The Jordan Harbinger Show – Episode 1246: Mike Feldstein | How Bad Air Hijacks Your Brain and Body

Date: November 25, 2025
Guest: Mike Feldstein, founder of Jasper

Episode Overview

In this episode, Jordan Harbinger dives deep with Mike Feldstein—founder of Jasper and expert in air quality remediation—about the pervasive and underestimated impact of indoor air pollution on human health and cognition. They unpack the aftermath of California wildfires, the shadowy “mold gold rush,” how bad air can hijack your brain and body, why synthetic fragrances are the new secondhand smoke, and practical steps for safeguarding your home and family. The episode is a must for anyone interested in health optimization—especially parents, renters, homeowners, and the health-aware.

Key Topics & Insights

1. Post-Wildfire Air: A Hidden Hazard

• Aftermath of LA Wildfires

  • Unlike traditional kitchen or house fires, regional wildfires in LA incinerated thousands of homes, cars (including EVs with lithium batteries), and commercial buildings, creating unprecedented air contamination.
  • Quote – Mike Feldstein:
    “Imagine… 10, 20,000 cars. And thousands of those cars were Teslas and other electric vehicles. So what happens when you burn 10,000 lithium batteries? Yeah, we don't know.” (06:00)
  • Smoke toxicity isn’t just about what you see: heavy metals, synthetic chemicals, and particulates linger in air, soil, water, furniture, and carpets for months.
  • Nature helps, but rain can move toxins from air to water and soil rather than remove them completely.

• Testing Air Quality after Fires

  • Feldstein’s real-life testing showed wild variations: air quality could spike to dangerous levels hours or days after a fire due to weather and building materials.
  • “The air quality…was fluctuating dramatically throughout the day, because all it takes is a little bit of wind. And then everyone thought like once they had their first rain, everyone's like, we're fine now. I'm like, not exactly, guys.” (06:26)

2. Mold: Industry Myths and Realities

• The Mold Gold Rush & Fear-Mongering

  • The “mold remediation” field thrives on fear and confusion, often pushing expensive, unnecessary services.
  • Feldstein exposes the reality: “In the mold industry, they have two things. One is the mold rush, and the other one is mold is gold.” (18:05)
  • Black-and-white thinking is misleading. Everyone has mold in their environment and even in their bodies at some level.
  • Testing often just reflects the background level, not necessarily harmful exposure.
  • Problems arise in tightly sealed houses where nature can’t clean the air or remove moisture.

• How to Actually Address Mold

  • Trust your senses—musty smells and visible black patches are more telling than a costly lab test.

  • Quote – Mike Feldstein:
    “Anyone I know who tests them, do remediation, within five seconds of walking in someone's home, if they have mold or not.” (27:41)

  • Remediation should mean removing visible mold and scrubbing the air, not gutting entire walls without clear evidence.

  • Air and water are similar: “You need that clean water as close to the point of consumption. And air is the exact same.” (11:18)

Notable Story

• Feldstein shares a case where two apartments—one with his air scrubber (Jasper), one without—showed dramatically different post-fire air quality, underscoring the real-life impact of proper filtration. (08:20-09:15)

3. Synthetic Fragrances: The New Secondhand Smoke

• Synthetic air fresheners, colognes, and cleaning products don’t clean the air; they mask odors and suppress your ability to smell, much like temporarily anesthetizing your nose.

• “Fragrances are the new secondhand smoke.” (17:27, 36:54)

• Many of the toxic chemicals in cigarette smoke—formaldehyde, benzene—are found in synthetic fragrances and air “refreshers.”

• Quote – Mike Feldstein:
  “All they do is they hijack your nose's ability to actually smell things.” (16:25)

• Air awareness is growing globally—in some Asian cities, air purifiers are as common as water filters.

4. The Air-Brain Connection: CO2, Cognition, & Sleep

• Most people focus on “breathwork” and ignore the quality of air they breathe 99% of the time.

• Indoor CO2 levels commonly skyrocket, impairing focus and causing “yawn city,” especially in closed, poorly ventilated rooms.

• Planes have “clean” but CO2-rich air—explaining why you feel groggy onboard. (46:47-47:16)

• Sleep Quality

  • Experiment: 150 people with Jasper air filters tracked sleep with Oura rings.
  • Results: +25 minutes sleep/night, +18% deep sleep, +5 min faster onset. (49:55)

• Tip: “If you're buying one Jasper, put it in your bedroom… you can get the air about 30 times cleaner.” (48:51)

• Kids and infants are especially vulnerable: “Toddlers breathe about 60,000 times a day, newborns can breathe a hundred thousand times.” (50:20)

5. Practical Tips & Consumer Awareness

• Trust Your Nose:
  “If it smells musty…and there’s water damage…visual inspection and smell is by far the best inspection of all.” (27:41)

• Fragrances & Diet:
  Synthetic fragrances can blunt your sense of smell for 30-60 days, which affects salivation, digestion, and nutritional absorption.
  – “50%… of the enzymes that get created in your gut are from your olfactory system.” (41:11)

• Home Buying/Renting Advice

  • Always unplug air fresheners and demand a new inspection before buying if the home is heavily scented.
  • Avoid diaper pails in baby rooms—put them outside:
    “If it smells like shit, it is shit. And if it's shit, it's bacteria.” (56:18)

• Filter vs. Test

  • Don’t obsessively test water and air—buy a good point-of-use filter/air scrubber and maintain it.

6. Broader Health Context: Heavy Metals & False Alarms

• Analogous to mercury in fish—a high reading isn’t always alarming unless combined with symptoms. Over-testing leads to panic and expensive, sometimes harmful, interventions.
  “It's like, check your body for bacteria—it's like, you're like half bacteria.” (27:15)

7. Schools, Kids & Clean Air Advocacy

• Feldstein is developing the “healthiest school in America” in Austin, TX: air filtration, water purification, circadian lighting, teacher support.
• “If you designed a classroom to make kids as sick as possible, they got like a perfect grade.” (61:10)
• Air filtration in classrooms led to a 30% drop in absenteeism in Finnish studies. (61:57)

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Wildfire Damage:
  “When you put like…a plastic bag on the fire, you're like, that smells like cancer. Well, imagine that times 15,000 homes, right?” (05:44)
• On Mold Testing:
  “Basically, what I want to get across is...it's not black and white. Just because you have a little bit of mold spores in your air and your blood—like, everybody does.” (23:23)
• On Fragrances:
  “Fragrances are the new secondhand smoke.” (17:27, 36:54)
• On Air’s Impact on Sleep:
  “If you think about it, at night…literally the only thing that's keeping you alive is the air.” (49:55)
• On Digestive Health:
  “50%...of the enzymes that get created in your gut are from your olfactory system...when you stop using synthetic products...your ability to smell in 30 to 60 days is completely regenerated.” (41:11, 42:12)
• On Awareness and Action:
  “I think the reason that people don't pay attention to air is because it's free.” (65:23)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [04:28] – LA Wildfire contamination, heavy metals, post-disaster air quality
• [09:39] – Host’s real-life saga with mold industry scams
• [18:05] – "Mold Rush" and the profit motive in testing/remediation
• [27:41] – The power of human (and canine) smell in mold detection
• [36:53] – Synthetic fragrances: new secondhand smoke, masking odor
• [41:11] – Olfaction’s role in digestion and health
• [46:12] – CO2, cognition, and brain fog in closed rooms and planes
• [49:55] – Sleep studies: air quality boosts deep sleep
• [55:08] – Babies, nurseries, paint off-gassing, and diaper pails
• [61:10] – Schools as “sick buildings”; building a healthier school
• [64:24] – Clean air in Texas schools—call for action
• [65:23] – Why air is neglected; the invisibility of the problem

Memorable Moments

• Jasper "Knows Before Your Nose"
  Jordan shares how his air filter detected a neighborhood fire before he could smell or see smoke, demonstrating the importance of sensitive monitoring. (12:45-13:56)

• Industry Shortcuts:
  It only takes a 2-day course to become a “certified mold man,” highlighting the unregulated, scam-prone nature of the industry. (14:39)

• Air Awareness in Asia:
  Describes banking tellers in Kuala Lumpur all with purifiers and taxis in Beijing with tiny, ineffective "air boxes". (34:21-34:38)

• Practical Sleep & Air Tips:
  Most return-on-effort health upgrade is a quality air scrubber in the bedroom, followed by water filtration. (49:55, 67:09)

• Kinder Classrooms:
  Air filtration and healthy lighting are being built into Feldstein’s innovative new school, Kindling Academy, with the support of data showing massive absenteeism drops. (61:57-63:31)

Actionable Takeaways

• Trust your senses: Musty or strange smells mean something’s wrong, even if tests say otherwise.
• Optimize the air you breathe: If you filter water, filter your air—especially in sleeping and kids’ spaces.
• Beware fear-based diagnostics: Over-testing for mold or heavy metals creates unnecessary anxiety and cost.
• Ventilate: Whenever possible, let fresh air in. Stale, CO2-rich air hinders brain and body performance.
• Challenge fragrances: Avoid air fresheners and synthetic scents; they mask problems and harm health.
• School action: Parents in Texas can request free Jasper units for their children’s private schools.

Final Thought

This episode brings home a powerful, under-recognized truth: clean air isn’t a luxury, it’s a fundamental pillar of health, cognition, resilience, and quality of life—just as crucial as clean water or nutritious food.

For links to resources, science, and more info:
Check the show notes at jordanharbinger.com

(This summary skips advertisements and non-content interludes. All quotes are attributed with timestamps in MM:SS format.)