How India’s air pollution is being turned into floor tiles (地砖)

As a 10-year-old living in Mumbai, Angad Daryani often _________ to breathe during football matches because of the thick smog surrounding the Indian megacity. The heavily polluted air seemed to worsen his asthma (哮喘).

India has the world’s worst air pollution. _________ to 22 of the world’s 30 most polluted cities, India’s toxic air kills more than one million people each year. Air pollution also _________ global warming. A major component of PMas is black carbon, which can absorb one million times more energy from the sun than carbon dioxide. Experts say _________ pollutants such as black carbon could help slow global warming and improve air quality.

_________ by his own experience of the effects of air pollution on his health, Daryani is one of a growing number of entrepreneurs hoping to clean up India’s skies. His solution is to capture the soot (煤烟) and other polluting particles in containers so it can be _________ something useful like building materials.

For Daryani, there is no time to spare — India must _________ reduce pollution to protect people’s health. “_________ all vehicles to electric will take at least 30 years. During this time, cities will choke up with air pollution,” he says.

His solution to the problem is a simple one — develop a low-cost system that can _________ the pollution so it can be turned into something else. After designing his first device, Daryani __________ a start-up in 2017 __________ building an affordable outdoor air purifier. Low-income households in India are at higher risk of dying from air pollution, __________ not producing it themselves.

A single purification device developed by Daryani can filter 300 cubic feet of air per minute and store 11,540 cubic centimetres of pollutants. But __________ just throwing away the captured pollutants, Daryani and his team decided to make use of them. Instead, the carbon captured in the containers is given to another Indian company called Carbon Craft Design, which uses the powdered pollutants to create stylish, handcrafted decorative flooring tiles.

Daryani’s company recently completed its first investment round, __________ $1.5m from US and Indian investors. Daryani plans to use this funding to run a pilot programme, deploying devices at schools, hotels and industrial projects across India this autumn. But he also hopes to make the technology __________ outside India in the next few years and the company has already received interest from South Korea and Mexico.

Conservation experts are calling on the prime minister to commit to protecting nature. They say the past decade has seen far too little action, with England remaining one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries. The letter to Boris Johnson was headed by Prof Sir John Lawton, who chaired a review of wildlife sites in 2010. The Making Space for Nature panel advocated “bigger, better and more joined up spaces for nature”. Ten years on, there is a need for renewed action, the experts say, highlighting three overarching areas: better protection and management of wildlife habitats; scaling up efforts to restore wild areas; bringing nature to people.

Prof Lawton writes: “Nearly half of our species are in decline and about a quarter of our mammals are threatened with national extinction. These losses represent a decline in resilience of the ecosystems upon which we depend and a loss of experience and joy: there are too few places left where a child can walk through a cloud of butterflies or sit amongst a rainbow of flowers.” The letter is signed by members of the original panel, including Dr Peter Brotherton, director of science at the government agency, Natural England.

In a second letter, a group of more than 25 nature charities urged the leaders of the four devolved nations to commit to a new era for nature in the UK. They want the UK to lead the charge for new targets and concerted global action to protect nature, following a “lost decade” of nature conservation.

The UN’s latest global biodiversity report shows that the world has failed to fully meet any of its targets to halt damage to natural habitats. The report from The Convention on Biological Diversity(CBD)says only six of 20 goals were partially met over the last decade. The head of the CBD, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, said that while some good things were happening, the rate of biodiversity loss was unprecedented in human history and it showed the pressures were intensifying. The announcement follows a report by WWF and the Zoological Society of London that shows animal populations globally have plunged by 68% in the last 50 years.

Richard Benwell, CEO of Wildlife and Countryside Link, said the failure to meet these targets is a wake-up call for nature that our leaders must answer before it is too late. He added: “We are calling on the prime minister to help start a new era for wildlife, fighting for a strong global target and worldwide action, matched with a clear legal commitment, increased investment and ambitious programmes to restore nature at home.”