Want to Fight Air Pollution? New Study Says Planting Hedges is More Effective Than Planting Trees

If you want to protect your lungs from nearby road pollution, new research says you should be planting some hedges as the most effective way to cleanse the air.

In a paper published in Atmospheric Environment, researchers looked at how three types of road-side green infrastructure – trees, hedges, and a combination of trees with hedges and shrubs – affected the concentration levels of air pollution. The study used six roadside locations in Guildford, UK, as test sites where the green infrastructure was between 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) away from the road.

The University of Surrey researchers found that roadsides that only had hedges were the most effective at reducing pollution exposure, cutting the black carbon by up to 63%.

They also observed an appreciable reduction in harmful heavy metals that originated from the traffic.

Roadsides with only trees showed no positive influence on pollution reduction at breathing height, as the tree canopy was too high to provide a barrier/filtering effect for road-level

“The best way to tackle pollution is to control it at the source,” said Professor Prashant Kumar, the study’s senior author and founding director of the university’s Global Centre for Clean Air Research. “However, reducing exposure to traffic emissions in near-road environments has a big part to play in improving health and well-being for city-dwellers.”

“There are many miles of fences in urban areas that could be readily complemented with hedges to reduce pollution exposure for pedestrians, cyclists and people who live close to roads. Urban vegetation should be about much more than just trees on wide urban roads.”


https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/want-to-fight-air-pollution-new-study-says-planting-hedges-is-more-effective-than-planting-trees/

Get rid of Road Humps, slow when approaching, Brake dust in the air, accelerate after, particulates in the air. I thought this was obvious !

The Peace Lily is a deep, forest green plant with white flowers. It’s a great general cleanser and air purifying plant that effectively removes all common indoor pollutants generated by furniture, electronics and cleaning products, so much so that it is one of NASA’s top-ranked plants for this purpose.

Below is a list of plants that clean air of pollutants in your home.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Clean_Air_Study

Garden Mum comes top of the list.

In the NASA research, this plant was an air-purifying champion, removing ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene from indoor air. Popular and inexpensive at garden stores, they can be planted outside after they're finished blooming.

Pollutants removed: ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, and xylene