Keep your home healthy this winter
I’ve always felt that living with houseplants had health benefits. I’ve lived with them for my whole life. I’m drawn to the beautiful foliage, the scent of the plants as well as the soil. I’m a person who loves to care for things, people, animals, personal property and of course plants.
You may have read that the Amazon rainforest is considered to be the lungs of the world and produces about 20% of the world’s oxygen. Apart from suffering many decades of deforestation, it is now on fire and the planet is warming. Many of our tropical houseplants originate from rainforests.
What can we do? Most of us do not have a spare million dollars hanging around waiting to do good things, but we all have local shops where we can purchase houseplants so that we can create more oxygen in our homes and offices.
How much oxygen do we need? It is believed that humans consume about 50 liters of oxygen an hour and a single leaf produces about 5ml of oxygen every hour by photosynthesis. That equates to about 10,000 leaves processing carbon dioxide into oxygen per person. The average oak tree has around 220,000 leaves which is enough to oxygenate 22 people – until autumn, when the leaves turn brown and fall off.
As most of us do not own our own rainforest, instead we can introduce leafy plants to our homes. Apart from converting carbon dioxide into oxygen, they also help to purify the air from airborne toxins too. Even NASA recommends everyone should have 15–20 houseplants in their home to cleanse the air – and NASA has been studying the oxygen-producing capabilities of plants for long-distance space travel and colonizing inhospitable planets.
This is the time of year when we start to think about bringing in Holiday greens to decorate our homes. Maybe this year along with bringing in cut greens, how about bringing in some live plants as well? The houseplants will last much longer than the Holiday Season, and will have lasting health benefits as well.
Do you or someone you know love plants? Shop my Etsy store or contact me directly and I can create a beautiful hanging macrame planter or centerpiece, great for gift giving!! I can also find a plant for you that is not in my shop.