I’ve talked a lot about indoor air quality, and I’m happy to report that Beijing Kids has an excellent post this week about indoor plants. They discuss a short video from the TED Conference series; this presentation discusses three common house plants and details how efficiently they can remove CO2, create oxygen, and also absorb toxins.

The video and article go into very practical details as to which plants are good for bedrooms vs living rooms, and which absorb toxins. I think indoor plants are a great idea for everyone, even those of you with big air purifiers. And this certainly isn’t the first research to show how indoor plants can help absorb toxins and purify your air. As far as health tips go, this one’s a no-brainer! And given the severe air pollution in Beijing, we should do everything we can to fight these toxins, and indoor air purifiers along with plants are a great combo.

The picture below shows the three plants. All are easy to find in Beijing; the Beijing Kids article nicely includes the Chinese characters and pinyin.