Case Study
Breathe Easy
Air purifying plants
Partners Involved: Plants, Breath Easy
Type of Partnership: Win-Neutral for Public and Planet
Partnership Models: Purifier, Isolator
For the public, preserving healthy soils is ensuring vital ecosystem services such as food security, water purification and carbon capture. For the planet, it ensures healthy habitat for the plants.
In the 1990s, Kamal Meattle, who was born and raised in India, became allergic to Delhi’s air. His doctors told him his lung capacity had been reduced to 70% and prescribed him to leave New Delhi—otherwise the city’s air would kill him.
Air pollution is indeed a pressing issue in most major Asian cities. According to the World Health Organization, India has 14 out of the world’s 15 most polluted cities, with air pollution leading to 1.2 million deaths in the country in 2017.
Not wanting to uproot his life, Meattle, a chemical engineering graduate from MIT, discovered that the use of various plants could promote indoor air quality. In his 2009 TED talk he shared how a balanced combination of three types of plants—the areca palm, money plant, and mother-in-law’s tongue—could remove unwanted carbon dioxide and inorganic compounds such as formaldehyde (found in furniture and personal care products, among other things), and provide oxygen at night.
In 2012, Barun Aggarwal, Meattle’s son-in-law, decide to start a company called ‘Breathe Easy’ to solve corporate air quality concerns through using organic filtration techniques, and including the combination of these three plants.
SDGs Targeted: SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities
Links & Sources:
Case Study
Breathe Easy
Air purifying plants
Partners Involved: Plants, Breath Easy
Type of Partnership: Win-Neutral for Public and Planet
Partnership Models: Purifier, Isolator
For the public, preserving healthy soils is ensuring vital ecosystem services such as food security, water purification and carbon capture. For the planet, it ensures healthy habitat for the plants.
In the 1990s, Kamal Meattle, who was born and raised in India, became allergic to Delhi’s air. His doctors told him his lung capacity had been reduced to 70% and prescribed him to leave New Delhi—otherwise the city’s air would kill him.
Air pollution is indeed a pressing issue in most major Asian cities. According to the World Health Organization, India has 14 out of the world’s 15 most polluted cities, with air pollution leading to 1.2 million deaths in the country in 2017.
Not wanting to uproot his life, Meattle, a chemical engineering graduate from MIT, discovered that the use of various plants could promote indoor air quality. In his 2009 TED talk he shared how a balanced combination of three types of plants—the areca palm, money plant, and mother-in-law’s tongue—could remove unwanted carbon dioxide and inorganic compounds such as formaldehyde (found in furniture and personal care products, among other things), and provide oxygen at night.
In 2012, Barun Aggarwal, Meattle’s son-in-law, decide to start a company called ‘Breathe Easy’ to solve corporate air quality concerns through using organic filtration techniques, and including the combination of these three plants.
SDGs Targeted: SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being, SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities
Links & Sources: