‘The ideal of “home” is protection from dangers from within—bad habits, bad food, bad air, dirt and abuse,—shelter, in fact, from all stunting agencies, just as the gardener protects his tender plants until they become strong enough to stand by themselves.’
How much can a person be improved by changing the environment around the person? That is the study of euthenics, the science of controllable environment. By changing the “controllable environment” of living conditions through good sanitation, comfortable shelter, and the removal of contagious diseases and parasites, euthenics aimed to drastically improve human functions and health. Combined with education regarding employment and home economics, the ultimate goal of euthenics is to create a higher functioning society as a whole by first improving the living conditions of the individual. Euthenics was written a year before Ellen Richards’ death and contained the whole of her philosophy and ideals which she sought to achieve in the world.
Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards was America’s first female professional chemist and the founder of the home economics movement. She also pioneered the field of sanitary engineering and was the first woman to be admitted into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.