A technology company has disclosed that it has fixed pollution-monitoring backpacks onto ten pigeons in London for monitoring air pollution for three days.
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Air quality expert Gary Fuller from King’s College London, commenting on the project, somewhat jokingly said: “It’s great that unemployed pigeons from Trafalgar Square are being put to work”.
Their backpacks were created by air quality start-up Plume Labs and monitor nitrogen dioxide, ozone and volatile compounds.
These rucksacks check the level of pollution in each area, and send the data back to a map on their website (which you can play around with here).
While it might sound like something out of Monty Python, the Pigeon Air Patrol is an effective tool, not only at raising awareness about urban pollution but also by providing genuinely useful air cleanliness data for Plume Labs. The birds come from different parts of London.
The pigeons are actually racing birds supplied by Brian Woodhouse, a well-known United Kingdom pigeon fancier. Around 15 years ago tests were done on around 150 stray dogs in Mexico City, showing the ways in which air pollution was affecting lungs and heart health. “It is a health and environmental scandal for humans – and pigeons”, DigitasLBI creative director Pierre Duquesnoy told the Guardian. “We realized that the two main reasons why people ignore the problem are that air pollution is invisible and that it is scientifically complicated”, he says.
However, the company plans to go further when it comes to monitoring air pollution.
The patrol team includes various pigeons including Norbert, Coco, and Julius, which were featured on the Twitter account.
Plume Labs said the sensors would then be able to read real-time pollution levels through mobiles, and will alert users when they are exposed.
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In a report published by the DailyMail, “Pigeons and pollution are both common blights in cities around the world, but a group of engineers in London are hoping the birds can help them tackle problems with air quality”.
