As clean air is about to become a commodity, TZOA thought of developing an wearable and a companion app that shows you nearby locations where the air is less polluted.
Depending on where you live, clean air may come as a natural thing or something you need to live the life of a woodman to enjoy. Some capitals and even countries are neglecting this aspect, thinking that pollution and dust won’t have such a major impact on the lives of their inhabitants. However, in the countries where the quality of life really matters (I’m thinking Scandinavian countries and Canada, mostly), governments and even the common people are taking measures to reduce pollution and improve the quality of the air they’re breathing. Vancouver-based TZOA comes to rescue us from the ill effects of polluted air by developing a wearable that points out the places with cleaner air.
There are four main aspects measured by the TZOA wearable: air quality, UV light, humidity, and temperature. The self-proclaimed “world’s first enviro-tracker” can be attached to a shirt. Its sensors collect the environmental data (according to a spokesperson of the company, the “particulate matter, segmented by size in to PM2.5 and PM10” in the air) and send it to a smartphone where the companion app makes sense out of it. More precisely, the four factors are correlated and the quality of your surroundings is translated into a percentage. The app can even make suggestions of nearby places you should go, instead, if the area you’re in is not that clean. That’s particularly important if you’re into cycling or sports, in general.
TZOA is currently featured on Kickstarter, where the eponymous company is looking to raise CAD $110,000. The campaign hasn’t even reached 20% of its funding goal, and since there were 18 more days to go at time of writing, the chances of this project being successful are pretty slim. Supposing it reaches its goal before the campaign’s end, TZOA will have to deliver in August 2015 their wearable and app to anyone who backed the project with CAD $135 or more.
Our life depends on the quality of the air we breathe and of the water we drink, so moving to an area where the air is cleaner and the water is purer might be one of the best decisions you’ll ever take. There are ways of purifying the air and the water, but it’s definitely better when these come clean by default.
UPDATE: In the 24 hours after this post was published, the project raised more than CAD $10K, thus getting closer to its funding goal. A successful campaign should motivate others to invent gadgets that measure environmental factors and determine us to seek greener pastures.
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