About The Citizen Science Study
We spend 90 percent of our time indoors, and most of us don't spend much time thinking about the air we breathe while we heat our homes and cook our food.
From October 2025 to February 2026, Faith in Place worked with faith communities and Houses of Worship across Chicago to provide indoor air quality testing in 101 homes around a known
source of pollution—gas-burning appliances.
Using a citizen-science approach, our research revealed that the majority of Chicago households are unknowingly living with and breathing unhealthy pollution (especially Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide) inside their homes that in some cases far exceeds health-protective standards for outdoor air.
Our goal was to make invisible environmental harms more visible so communities, especially those most affected, can better understand the risks and be positioned to drive solutions. Self-determination is central to advancing just solutions, and citizen science is one tool that can help drive community-led change so that residents, faith leaders, and families can make informed decisions about the air in their homes.
Read the Full Report
5 Key Findings That are Explained in this Report
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Carbon monoxide found in 8 in 10 homes; half of the homes exceeded outdoor standard.
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It’s not the food. It’s the fuel. Stove use increased indoor pollution within minutes—quickly exceeding levels set for outdoor air quality standards.
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In some homes, pollution was detected beyond the kitchen after stove use.
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Kitchen ventilation was often limited or weak.
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Testing changed how residents understood their homes.
