Pollution capsules simulate air quality in New Delhi and Beijing

Simulations reveal the significant impact of pollution on health.

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The dense smog in Beijing and the smog choking New Delhi will be recreated in a series of "pollution capsules" to be installed at King's Cross railway station in central London.

Experts and technicians seek to simulate the environments of five different global locations to convey the "deep experience of air pollution" and its impact on human health.

Residents of the British capital will be able to compare the air quality of their city in the Chinese and Indian capital, as well as Sao Paulo and Totra, a remote island near Trondheim in Norway that is said to have perhaps the cleanest air on earth.

Briton, Michael Pinsky, who created the capsules, worked with a group of specialists to reproduce the air quality, temperature and smell at the five sites.

The people behind the idea hope the capsule trial will make its way to the World Climate Conference in Glasgow, where world leaders will meet later this month to agree on ambitious goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

“During the design of the pollution capsules, I tried to extract the full physical sense of being everywhere,” Pinsky said. “For example, being in São Paulo feels like a haven compared to New Delhi, until your eyes start to water from the feeling of ethanol;

While the tension air is not like any you have ever breathed before, it is very pure.”

"Rail passengers can bring to the climate conference the profound experience of air pollution, the damage it does to our bodies, and the impact on people in the UK and around the world, making politicians even more difficult to ignore," Pinsky adds.

On the trip to Glasgow, the capsules will be accompanied by staff from six children's hospitals in the United Kingdom, who will cycle 800 km.

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