Keeping indoors green with greenery

We are usually more concerned about air quality outside our homes but much less concerned about it inside. We do not understand why we feel sick on a regular basis and why we develop symptoms that worsen over time.  In the recent years, NASA scientists and researchers from the University of Georgia find out that the reasons might also be something else other than physical causes. The indoor air can be up to 5 times more polluted than outdoor air. These pollutants can cause anything from a slight headache to cancer.

Therefore, it is more important to live in a clean and safe environment. Cleaning our indoor air is as easy as going green and growing green. Injurious gases are present in every man-made structure in the world. Many products we have in our homes release Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). The VOCs are a large group of carbon-based chemicals that easily evaporate at room temperature. There are thousands of different VOCs produced and used in our daily lives. Thus we hardly know that inside our houses, various toxins are present at any time. They are emitted from man-made materials such as carpets and adhesives, composite wood products, solvents, paints, air fresheners, cleaning and disinfecting chemicals, toiletries, gasoline, vehicle exhaust running a car in an attached garage, cooking, dry cleaning, paper goods, smoking, photocopiers etc. These compounds can cause liver damage, asthma, various allergies, leukemia, and other cancers.

Studies have shown that the level of VOCs exist indoors is generally two to five times higher than what prevail outdoors. There are various houseplants that can keep our household clear of dust, pollen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and toxic VOC gases from your home. These beneficial houseplants that can take care of indoor pollution include Aloe Vera, Azalea, Bamboo Palm, Chinese Evergreen, Chrysanthemum, English Ivy, Gerbera Daisy, Golden Pothos, Heart Leaf Philodendron, Peace Lily aka Spathiphyllum, Red-Edge Dracaena, Snake Plant, Spider Plant, Warneck Dracaena, Weeping Fig aka Ficus etc.

 The writer is Traffic-cum-Road Safety Engineer. [email protected]