Thursday, September 8, 2016

“The air inside the average home is up to five times more polluted than the air outside.”


In fact, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside the average home is up to five times more polluted than the air outside. While moderately alarming on a certain level, it’s really more of a catalyst for making positive changes in one’s life that not only freshen up the air, but also allow us to more intimately connect with nature—not merely when we’re outside, but in the comfort of our own living and working spaces. The remedy? Air purifying plants, of course.
You see, NASA had a small problem on their hands when it came to long-period manned space missions. They needed an efficient, lasting source of clean air to keep astronauts alive and thriving during extended interstellar travel. What they discovered is that a few common houseplants, and one in particular—Mother-in-Law’s Tongue (botanical name: Sansevieria trifasciata)—did the job wonderfully and were also powerful air purifiers to boot.
Despite this alarming situation, there is a simple way for one to begin reversing the damage. Kamal Meattle, with help from Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi (IIT-D), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and research findings from NASA, discovered that there are three common green plants which can easily produce all the fresh air we need to keep us healthy: Areca Palm, Mother-in-law’s Tongue, Money Plant.
Areca Palm
No. of plants needed per person: 4
Plant Care: Areca Palms require bright, indirect light from a south- or west-facing window. The leaves turn yellowish-green in direct sunlight. Use moist soil and water the plants as soon as the soil feels dry a little below the surface. Areca Palms do not respond well to overwatering.

Mother-in-law’s Tongue
Plants per person: 6-8 waist-high plants
Plant Care: Very adaptable to different temperatures. Place in indirect sunlight and don’t water too much.

Peace-lily-plant (Peace Lily, Spathiphyllum)
The Peace Lily is a deep, forest green plant with beautiful (although fickle) white flowers. It’s a great general cleanser and air purifying plant that effectively removes all common indoor pollutants generated by furniture, electronics and cleaning products, so much so that it is one of NASA’s top-ranked plants for this purpose.

The Peace Lily does well in indirect light and requires minimal watering with the general guideline being once every four to five days. In hotter climates it may need water more frequently, and you’ll know it’s overdue when the leaves begin to weep.

Money Plant
Plant Care: Place in a moderately humid room. Requires infrequent watering. Very easy to maintain.
The Money Plant removes formaldehydes and other volatile chemicals from the air.
Money Plant use has been tried and tested in a building in Delhi with phenomenal results. Compared to other buildings, occupants experienced a reduction in the incidence of eye irritation by 52%, respiratory irritation by 34%, headaches by 24%, lung impairment by 12% and asthma by 9%.
Meattle decided to scale up the project and attempt to purify a 20-year-old, 50,000-square-feet building that housed his nearly 300 employees. After some testing and tweaking they discovered that approximately six air purifying plants are required per person to meet their daily needs for fresh, clean, highly oxygenated air.
“Our experience points to an amazing increase in human productivity by over 20% by using these plants. And also a reduction in energy requirements in buildings by an outstanding 15%, because you need less fresh air. We are now replicating this in a 1.75-million-square-feet building, which will have 60,000 indoor air purifying plants,” stated Meattle in a recent TED Talk about his work. Meattle also mentions that these studies “have found that there is a 42% probability of one’s blood oxygen going up by one percent if one stays indoors in this building for 10 hours. The government of India has discovered or published a study to show that this is the healthiest building in New Delhi.”

What can we do now?

First-timers can start with one of each plant above and graduate to the optimum needs as mentioned above. When the plant grows large (which takes many years) and needs to be transplanted into the ground, simply plant it in a suitable spot in your surroundings and take care of it until it becomes self-sufficient. That way, we can make our personal and environmental goals align with each other.