Is the air in your city too dirty for you? Well, you can just grow your own instead.
While the industrialised nations battle it out in Paris, the video above will tell you how to get your clean air. And if you live in India, you sure need it.
After all, India tops most countries on the list of the world's ten most polluted cities released by the World Health Organisation – with New Delhi on top and Patna in second place, followed by Gwalior and Raipur, and then Ahmedabad and Lucknow in ninth and tenth positions. That's six out of the ten.
New Delhi-based environmental activist Kamal Meattle offers a solution that can be implemented indoors. In this TED talk from 2009, he explains how clean air can be grown within the confines of your own home.
Naming three common indoor varieties – Areca palm, Mother-in-Law's Tongue and the Moneyplant – Meattle details the number of plants needed per person, along with the required height of the plants.
Meattle steered into environmental activism after his own lung capacity diminished owing to Delhi's pollution levels. In an interview to National Geographic magazine he said, "My doctors told me to leave." But he decided to stay, and attempted to find a solution to this problem instead.
As the CEO of the Paharpur Business Centre in Delhi's Nehru Place, he has built an office space which is often referred to as Delhi's greenest building since it grows its own air.
Besides growing these plants, it may be helpful to wear a mask when outdoors. And water. Drink more, that's always good. Tea and Vitamin D rich fruits are also supposed to help protect against smog and other pollutants.
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