Beautiful Jewels Made From Smog In The Netherlands
A huge 23-foot-tall air filtering tower was installed in a park in Rotterdam in the Netherlands last week. It sucks in the smog-filled city air through openings near the top. After cleaning out the pollutants, it releases clean air through vents near the ground. Called the Smog Free Tower, it was created by the Danish designer Daan Roosegaarde.
The trapped pollutants, mostly carbon, are condensed into tiny black cubes. The incredibly dense by-products of the air purification are not quite diamonds, but they are being made into lovely rings and cufflinks. The smog particles removed from 1,000 cubic meters of air are formed into a small jewel that any environmentalist would be proud to wear.
Roosegarde envisions a waste-free future as we humans learn to live sustainably on our planet. The Dutch tower is currently the largest air purifier in the world; its construction was funded by a Kickstarter page. Business Insider reports that the Smog Free Tower project hopes to expand to Los Angeles, Mexico City, Paris and Beijing.
