加州野火不断，令这款产品热卖

随着火灾肆虐加州，湾区的居民收到了留在室内的公共警告。原因是来自于金卡德火灾（Kincade Fire）的烟尘让室外空气成为了不宜呼吸的有害气体。这些烟尘满是颗粒物，可能会停留在人们的肺中，引发各类呼吸道病症，尤其是岁数较小的儿童。

确实，加州火灾以及肆虐全球各地的火灾（包括巴西、阿拉斯加和西伯利亚）所引发的空气质量恶化，正在威胁人类的健康。过去10年，医疗研究证实了空气质量恶化与心脏病、哮喘和早逝等健康问题之间存在关联。与此同时，哈佛、耶鲁、哥伦比亚、加州大学以及世界银行和贝恩咨询公司所开展的研究甚至得出了一个结论：高污染会导致工作业绩和生产力的下降，以及病假的增多。

人们也越发意识到空气污染对健康的威胁，因此各种科技和装置应运而生。AirVisual、Airmon、Awair、Huma-i、Temtop、Atmotube和Flow等品牌推出了一批300美元不到的小型便携式检测装置，它们可以让消费者随时了解其呼吸的空气质量，可以用于监测日常通行环境中的污染物，或发现晨跑时的野火烟雾。与智能手机上提供城市或大面积区域基本空气质量监测数据的应用相比，它的不同之处在于能够对用户具体所在位置的空气质量进行测量，既可以是邻近的街区，也可以是室内。

这些设备的尺寸从盐瓶到大号智能手机不等，这些低成本空气质量检测仪拥有众多功能。例如，260美元的IQAir只有一本小号平装书的大小，配备了一个全面屏，能够显示当前环境、天气预报以及如何规避空气污染的建议（例如在室外戴口罩或在室内开启空气净化器）。与此同时，179美元的Flow检测仪只有6英寸高，重量11盎司，能够测量颗粒物质、一氧化二氮和挥发性的有机化合物。它的设计初衷就是挂在衣服或背包上，这样便可以将信息通过蓝牙传给手机应用程序。

在这个污染愈发严重的世界，这类微观环境监控设备可能对健康和生存来说至关重要。环境保卫基金（Environmental Defense Fund）的一项新研究发现，某个街区的空气污染程度可能要比另一个街区高8倍。在获得这一结论之前，调查组驾驶着搭载有小型空气质量监测器的车辆穿越了奥克兰、伦敦和休斯顿。另一个对校车的调查显示，车内空气质量有时候比车外更糟糕。主导EDF研究的阿琳·诺兰说：“空气污染的外在形式与人们预期的并不一样。”

烟和镜子？

在去年野火火灾期间，加州开始抢购这些新空气质量检测仪，来评估他们所采取的行动是否足以降低颗粒物水平，例如关闭窗户或开启空气过滤器。劳伦斯·伯克利国家实验室的科学家布雷特·辛格说：“对于检验自己行动的有效性来说，这个方法非常实用。我们是这些设备忠实的粉丝。”

辛格说，在某些情况下，低成本设备的功能不比1.5万至2万美元的专业设备差。但在其他情形中，它们的可靠性和精度还是赶不上监管方使用的工具。他建议，为了确保测量结果的准确度，应将这些低价设备的结果与官方监测站的结果进行对比，前提是附近有监测站的话。

正是因为加州目前正在蔓延的大火，去年在Indigogo众筹网站上成立的旧金山初创企业Atmotube在10月的销售量翻了一番，其空气质量监测器的价格从99美元至179美元不等。通过蓝牙连接至用户智能手机的Atmotube设备能够为用户实时提供挥发性有机化合物、颗粒物质、温度、湿度和气压数据。

Atmotube还发现，巴西的订单也有所增长。在此之前，世界卫生组织于9月向居住在朗多尼亚州6442起火灾周边的3000万民众发布了一则健康预警。有毒烟云甚至漂到了1800英里之外的圣保罗，而且还抵达了热带城市波多韦柳，而病患们则因为呼吸问题而蜂拥至卫生中心。

Atmotube的首席营销官达利亚·查吉娜说：“看到产品需求在野火季出现增长是一件令人痛心的事情。我们看到一个趋势，人们终于开始考虑吸入污染空气的影响，以及自己如何控制空气污染。”

新污染

有烟的地方就有火。然而，尽管没有烟，空气中也可能存在颗粒物（PM），它是一种越来越常见的空气污染物。大多数对颗粒物的担忧集中于汽车尾气以及加热油、木头和煤炭所释放的微粒和液滴。在没有风的炎热白天或时期，暴露于这些颗粒物当中可能会引发鼻子、喉咙和肺部的不适。它对哮喘、肺气肿、慢性阻塞性肺病以及心脏病患者的影响尤为明显。

颗粒物并非仅仅是一个用来博眼球的宣传语，而是一种能够威胁健康的污染趋势，并在不断恶化。过去10年中的多项研究发现，长期暴露于颗粒物环境与早逝存在关联，大多是由心血管疾病的恶化引发。世界卫生组织估计，每年约有370万人死于因室外污染引发的健康状况恶化，包括加重的缺血性心脏病、中风、慢性阻塞性肺病、肺癌和儿童急性呼吸道感染。

美国肺脏协会（American Lung Association）的《空气状况报告》称，2015年至2017年间，与2014年至2016年相比，美国日间出现高臭氧现象和短期颗粒物污染的城市越来越多。今年，欧盟甚至不惜采取法律措施来制约包括英国和德国这些通过污染限制标准的国家。

个人空气质量检测仪制造商表示，他们希望，人们在更好地了解暴露于颗粒物环境的危害之后，将采取行动来改变其生活，从而保护自身的健康。这可能意味着进行一些小调整，例如改变上班的路线或在室外跑步的路线。但这可能也意味着推动其社区做出更大的改变。

例如在伦敦，国王学院（King’s College）通过分析学校儿童背包上的空气质量检测仪的数据发现，孩子们上学路上的一氧化二氮浓度是学校中的5倍。伦敦的父母也用设备来测量污染，迫使政府当局将上、下车道的位置设置为非逗留区域，并组建了步行巴士，从而让孩子们沿着特定的路线步行上学，以规避汽车尾气。

人们在使用这些设备之后看到当地或国家的空气质量发生了整体性的改变，因为他们可以将其实时测量的数据上传至众包网站，例如PurpleAir Network和AirVisual。这些应用程序能够让人们自动上传其数据，并绘制全球和所在区域的实时空气质量图。辛格说，随着越来越多的人在线分享其数据，污染地图会变得越来越清晰。

在去年的加州火灾期间，PurpleAir Network的网站访问量激增了100倍。PurpleAir的创始人阿德里安·迪布瓦德说：“人们将它看作是天气预报，会依此来决定带孩子上哪玩，上哪去郊游或骑自行车。”

正是受利用信息为个人赋能愿景的启发，Plume Labs的首席执行官罗曼·拉科布开发了其公司的空气质量检测仪Flow。

例如，拉科布指出，空气质量检测仪曾经协助法国南部城市土伦的居民发起了一项行动，迫使该市将繁忙的运输港电动化。长期以来，人们怀疑运输港是空气污染的来源。今年早些时候，市民们搜集了空气质量数据，并将结果公之于媒体。该举措也让其行动获得了更多的关注，最终，港口的空气变干净了。拉科布说：“这类设备能够让人们拿出证据，从而推动变革。”（财富中文网）

译者：冯丰

审校：夏林

As fires ravaged California this week, Bay Area residents received a public warning to stay inside. The reason: Traveling smoke from the Kincade Fire had made outdoor air unhealthy to breathe. The smoke, full of particulate matter, could lodge into people’s lungs, causing various respiratory dangers—especially to young children.

Indeed, worsening air quality from the California blaze along with the globe’s other raging infernos—including those devouring forests in Brazil, Alaska, and Serbia—are taking a toll on human health. Over the last decade, medical research has shown a link between poor air quality and health problems like heart attacks, asthma, and premature death. Meanwhile, research by Harvard, Yale, Columbia, the University of California, the World Bank, and Bain & Co., have even suggested that high pollution contributes to poor job performance, lower productivity, and sick days.

Awareness of the danger air pollution poses to health has also grown, resulting in—among other things—technologies designed to help people breathe a sigh of relief. With names like AirVisual, Airmon, Awair, Huma-i, Temtop, Atmotube, and Flow, a crop of small, portable monitors priced under $300 promise to tell consumers what they’re inhaling on a minute-by-minute basis—whether it’s exposure to pollutants on a daily commute, or wildfire smoke on a morning run. And unlike the air quality monitoring smartphone apps that provide general data for a city or larger area, these devices provide measurements for users’ exact locations, whether it’s a specific neighborhood block or inside a house.

Varying from the size of a salt shaker to a large smartphone, these low cost air quality monitors offer a variety of features. For instance, the $260 IQAir is about the size of a small paperback book with a full screen that displays the current conditions, weather forecasts, and suggestions on how to mitigate poor air quality, whether it’s wearing a mask outdoors or running an air purifier indoors. The $179 Flow monitor, meanwhile, is six inches tall, weighs 11 ounces and measures particulate matter, nitrous oxides, and volatile organic compounds. It’s meant to be clipped onto clothing or a backpack, so it can beam information to a mobile app it connects to via Bluetooth.

In an increasingly polluted world, these kinds of micro-monitoring devices may be key to health—and survival. According to new study by the Environmental Defense Fund, air pollution can be eight times worse on one end of a block than another. The group learned this by driving cars equipped with small air quality monitors around Oakland, London, and Houston. A separate study of school buses found that pollution levels inside were sometimes worse than they were outside. “Air pollution behaves differently than you’d expect,” says Aileen Nowlan, who led the EDF’s research.

Smoke and mirrors?

During lasts year’s wildfires, Californians started snapping up these new air quality monitors to assess if the actions they were taking to reduce particle levels—such as shutting windows and running air filters—were adequate. “It’s a powerful way to see how effective your actions are,"says Brett Singer, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. “We’re big fans.”

In some cases, the low-cost devices can be nearly as good as professional grade monitors that cost $15,000 to $20,000, says Singer. In other cases, they’re less reliable or accurate than regulatory tools. To ensure proper measurements, he recommends comparing the inexpensive monitors to a regulatory monitoring station, if there’s one located nearby.

The current fires burning in California have prompted sales to double in October at Atmotube, a San Francisco startup that launched last year on Indigogo and now sells air quality monitors for $99 and $179. Atmotube’s devices connect to users smartphone via Bluetooth to provide users with real-time levels of volatile organic compounds, particulate matters, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric pressure.

Atmotube also saw an uptick in orders from Brazil after the World Health Organization issued a health warning in September to the 30 million people who live within the vicinity of the 6,442 fires burning in the state of Rondônia. Toxic smoke clouds drifted as far as 1,800 miles to São Paulo and to the tropical city of Porto Velho, and patients have been flooding into health centers with breathing problems.

“It’s sad to say we see demand during wildfire season,” says Daria Chagina, Atmotube’s chief marketing officer. “We’re seeing an awakening where people are finally taking into consideration the impact of inhaling air pollution and how they can take personal control.”

The new pollution

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. But where there’s none, there can still be particulate matter (PM), an air pollutant that’s becoming increasingly more common. Much of the concern over PM revolves around tiny particles and droplets that come from vehicle emissions, heating oil, wood, and coal. On hot days or times when there is little wind, exposure to these particles can irritate the nose, throat, and lungs. It specifically impacts people who suffer from asthma, emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and heart disease.

PM isn’t simply a buzzword that’s picking up traction; it’s a health-endangering pollution trend that’s getting worse. In the last decade, studies have linked long-term exposure to PM and premature death—mostly aggravated by cardiovascular disease. The World Health Organization estimates that about 3.7 million people die annually from health conditions worsened by outdoor pollution, including aggravated ischemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, and acute lower respiratory infections in children.

In the U.S. from 2015 to 2017, more cities had days of high ozone and short-term particle pollution compared to 2014 to 2016, according to the American Lung Association’s State of the Air Report. This year the E.U. went so far as to take legal action against a number of countries, including the U.K. and Germany, for surpassing pollution limits.

Makers of personal air quality monitors say the hope is that by better understanding the dangers of PM exposure, people will make changes to their life that will protect their health. That could mean making small changes like altering their commute to work or the route they take while running outdoors. But it could also mean pushing for even bigger changes in their communities.

In London, for example, King’s College used data from air quality monitors put on school children’s backpacks to determine that kids were exposed to five times more nitrogen dioxide on their commute than when they were at school. London parents also used devices to measure pollution, pressuring administrators to enforce no-idle zones in pick up and drop-off lanes and form walking buses, in which children walk to school along a specific route that avoids auto exhaust.

People can also use these devices to see a bigger-picture shift in local or national air quality, by uploading their real-time measurements to crowdsourced sites like the PurpleAir Network and AirVisual. These apps let people automatically upload their data and get real-time mapping of air quality in their area and around the world. And as more people voluntarily share their data online, the clearer the map of the pollution will get, says Singer.

During last year’s California wildfires, the PurpleAir Network saw 100 times more traffic to the site. “People use it like a weather report, figuring out where they’ll take their kids to play, where they’ll go to hike or cycle,” says Adrian Dybwad, PurpleAir founder.

This promise of empowering individuals with information is what initially inspired Plume Labs CEO Romain Lacombe to develop his company’s air quality monitor, Flow.

For example, Lacombe points out that air quality monitors assisted residents in their campaign to press the city of Toulon in South France to electrify a busy shipping port, which people had long suspected contributed to air pollution. Earlier this year, citizens gathered air quality data and brought the results to the media. The move brought more exposure to their effort, which ultimately cleaned up the air at the port. “This lets people come to the table with evidence that can drive change,” says Lacombe.