In case you didn't already...

...have enough to worry about, here's one more thing:

The world has a dust problem. There is more of it than there used to be. Apparently, the amount of airborne dust doubled in the 20th century, according to a recent scientific paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

I know what you're thinking: So, we'll just clean more. Wrong!

Cleaning can have an unintended consequence: Oddly enough, it actually breeds dust. In fact, cleaning is one of the three main sources of household dust, according to research on indoor particles. Cooking is the second; movement is the third.

Movement? This could be harder than I thought:

Every step disturbs tiny particles of dirt, fiber, soot, pollen, paint, food and dead skin.
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[Brooklyn-based design blogger Tina Roth Eisenberg] remembers having a no-mess childhood in a small town in Switzerland. Her mother ran an orderly home, she said, while working full time. When one of the family’s au pairs lagged in her housekeeping, Ms. Eisenberg’s mother sent her a gentle reminder.

“She wrote with her finger” on the dust that had gathered atop the grand piano in the parlor, Ms. Eisenberg recalled, leaving a single Swiss-German word, “sau.” Or in translation: pig.

That reminds me of a story Frank McCourt used to tell about an Irish maid in turn-of-the-century Boston.

One day, the Brahmin lady of the house admonished her, "Rosemary, this highboy is so dusty, I can write my name in it."

To which Rosemary replied, "Ah, 'tis a grand thing to be educated!"