London’s Pigeons Fight Pollution

Do those massive hoards of flying rodents, aka pigeons, at Trafalgar Square, and the tourists who feed them, creep you out? Well, a few of them are now helping the fight against pollution by tracking London’s hazardous nitrogen dioxide levels. The Guardian reports:

On Monday, a flock of half a dozen racing pigeons were set loose from a rooftop in Brick Lane by pigeon fancier, Brian Woodhouse, with one strapped with a pollution sensor to its back and one with a GPS tracker.

So if you see a stylishly harnessed pigeon the next time you’re in The Big Smoke, feel free to feed him a bit of bread from your sandwich. Unlike most of his freeloading lot, he’s hard at work.

The man behind  the idea was inspired by the carrier pigeons used during the world wars and hopes the project will raise awareness about the city’s air quality:

“It is a scandal. It is a health and environmental scandal for humans – and pigeons. We’re making the invisible visible,” said Pierre Duquesnoy, who won a London Design Festival award for the idea last year.

“Most of the time when we talk about pollution people think about Beijing or other places, but there are some days in the year when pollution was higher and more toxic in London than Beijing, that’s the reality.”

Follow the whole thing on Twitter and request for a reading if your London neighborhood seems just a little too pea-soupy:

Pigeons fighting pollution: Simply tweet your London area to @PigeonAir & we’ll tell you how toxic it is! #PigeonAir pic.twitter.com/S3CKPx35Ry

— Pigeon Air Patrol (@PigeonAir) March 14, 2016

Source: The Guardian