alt Hacker NewsI am hoping by the end of the decade smartphones start having pm2.5 and co2 sensors built-in
and then next decade smartwatches
Once EVERYONE starts seeing air-quality on their phones every hour of the day everywhere they are, they will start to care and then eventually, maybe do something about the politics to improve air-quality
Imagine the game-changer if air-quality was in the next iPhone
They already make sensors that can go on a keyring so inside a phone is not implausible within a few years
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Yeah it’d be cool if the phones had sensors. Everyone can see local AQI already though; weather app has AQI, and you can tap on it for a local region map, as well as a table of pollutant details.
There’s no need really, you can already download air quality data from dedicated sensor towers.
I doubt it, maybe in rich countries where the air is already pretty good. There are enough places out there (mine included) where you can see and feel air pollution without using any sensors: limited visibility on the order of a few dozen meters, smell of burning coal and rubber tires in the air, windows blackened by soot. Everybody knows how terrible the air is, talks about it daily, and can't actually do anything about it.
I've been advocating for closed windows and increased use of air purifiers and FFP3/N99 respirators, and had some limited success among people I know. People are often easily convinced once they see the state of their filter or respirator after a few days of use.