Flowers and plants can reduce up to 20% of CO2 and fine dust in homes, schools, and hospitals, mitigating the effects of climate change and protecting citizens' health even inside buildings. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by the National Research Council's Institute for Bioeconomy (Ibe-Cnr) in collaboration with Coldiretti, AFFI (Association of Italian Floriculturists and Florists), and AssoFloro. Experiments done with Coldiretti and Istituto Alberghiero Saffi of Florence have shown that adding certain types of indoor plants, such as sanseveria, chamadorea, yucca, ficus, and schefflera, causes CO2 levels to drop by one-fifth. CO2 is a pollutant that causes headaches and makes it hard to focus. PM2.5 fine particles have also dropped by 15%. These particles are very dangerous to health because, due to their size, they can also reach the pulmonary alveoli. Indoor plants thus prove to be a simple, readily available, and cost-effective solution to combating the so-called "sick building syndrome" that unites schools, offices, hospitals, and indoor environments in general where "internal climate change" develops, even more subtly than what affects us outside, because we spend 85-90% of our lives in these environments. Spaces where enemies are known as formaldehyde, benzene, xylene, toluene, and tetrachloroethylene, volatile organic compounds that flowers and leaves have been shown to absorb.
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