Enhance Your Chance with Plants tO2
After living in China for multiple years, it has become apparent to s group of students at our school that it is crucial to take in consideration of air quality and reduce CO2 emissions. So we made it our mission to reduce CO2 at our school. After watching the Ted Talk called “How to grow fresh air”, we were inspired by his idea to introduce units of 11 plants into our homes and into our everyday lives. That is why we have organized a committee called "Enhance your chance with plants TO2 (TO2 double meaning: refers to oxygen and two o’s, too). In this committee we coordinated a fund-raiser in which teachers and families of our community could buy a unit of 11 plants. This unit is the right amount of plants to produce a healthy environment and improve air quality for one person. The unit consists of three types of plants: 6 Mother-in-law’s tongues, 4 Areca Palms, and one Money Plant. We would like to expand our program in our community and work with other schools to make this a regular feature of homes both in China and the rest of the world. We are documenting our work, developing presentations and posting manuals of this project on our Environmental Studies Website. we would like to advance our ideas to the broader community and world by creating a successful model for other schools, promoting our idea through social media and technology, as well as, through our work with other schools.
Jim White
Department Chair
Howdy! I love indoor plants.
Question: Did you find a direct relationship to CO2 levels and human health/comfort with indoor air quality?
Kira Lutter
Thanks, me too, thats why this project was so important for me.
I talk from my own experience that having plants around lifts up your mood and makes a room much more friendly, but my self i never did actually do a study about it. The reason is because our school is really small and we do not have enough plants to get a statistical significant result out of it. However in the Video “How to grow fresh air” Kamal Meattle talks did a research in his office building and they found statistical evidence that those plants improved the health of the workers as well as their comfort. So if the CO2 level was lower the health and comfort level increased.
Geoffrey Bomarito
Materials Research Engineer
Nice work!
Plants always seem to pop up in offices, but fake plants are sometimes chosen because maintenance is easier. What sort of maintenance is required for the plant setup you suggest?
Kira Lutter
Thank you so much that means a lot to me.
To your question, we actually have a hand out we give to everyone you bought a plant how properly take care of these plants. This is really easy for the Mother-in-Law-Tounge and the Money-Plant because they are really robust. So you just have to water them properly and maybe wipe up the leafs, but that depends on the air quality you life in. The Palms are a little more sensitive so you really have to be careful to not give them to much water, and you should spray them frequently, plus the wiping of the leafs.
Lauren McPhillips
PhD Candidate
Neat idea for areas where air quality is downright harmful. Are the plants able to help with other air quality benefits besides CO2 uptake and O2 production? Beyond air quality, are there other benefits that might come to people or the environment from having these plants around?
Kira Lutter
Thanks, the Palm and the Mother-in-Law-Toungue are mostly just for the CO2 uptake and the O2 production, but the Money-Plant actually has pollution filtering qualities, it filters the particles from the air, which you will recognize when you wipe up the leafs of this plant. The other two are also binding some particles but not as effective as the Money-Plant.
I recognized that our school now looks much more friendly then before and the people are also more clam and in a better mood, so its not just the filtering of the air that has benefits to us but also the presents of plants helps the community of our school.
Sara Lacy
Senior Scientist
I like your plants!
Do you know exactly what pollutants the air quality measurements are measuring?
Kira Lutter
Thank you.
They are measuring the PM 2.5. That is the most common measured one here in China.