The problem of Deli pollution and poor air quality in other cities makes vertical gardens and vertical forests part of a possible solution. But is anyone listening? Imagine a life without greenery. Imagine a black grey and smog covered sky.No plants, will mean, the world without life itself. Only plants produce oxygen. Simple truth. God alone knows why men and governments allowed this to happen. Delhi has shut the school for 3 days, to let the life-choking smog to settle.
The shocking truth is we all knew. We knew it was going to be a gas chamber.Delhi government knows it’s on a tight rope, with respect to pollution.What did they do pre Diwali? What did the Government do after Diwali? (They did do something. Scroll down to read about the #Delhichallenge ).
A few questions :
Is the air through which the politicians, rich and famous travel pure? Does only Indian cars and vehicles pollute? Does pollution affect your body and mind?
The Singapore government makes builders replace trees by the equal square footage of vertical gardens. Why can’t we do that too? Did you know vertical forests are possible with technology? I believe this lack of exposure to greenery causes a lot of our problems. We need trees, plants, and forests.
The 3 PRONGS of the Problem
1)How to stop air pollution immediately?
2)How to improve the existing air quality?
3) How to prevent further deterioration of air quality?How to stop pollution immediately?
Delhi Government has banned the use of diesel generators for some days.No burning of solid wastes . Plus crowdsourcing solutions.The #Delhi challenge by Urban Labs Innovation a project of Tata Centre of Development happened in association with University of Chicago and Delhi Government
CHAKR innovations were the winner.
They are stopping the pollutants at the source itself. This company is testing an interesting solution with surprising results. A device, when attached to the exhaust pipe of diesel engines, can help trap and remove over 72% of particulate matter. These particles will be used to make ink. That’s smart and cool.
Improving existing air quality
Air purifiers are at best short-term solutions. But a solution for immediate use if you can afford it.They can improve the quality of air indoors to some extent by removing particulate matter.But be careful while picking indoor air purifiers. Some release negative ions and ozone(not good for you indoor ) which harms you more than helps. Best air purifiers can be priced from Rupees 10000 to 75000.Clean air for super rich!
Going for cheaper solutions may leave you with a machine which does little. Another problem is a lack of standards for quality control of air purifiers. Research shows air purifiers only remove some amount of particulate matter from air.Not really very efficient. Unlike water purifiers which treat the water chemically too.
Cons of air purifiers :
- It’s expensive
- It has doubtful efficacy.
- There are negative health effects of negative ion releasing Air purifiers.
- It may be useful for small rooms but not for large areas.
Pros:
May help as short term solution.
Vertical gardens Vertical forests and green walls:
Delhi challenge also had Capacloud as a finalist.Capacloud has a solution to the pollution problem. Grow green anywhere.I have written about indoor air pollution sometime back. With their technology, you can grow green plants on exterior walls, roofs inside homes anywhere. Their molecular technology helps provide plants with nutrition and water while letting then grow. Tested to cut up to 30 % of air pollutants in the vicinity.
How to prevent further deterioration of air quality?That’s a story for another post
Wake up to the problem. Breathe the grey cloud of pollution. This is “the end of the world”. You- me – and everyone else need to work together. Or die painfully being poisoned by the black air we breathe.
What do you think you can do to make the air clean?Comment below to let me know.
Posts in this series
Plastic pollution population:Hard truths
Car air purifier: Why I want it
Say no to plastic water bottles
Environmental pollution awareness and strict action
Sharing is good Karma!
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Yes it is the need of the hour as the pollution is increasing day by day!
Reading your posts has made me realise that I have been just neglecting my terrace garden very sadly – gonna rectify this within this week and build up my green nook to enjoy this winters…
The present condition of Delhi is really worst
Such an useful post on the solutions regarding the pollution control
And Imagine Delhi full of Green walls and greenary around.
That will be a better place to live.
Really expecting to see some of Delhi people to come foreword and take the steps immediately
Thanks Dixita.I think if we all try then we can stop being poisoned by the air we breathe.
Yes i am not in favour of air purifier as its not good for our health. Between the idea of vertical garden is very good , best solution to air pollution
Yes its my favourite idea too
Living in Australia we really do take for granted our beautiful air. I am so sorry to hear how bad it is and how ill people are getting! I think your solutions here are amazing and I truly believe that it would make a massive difference. As more and more apartments go up in Australia we are becoming huge fans of vertical garden here. I truly hope that things improve very very soon! I will be sharing this post!!! #mg
Thanks Mac.The air is a blessing.It’s good that you have clean air there.It’s important to keep keep it clean.
Glad you found it useful.
I want to print your post and stand Amrita. I am allergic to dust but since the last few years I have become more sensitive. I am suffering from allergic cough thanks to all the dust and Diwali crackers for over 2 weeks. I feel we also need to take steps along with the government in whatever we can. If we few days can affect like this continuous pollution dont know whats instore. I liked the chakr concept.
Thanks Manisha. The situation is horrific and no one’s doing anything quickly.
A very apt solution. I wonder if even a single city start planning for vertical gardens.
Why not ? Why can’t we do it as a people’s initiative?
Governments will them surely help. Air cannot be classified .
The situation has been quite scary in Delhi…but other cities are also in quite a similar situation, if not that bad! Something ought to be done NOW! It is not enough to have new rules and regulations…it is equally important to see that they are implemented properly.
Sharing this… more people need to read this. Lots of sensible options here… it is going to take a long time and some drastic alternative ideas to get things back to normal.
Thank you Roshan. If we cam helo by sharing information and doing put bit ,it would be great.
Th main problem with Indian Government is that they know what will happen? But, they will wait for mishap to happen and then will show work which is actually not worth.
Unfortunately true for all governments .More in India
Thank you so much for visiting.
Thanks Doc for sharing such an informative post. I think we should not rely totally on government but to make individual efforts. Only then something can be done and that too quickly.
The situation in Delhi and other places in North India is really bad. I have to travel to Delhi next week for a wedding and was educating my 5 year old son about the Smog there and that we will have to use masks there. He said “Par masks to chor lagate hain aur hum to chor nahin hain.”
You have mentioned some good points to reduce the pollution and making the air clean atleast inside the homes should be easy. I also hope the government machinery in Bangalore takes a cue from Delhi’s situation and gets over its fetish for building the Steel flyover which requires cutting down of numerous very old trees of the city.
We’ve been talking and dreaming of these things for decades, and have made steps in the right direction, but at the same time seem to be accelerating our race in the opposite direction. Despite climate change deniers in the USA, we’ve made great strides in reducing smog, air and water pollution, and litter in this country – just during my lifetime – and now we see India and China struggling to do the same. It CAN be done. But it takes a collective will and effort to make it happen. And I think it happens better when you can capture the imagination of people and enlist their help, rather than blaming them and forcing change on people too shortsighted to see how any of it will benefit THEM, personally.
(I had to make this two comments. Your comment form loses the “Post Comment” button on longer comments.
Good ideas. Not without some drawbacks, as you noted, but that’s no reason to toss good ideas aside and ignore them – you figure out how to address the drawbacks for a more complete solution.
Vertical farming would seem a good idea, too, but apparently one drawback there is power consumption in producing the warmth and light the plants need. Could we not use solar energy there?
How about things like this? My former middle school has one, and it seems to work well
One problem with growing plants on building surfaces is that some plants can demolish the building materials over time.
The situation in Delhi is really bad and you have mentioned some good points to clean air we breathe. Air purifiers are a good option but again they are very expensive and not a very feasible option. Capacloud is a good option too. Lets see what all measures our government takes to improve the present condition. Glad you wrote about it.
Yes we have to see what government does .Plus do what we can.
Its High time we decide what is important to us and out future generation. I saw an advert of oxygen masks for delhi and it shocked me very badly. There should be more greenery and I hope the government does something in this direction.
It’s shocking that the situation has come to this.We really need to do something now.
First we used to talk about a scary future, now we are living in a terrifying present. Dread to imagine what awaits us next!
Vertical gardens are a doable solution and even if every second house makes the effort to plant them we could make a small dent in air pollution.
Yes Mayuri that’s the scary part.It’s not a problem of the distant future.