Desperate for Fresh and Clean Air? Grow it!

Say Yes to Fresh and Clean Air!

Allergies driving you nuts? Let's talk for a moment about clean air, and we mean high up in the remote mountains, nothing in sight, CLEAN air. The kind that you probably don't even know exists because the chemicals we're constantly surrounded by is normal. So normal that we actually think that it's "clean".

For a second, reflect back to the summer 2008 Beijing Olympics and all of the smog surrounding the city to such an extent that our athletes wore masks off the plane. We won't get into the politics and history around it all, the point is what a big deal pollution and air quality are. Clean air is crucial to healthy lungs and breathing. Without clean air, devastating diseases like COPD, emphysema, allergies and asthma are suffocating people.

According to the Washington Post, the top 10 most ozone-polluted cities in the US are:

dallas smog.jpg
  1. Los Angeles-Long Beach, California
  2. Visalia-Porterville-Hanford, California
  3. Bakersfield, California
  4. Fresno-Madera, California
  5. Sacramento-Roseville, California
  6. Houston-The Woodlands, Texas
  7. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texasand the Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area
  8. Modesto-Merced, California
  9. Las Vegas-Henderson, Nevada and the Arizona Metropolitan Statistical Area
  10. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona

But before you get too excited about not seeing your city's name on the list, you can check out the American Lung Association to see how your county/state rate for air quality. -- Click Here to Find Out the Quality of Your Air

So what can I do to improve the air quality I'm breathing you might wonder? Quite a few things! Your lungs will thank you and you'll be feeling better too!

Here's three easy ones to start with:

  1. Start using Green Cleaning in your home to reduce chemical use.
  2. Use public transport, carpool or even bike whenever possible.
  3. Grow your own fresh air with indoor plants!

To help you with number three, here's 8 powerful indoor plants to help you grow fresh air in no time! You can also check out Kamal Meattle's TedTalk video about how to grow fresh air.

1. Acera Palm – “The Living Room Plant” -  This plant is a daytime oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 4 shoulder height plants per person.

2. Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is “The Bedroom Plant” – This plant is an evening oxygen factory and Meattle recommends having 6-8 waist-high plants per person.

3. Money Plant is “The Specialist Plant” – This plant is the filter that removes formaldehyde and other volatile organic chemicals from the air.

4. The Purple Waffle Plant (Hemigraphis alternataa)

5. English Ivy (Hedera Helix)

6. Variegated Wax Plant (Hoya cornosa)

7. Asparagus Fern (Asparagus densiflorus)

8. Purple Heart Plant (Tradescantia pallida)

Of the 28 plants tested, number 4-8 were effective at reducing levels of a number of common household VOCs, including benzene, toluene, octane, alpha-pinene and TCE. The work, funded by the University of Georgia’s Agricultural Experiment Stations, was published in the August 2009 issue of HortScience.

Ready to grow your own fresh air? NASA studies recommend that you use one good-sized houseplant in a 6 to 8-inch diameter container for every 100 square feet of your home. Though, additional research is being done to identify exactly how many of each type of species is necessary for remediation (as in Meattle’s work). You should also be sure to keep the foliage clean and dust free (so the leaves can do their job). And, keep the top of soil clean and free of debris, as in some cases, that’s where the bulk of the filtering is taking place.

The healthier your plants, the more vigorously they’ll grow, and the better they’ll clean the air for you.