“Look outside your window – have you ever wondered what the quality of the air is out there? I mean RIGHT. OUT. THERE. 12 inches from your face. If so, you are out of luck. The air quality data collected by the government is likely sampled from far, far away and then applied to you on a regional level – not very useful from the standpoint of trying to understand or change the local dynamics of pollution that affect you.”
As someone who’s been driven indoors to my gym due to the air quality in my neighborhood, even though I’d rather run outside, I’m definitely someone who should back the Kickstarter campaign for the Air Quality Egg, an egg-shaped air quality sensor that reads NO2 and CO concentrations right outside your window. It’s bad enough trying to bypass sidewalk smokers and school buses spewing out black clouds of noxious gas, but when I stop to think about what else is stinking up my air ways – like the wastewater treatment facility down the street, the very nuclear Newton Creak nearby, the warehouses that line my side of the East River and the trucks that rumble by them nonstop – it’s a little disturbing to think what your lungs can get used to.
That’s where the Air Quality Egg comes in. It’s not just a great sensor, it’s a great way to raise awareness of how terrible the air we breathe is and eventually – hopefully – do something about it. Find out more and consider backing the project. A $100 donation gets you your very own egg.
