I too was raised to open the curtains and windows when I got up in the morning, and air the house. I can see how hard it is when you aren't home during the day (I leave at 6.30am and my flatmates depart about an hour after me, so no one is home until 5pm or later - we can't leave anything open). But, simple things like opening curtains in the morning (I do this in the dark most of the time because no one else will bother) and opening windows when you are home do make a big difference.

On the landlord front... I can see both sides. I think there should be standards to meet, in terms of being well maintained, but I don't think landlords are the 'bad' people in this kind of situation. While trying to find another person for my rental house I joined a couple of facebook groups - the number on there who either can't afford decent rent, don't have credit, actively say they have bad credit or don't have a bond... Yet they want a minimum number of rooms, a certain area of town, a garage, they have dogs/cats, etc etc.
Where is the thought about how long and hard the landlord saved in order to buy the property? I know it took me over 10 years to amass my deposit, and now I get to pay the mortgage as a reward.