Beijing, China (CNN)One of the 21st century"s bleakest problems, air pollution leads to the premature death of 3 million people every year, according to a study published in the journal Nature last year. That number is set to double by 2050.
Most of Roosegaarde"s projects are public-oriented and socially conscious. His Smart Highway project, for instance, envisions roads that charge during the day and glow at night, while Waterlicht uses LED technology to show rising water levels.
Such ambitious endeavors aren"t going unnoticed: Studio Roosegaarde just won the Design Innovation Medal at the London Design Festival.
But while Roosegaarde has high hopes for his Smog Free Tower, he knows it"s not a permanent solution.
"Since we installed it in Beijing, the tower has collected daily as much smog as it did over two weeks in the Netherlands," Roosegaarde says. "This is an issue that can"t be fixed overnight, nor with just one tower. We need a bottom-up effort, with both citizens and governments actively working for change.
"My hope is that one day in 10 or 15 years, we"ll look back at it and find it obsolete. The pressing question is how are we going to get there? This," he says, pointing at the tower, "is a start."
Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/29/design/smog-eating-tower/index.html
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