In order to tackle the increasing air pollution problem in Bejing, Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde has come up with an remarkable way to turn polluted air into a girl´s best friend – diamonds!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_r4ApSJGc0
“It started with a dream, the dream of clean air for everyone”, Roosegaarde said at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the New Champions.
The idea of the project came to him as he was looking through the windows in Bejing one day and all he could see was smog. He realized that our desire for innovation and progress sometimes creates surroundings we don´t want to live in, and decided to do something about it. He called it “The Smog Free Project“.
From Holland to China
The project consists of two parts. First, a 7m tall tower sucks up polluted air, and cleans it at a nano-level. Afterwards, since 32% of Beijing’s smog is carbon, the carbon from the smog particles is turned into diamonds.
After a pilot in Rotterdam, he took the project to the city where he first came up with the idea, and with the help of the Beijing government, Roosegaarde has manage to launch his project in China. Following Beijing, the project is set to tour other Chinese cities.
The money raised by jewellery made with these diamonds will go towards supporting the development and building of more smog-free towers.
