As air pollution gets worse, a dystopian accessory is born - Will we all soon be wearing face masks like we wear sunglasses?
The global future of air quality doesn’t look so good. As humanity continues to make little progress fighting climate change, fires are expected to get more frequent. And in some cases, like in California, that new pollution is erasing decades of improving air quality.
The American Lung Association estimates that 133.9 million people in the United States are exposed to unhealthy air conditions every year. The World Health Organization estimates that 4.2 million people die every year from exposure to air pollution. A recent report from IQAir, a group that surveys air pollution worldwide, highlighted the cities with the worst pollution, many of which were located in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Most of this air pollution comes from industry and other emissions.
Enter the face mask, an accessory ripe for the market in these dystopian times. People who live in desert areas have long known to cover their mouths and protect their lungs from dust. But in the past few years, a handful of companies have started making air filtration masks engineered specifically for both fashion and function. In California, a company called Vogmask has all but cornered the market with its brightly colored designs. And abroad, companies like Airpop and Respro are entering the fold, hoping to provide an attractive alternative to the standard white painter’s mask. But how does a new accessory category take off — especially one that covers a good portion of a wearer’s face?
In these Asian countries, courtesy masks are common enough that pop stars even influence the styles — when bands started wearing black masks instead of the usual white ones, the trend spread to the masses. But these masks do nothing to filter out particulate matter like dust or pollution, and the PM2.5 masks that do that kind of filtering still aren’t nearly as popular.
Today, Airpop masks are sold all over China as well as online for $50. They come in a variety of colors and look more like a fancy Nike shoe than a surgeon’s protective covering. And Airpop is not alone. A company called Freka sells stylish masks for more than $100 apiece. Lifestyle bloggers in places like China and India even review masks as fashion items.
Seems inevitable this may be the future. I actually a surgical mask around with me to the various offices I sit in, to prevent breathing in the dust emitted from cheap vacuum cleaners. Maybe I need a nice colorful one like the ones mentioned 😉
See www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/1…
#environment #facemask
from Beiträge von Danie van der Merwe https://ift.tt/2CvXU55
via IFTTT
The American Lung Association estimates that 133.9 million people in the United States are exposed to unhealthy air conditions every year. The World Health Organization estimates that 4.2 million people die every year from exposure to air pollution. A recent report from IQAir, a group that surveys air pollution worldwide, highlighted the cities with the worst pollution, many of which were located in India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Most of this air pollution comes from industry and other emissions.
Enter the face mask, an accessory ripe for the market in these dystopian times. People who live in desert areas have long known to cover their mouths and protect their lungs from dust. But in the past few years, a handful of companies have started making air filtration masks engineered specifically for both fashion and function. In California, a company called Vogmask has all but cornered the market with its brightly colored designs. And abroad, companies like Airpop and Respro are entering the fold, hoping to provide an attractive alternative to the standard white painter’s mask. But how does a new accessory category take off — especially one that covers a good portion of a wearer’s face?
In these Asian countries, courtesy masks are common enough that pop stars even influence the styles — when bands started wearing black masks instead of the usual white ones, the trend spread to the masses. But these masks do nothing to filter out particulate matter like dust or pollution, and the PM2.5 masks that do that kind of filtering still aren’t nearly as popular.
Today, Airpop masks are sold all over China as well as online for $50. They come in a variety of colors and look more like a fancy Nike shoe than a surgeon’s protective covering. And Airpop is not alone. A company called Freka sells stylish masks for more than $100 apiece. Lifestyle bloggers in places like China and India even review masks as fashion items.
Seems inevitable this may be the future. I actually a surgical mask around with me to the various offices I sit in, to prevent breathing in the dust emitted from cheap vacuum cleaners. Maybe I need a nice colorful one like the ones mentioned 😉
See www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/3/1…
#environment #facemask
from Beiträge von Danie van der Merwe https://ift.tt/2CvXU55
via IFTTT
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