There¡¯s no way to sugarcoat this any more, but air pollution is killing people. According to a March 2020 study, 8.8 million people die every year due to exposure to ambient air pollution and average life expectancy reduced by 3 years worldwide -- far more deadly than even tobacco smoking.
Could it get any worse? Yes, since India has 15 of the 20 worst polluting cities in the world -- a record that should worry all of us. AQI measuring apps are real-time reminders of how our cities have turned into gas chambers, accelerating the long-term risk of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record: before the air pollution emergency metastasizes into a full-blown apocalypse, someone needs to put the genie back into the bottle. That¡¯s what Charlie Park¡¯s trying to do for two decades, ringing the alarm bell on pollution that many people tend to dismiss and don¡¯t take seriously.
Saying Charlie Park and his team at Dyson's Environmental Care division being somewhat on a mission will be equal parts clich¨¦ and an understatement -- but then what do you expect from someone answering Sir James Dyson's clarion call to "solve the problems that other ignore"? Park has spent over 17 years designing and engineering solutions that protect people from air pollutants -- not just of the outdoor kind, but also increasingly indoor ones that are largely invisible to us.
While the problem of outdoor pollution is very well understood, the same can¡¯t be said about indoor air quality, and how poor it can be, according to Charlie Park¡¯s assessment. ¡°Whether it¡¯s wildfires in Australia or California, yellow dust season in Korea, or the extreme levels of PM 2.5 that you see in the air in New Delhi at this time of the year, everyone has a high awareness of these issues, but indoor air quality isn¡¯t very well understood by the public,¡± argues Charlie Park.
All around the world, indoor air pollution isn¡¯t a visible phenomenon unless it¡¯s really bad -- with smoke or dust piling up, he says. But even then, it¡¯s difficult for people to be able to easily gauge the air quality inside their home.
¡°In my past visits to India, people have told me that because the pollution is so bad here that they¡¯ve sort of become immune to it,¡± reveals Charlie Park. ¡°People think because they¡¯ve grown up in a polluted environment, they have built up some sort of defense to it, which unfortunately isn¡¯t backed up by any medical evidence, as much as I wish it was true,¡± he underlines, while highlighting some of the psychological conditioning around this topic.
Dyson and SGS China, an independent advanced testing establishment, tested the indoor air quality in a number of Delhi-NCR homes, which revealed ¡°ultra-fine pollutants¡± inside all Delhi-NCR homes tested. Indoor air pollutants like formaldehyde, bacteria, pollen, mould spores, cockroach allergens, dust mites, pet hair and dead skin cells were common across most Indian households.
And then there¡¯s VOCs or volatile organic compounds, which are gases that almost always go undetected in an indoor environment, exacting a heavy toll on the body. ¡°VOCs differ in severity in different parts of the world and the biggest problem is that people don¡¯t have an easy way to detect their presence in an indoor environment,¡± claims Charlie Park, and he¡¯s particularly critical of formaldehyde¡¯s prevalence and health risk. ¡°Formaldehyde is used in all sorts of things for indoor items and products, and it¡¯s off gassing all the time, and continued exposure at high levels can be damaging to your health,¡± he sums up.
As we spend more time indoors with diminished physical activity, and with COVID-19 raging outdoors, people are starting to take their health and fitness more seriously. While that¡¯s a great trend, Charlie Park believes health-conscious consumers should be wary of superficial hype.
¡°The way air purifiers are generally tested isn¡¯t representative of real-world home environments,¡± argues Charlie Park, claiming how the industry standard CADR test (Clean Air Delivery Rate) is just a measure of speed of air purification, which ignores other key parameters like the size of the room and purification achieved in every corner of the room -- not just a tiny air bubble around the purifier.
¡°Which is why we designed our own POLAR test for air purifiers, taking into account bigger room sizes and a machine¡¯s ability to purify it with no additional fans,¡± he explains, ¡°so we¡¯re left with an evenly cleaned room with lowered level of air pollution achieved throughout the room, as opposed to just around the air purifier.¡±
Because educating the public about the problem of air pollution is just one half of the solution, according to Charlie Park. Designing the right solutions that work in people's homes -- and not just perform to certain test standards that are no longer relevant -- matter as well.
With years and miles under his feet, Park believes that his team at Dyson already knows quite a lot on the level of pollution existing in people's homes all around the world, while continuing to design better solutions to keep them under control. And when it comes to testing products in extreme environments, India is as bad as it can get.
¡°Products designed by us have to work at sea-level in a city like Singapore and also in places like Mexico City, for example, which is at a very high altitude where the air pressure is too low,¡± explains Charlie Park, while talking about extreme cases. ¡°The air pollution we see in New Delhi and some other cities in India is among the highest levels we have ever recorded, so when we are trying to ensure our products work everywhere in the world, performance in New Delhi¡¯s air quality sort of becomes the upper limit on informing us of the levels we need to match in terms of improving our solutions,¡± he says.
It¡¯s obviously very challenging when the pollution is as bad as it is in India¡¯s major urban hotspots, especially when you transition into the winter months, but that¡¯s the time to be extra vigilant and exercise maximum caution -- especially indoors -- argues Park.
¡°It¡¯s the obvious things really, the little things that can make a big difference. Making sure the windows and doors are shut, but also that you're not adding to the pollution levels, where you can avoid it from internal sources,¡± says Charlie Park, while counting off things like deodorants, sprays, cooking without decent ventilation that can spike up indoor air pollution.
¡°Also when people are investing in purifiers, the key is to understand their effectiveness and unfortunately some of the metrics can be a bit misleading,¡± says Park with a hint of caution. It all comes down to stopping external pollution from coming indoors, limiting sources of indoor pollution, and making a well-informed buying decision when you¡¯re out shopping for a solution, when it comes to realistically tackling pollution events inside not only Indian homes but anywhere else in the world as well, according to Charlie Park.
If there¡¯s one thing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has done very well, it has heightened everyone¡¯s guard against dangers to public and personal health and hygiene. People are more conscious and worried about their health and safety, and a lot of perspectives are changing for the better, explains Charlie Park.
¡°The awareness on air quality, especially indoor air quality, purely through people's concerns over coronavirus has gone up significantly,¡± he says, while adding, ¡°I just hope that as a global community, after we get this virus under control, we don't lose people's attention on the improving awareness level towards indoor health at scale.¡±
The irony isn¡¯t lost on Charlie Park, on how it takes something like COVID-19 or a high-profile pollution event for people to start worrying about the quality of air they breathe or what¡¯s going into their lungs -- an involuntary process that you don¡¯t ever think about unless you¡¯re trying to meditate or ill.
¡°The nightmare scenario for us is that the air quality continues to get worse, but on the flip side it¡¯s also an opportunity for us to tackle the problem in a speedy manner,¡± according to Charlie Park. ¡°As much as you¡¯d want, unfortunately there¡¯s no magic bullet for this one, and my team and I remain passionate and committed to resolve the problem of indoor air quality to the point where it no longer remains a concern,¡± emphasizes Charlie Park, acutely aware of the fact that he¡¯s trying to do himself out of a job.
¡°I¡¯d love to live in a world where pollutants are cut off at source, whether it¡¯s factories or cars or indoor environments, where nasty VOCs are outlawed, where pollution levels drop steeply to what¡¯s acceptable for the human body to deal with,¡± says Charlie Park. ¡°But until that happens, we just need to continue to educate people on the dangers of air pollution,¡± he says.
There¡¯s no doubt that air pollution and climate change are intrinsically linked, that today¡¯s air pollution becomes tomorrow's climate crisis, in a never-ending cycle that keeps repeating itself. I also believe that technology and mindset are key to help us overcome both, and that tomorrow¡¯s innovators who will ultimately solve the climate crisis need protection from today¡¯s worsening air pollution emergency, and it¡¯s reassuring to have engineers like Charlie Park working hard to ensure just that.