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