Battle air pollution with an easy solution from NASA!
Clean air is not only a fundamental right but a basic human necessity to stay alive. Yet we rarely ever get to breathe clean air, especially in cities due to many problems of our making, aided by myopic government policies. While it is indeed vital to be enraged about outdoor pollution but the saddest truth is that indoor air is comparably five times more polluted! So, the standard advice for staying indoors works best only if the indoor air is also purified. Buying an air purifier to clean indoor air seems like the only option.
But air-purifiers cost a lot of money and consume power. So, what does one do in a place like Nepal?
Trust some indoor plants!! Yes, indoor plants to detoxify the polluted air!
They beautify the home and also clean the toxins from the air. Absolutely amazing, isn’t it? Read about 3 such amazing air-purifying houseplants (that are based on NASA research), how to care for them, and where to place them in your home.
“There’s so much pollution in the air now that if it weren’t for our lungs there’d be no place to put it all.” ~ Robert Orben
- Areca Palm
As with all plants, the Areca Palm is god’s gift to take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. However, what sets the Areca Palm apart is its ability to also purify the environment it’s placed in by removing dangerous chemicals such as formaldehyde, xylene, and toluene.
Tips to Care: The Areca Palm does well in filtered light and needs to be watered often. For one person, four shoulder-high plants should suffice.
Best Placement: The Living Room
- Snake plant
This plant commonly known as the Mother-In-Law’s Tongue is unique for its night-time oxygen production, and ability to purify air through the removal of benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroethylene, xylene, and toluene.
Tips to Care: The Snake Plant does well in window light and needs to be watered weekly. For one person, six to eight waist level plants are recommended. In an air-sealed room, these plants are capable of producing enough oxygen to breathe normally.
Best Placement: The Bedroom
- Money Plant
Proven by NASA, the Money Plant is renowned for its ability to remove chemicals and other pollutants from the air, specifically benzene, formaldehyde, xylene, and toluene. However, despite the benefit of its high purification rate, this plant may be toxic to cats, dogs, and small children if its leaves are ingested. Therefore, it is generally put in places that are out of reach.
Tips to Care: The Money Plant prefers indirect light and needs to be watered every week or so. For one person, three 18-inch plants are recommended.
Best Placement: Any room but keep out of reach of pets or small children
As the recent Coronavirus pandemic has shown, countries consuming herbs and spices, especially Tulsi and Giloy (Gurju) have been spared the huge mortality figures of Covid – so plants are the greatest protectors in every conceivable way. Get your personal purifiers and oxygen generators to improve the air quality at home. Hoping that someone gets the good sense to reduce the tax on electric vehicles so that outdoor pollution comes down as well!
