genetic and developmental vulnerabilities, and the nature and degree of toxic exposure.
· Affects at least 35 million people in the US, an undoubtedly low estimate, since low-income communities have less access to the types of holistic medical practitioners likely to diagnose EI.
Impacts of EI
· Extreme difficulty finding safe housing. Most conventional housing makes use of formaldehyde-emitting plywood and particle board, toxic carpets and carpet adhesives, high VOC paint, and vinyl flooring, and can contain toxic insulation and roofing materials. Natural gas stoves and heaters also emit formaldehyde, and mold and mildew are common intoxicants in damp climates, and in air conditioning systems.
· Laundry detergents and fabric softeners are major causes of severe symptoms, and also contain known carcinogens, neurotoxins and hormonal disruptors. People living in apartment buildings must share laundry facilities, which contaminates their clothing, and creates fumes that can spread through large areas.
· Loss of employment income, since most workplaces are chemically unsafe. Offices have all the same hazards of homes, with added contamination from copy machines, printers, industrial cleaning products, pest control chemicals, and the scented personal products of coworkers. Illness itself also makes it difficult to work on a reliable schedule.
· Travel is restricted. Airplanes, trains and buses contain synthetic fabrics that outgas formaldehyde, industrial cleaning products, exhaust fumes, and are enclosed spaces shared with many people using scented products. Travel housing is more toxic than private homes, with synthetic fabrics, particleboard and veneer furniture, carpets and carpet adhesives, toxic cleaning products, scented bathroom products, poor ventilation, and increasingly, synthetic fragrances pumped throughout the air system. This further limits employment possibilities.
· Social isolation. People with EI can’t go to movie theaters, parties, plays, concerts, or, often, visit friends at home. Public transportation is unsafe. Poverty and illness further isolate us.
· Home adaptation isn’t enough. A person with EI could spend thousands of dollar adapting a personal space to be a chemical sanctuary, and then have to abandon their investment when local conditions beyond their control change. New neighbors may spray heavy pesticides, a toxic business or home laundry room may be built to vent in the direction of the formerly safe home, or a poorly insulted apartment building may allow tobacco smoke from a new neighbor to enter the space.
· Attempts at co-housing solutions have fallen short because EI is highly individual. Housing complexes end up being built to the lowest common denominator of safety, which doesn’t satisfy anyone. Such complexes are also vulnerable to local changes, with a much higher investment at risk.
· Individual sanctuaries may provide symptom relief, but increase isolation, leaving people with EI to struggle alone. They also fail to address the causes of contamination, and some components of individual sanctuaries are unsustainable. For instance, multiple, full time electric air filters.
How the Vehicle addresses these issues.
· It is infinitely customizable to individual needs. Each individual can choose the building materials that she knows she can tolerate.
· Because it is mobile, increased local toxicity can be addressed by moving.
· It provides a safe way to travel, increasing social contact and employment options. Workers could park at a place of employment and simultaneously be on site and working at home. People with EI can park near friends’ homes or workplaces, making it easier for people to visit them in their own environment.
· Groups of people could create chemically accessible trailer parks as a form of disabled housing. A shared, lowest common denominator common space is much less of a problem if each individual has a customized personal space. This could have a huge impact on the quality of life of people with EI.
· Greater social contact allows for greater political participation in addressing environmental challenges.
· The Vehicle uses mostly renewable materials in its construction, and can be built in a recycled truck. The interior is powered and heated by solar energy, and the truck is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell electric engine, with an on board solar hydrogen generator to refuel it. It allows people disabled by environmental illness to simultaneous protect and advocate for their own bodies and the planet.
[1] I prefer the term Environmental Illness, which locates cause of the problem in environmental toxicity, vs. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which suggests oversensitivity, and locates the problem in the bodies of sick people.
· Can affect every system and organ in the body, with symptoms ranging from mild to life threatening.
· Affects each individual differently, depending on their specific genetic and developmental vulnerabilities, and the nature and degree of toxic exposure.
· Affects at least 35 million people in the US, an undoubtedly low estimate, since low-income communities have less access to the types of holistic medical practitioners likely to diagnose EI.
Impacts of EI
· Extreme difficulty finding safe housing. Most conventional housing makes use of formaldehyde-emitting plywood and particle board, toxic carpets and carpet adhesives, high VOC paint, and vinyl flooring, and can contain toxic insulation and roofing materials. Natural gas stoves and heaters also emit formaldehyde, and mold and mildew are common intoxicants in damp climates, and in air conditioning systems.
· Laundry detergents and fabric softeners are major causes of severe symptoms, and also contain known carcinogens, neurotoxins and hormonal disruptors. People living in apartment buildings must share laundry facilities, which contaminates their clothing, and creates fumes that can spread through large areas.
· Loss of employment income, since most workplaces are chemically unsafe. Offices have all the same hazards of homes, with added contamination from copy machines, printers, industrial cleaning products, pest control chemicals, and the scented personal products of coworkers. Illness itself also makes it difficult to work on a reliable schedule.
· Travel is restricted. Airplanes, trains and buses contain synthetic fabrics that outgas formaldehyde, industrial cleaning products, exhaust fumes, and are enclosed spaces shared with many people using scented products. Travel housing is more toxic than private homes, with synthetic fabrics, particleboard and veneer furniture, carpets and carpet adhesives, toxic cleaning products, scented bathroom products, poor ventilation, and increasingly, synthetic fragrances pumped throughout the air system. This further limits employment possibilities.
· Social isolation. People with EI can’t go to movie theaters, parties, plays, concerts, or, often, visit friends at home. Public transportation is unsafe. Poverty and illness further isolate us.
· Home adaptation isn’t enough. A person with EI could spend thousands of dollar adapting a personal space to be a chemical sanctuary, and then have to abandon their investment when local conditions beyond their control change. New neighbors may spray heavy pesticides, a toxic business or home laundry room may be built to vent in the direction of the formerly safe home, or a poorly insulted apartment building may allow tobacco smoke from a new neighbor to enter the space.
· Attempts at co-housing solutions have fallen short because EI is highly individual. Housing complexes end up being built to the lowest common denominator of safety, which doesn’t satisfy anyone. Such complexes are also vulnerable to local changes, with a much higher investment at risk.
· Individual sanctuaries may provide symptom relief, but increase isolation, leaving people with EI to struggle alone. They also fail to address the causes of contamination, and some components of individual sanctuaries are unsustainable. For instance, multiple, full time electric air filters.
How the Vehicle addresses these issues.
· It is infinitely customizable to individual needs. Each individual can choose the building materials that she knows she can tolerate.
· Because it is mobile, increased local toxicity can be addressed by moving.
· It provides a safe way to travel, increasing social contact and employment options. Workers could park at a place of employment and simultaneously be on site and working at home. People with EI can park near friends’ homes or workplaces, making it easier for people to visit them in their own environment.
· Groups of people could create chemically accessible trailer parks as a form of disabled housing. A shared, lowest common denominator common space is much less of a problem if each individual has a customized personal space. This could have a huge impact on the quality of life of people with EI.
· Greater social contact allows for greater political participation in addressing environmental challenges.
· The Vehicle uses mostly renewable materials in its construction, and can be built in a recycled truck. The interior is powered and heated by solar energy, and the truck is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell electric engine, with an on board solar hydrogen generator to refuel it. It allows people disabled by environmental illness to simultaneous protect and advocate for their own bodies and the planet.
[1] I prefer the term Environmental Illness, which locates cause of the problem in environmental toxicity, vs. Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, which suggests oversensitivity, and locates the problem in the bodies of sick people.