You probably are thinking of air fresheners
as means of purifying the air. The air fresheners come as consumer products
seen on shelves in shops. Air fresheners, as products, come in forms of sprays,
candles, oils, gels, beads and plug-ins. And what are some of these products
which eventually find their way into our homes as intended- to freshen the air?
As intended by consumer and producer alike. There are lots of them.
These are products of transnationals,
making megabucks out of the many. I wonder whether the leadership of these
multinationals use air fresheners as much as the patrons of their shops do.
Why an air freshener, when nature was
in the first place, ideated, engineered and crafted to purify itself?
Some of these so called air fresheners
rather pollute the air! They cause allergies leading to diseases.
The following are some brands of air fresheners:
Glade
Air Wick
Yankee Candle Good Air
Citrus Magic
Beep Sea Breeze
Febreze Refresh
Lysol Neutra Air
Fresh Air
These products are the answers man
offer as solution to air it has made unfresh in the first place. These manmade
air fresheners ought to be mentioned to heighten the critical importance of the
natural, and the critical contrast between that which is natural and that which
is not, in pursuit of maintaining a clean and balanced natural environment,
sustainably.
I must talk about trees as air fresheners and purifiers!
Yes,
trees as air purifiers. Air comprises of a number of gases, and the right
balance in composition of these gases, and in a sustainable way, ensures a fresh
and breathable air for inmates of planet Earth who need it. For breathable air
to be composed as such, and maintained, a number of things ought to come into
play. One of the things that ought to come into play is tree- and a critical
one at that.
Let me use Dallas, Texas, USA as an
example. I am going to quote from a US News and World Report article dated
August 7, 2018 (https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-08-07/in-dallas-urban-heat-island-planting-trees-to-help-residents-breathe) as
follows:
“Nearly 218,000
Dallas County residents had asthma in 2015, accounting for more than
"14,000 emergency room visits and 25 deaths," according to a 2016
Community Health Needs Assessment
commissioned by the Parkland Health & Hospital System in partnership with
Dallas County Health and Human Services.
Now, as a remedy
for Dallas' airborne woes, community members and environmental organizations
are turning back to trees.”
The article I am
quoting from is themed “Planting Trees to Help Dallas Breathe”
Natural jungles made up of trees are
cut to be replaced with concrete jungles, as is the case of Dallas. If trees
play a role in air purification, as indeed they do, the replacement of trees
with concrete jungles, create a fundamental flaw in the balanced functioning of
the natural environment, including the flow and freshness of air.
The introduction of air fresheners
into the equation rather serves as an aggravation of the issue. A study by the
University of Bristol has this to say on the issue: “The University of Bristol's Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and
Children (ALSPAC) found
that exposure to volatile organic compounds through frequent use of air fresheners and other aerosols in the home was
found to correlate with increased earaches and diarrhea in infants, and with increased depression and headaches in their mothers.”
The significance of trees in the
purification of air is tied to photosynthesis. In the process of
photosynthesis, trees take out carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and release
into the atmosphere oxygen. It is a cycle that helps to keep breathable air
fresh and breathable.
The benefit of tree replanting in
Dallas is summed up by the Texas State Director (Laura Huffman) of the green
group The Nature Conservancy:
“Huffman says the 1,000 trees
are expected to create an estimated $2.9 million in environmental benefits over
40 years, including by removing about 250 tons of carbon dioxide pollution and
intercepting over 4 million gallons of stormwater over their lifetime.”
Therefrom, further benefits are to be
derived as a result:
"In addition to that, the trees
will help clean and cool the air and enhance neighborhoods for nearly 22,000
residents," Huffman says.
Air fresheners you see on shelves in shops intended to freshen air rather
release toxic substances into the air to make matters worse.
We
as humans cut trees, which are critical in the purification and sustenance of
breathable air to make mega bucks. The result is imbalance in the gaseous
composition of air we breathe. When we have cut trees to replace them with
concrete jungles, as is the case of Dallas, thereby inducing polluted air, we
same humans turn around to manufacture air fresheners as solution to the
problem!
We humans pride ourselves on our
handiwork, but we have done it by compromising nature. Nature in many ways is
telling man that it does not work that way. You cannot eat your cake and have
it.
Air fresheners do not purify the air,
trees do- at least as nature intends it to be.
By planting trees you are factoring into the natural environment
the tools to clean and cool the air. In so doing the air is made pure, and thereby,
naturally and sustainably fresh and breathable air is circulated.
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