One day, in the not so distant past, I was procrastinating on this genius invention called Facebook. There I was, just scrolling down my news feed, minding everybody's business but my own, when this post by a girl I'm not particularly fond of caught my eye (yes, I'm not fond of her but she's still my "friend" on Facebook, I'm sure you have some of those too). She was in disbelief about where the world was heading because this Chinese businessman who just happened to be a billionaire was selling... wait for it, cans of air. When I saw this my reaction was the polar opposite to hers, I was like "Omg! That's such a brilliant invention!"
I mean think about it, China is a hot mess. This rising super power may have America by the balls sack and keep world markets in sync buy who are we kidding, China is the most polluted place on this earth. If you have respiratory problems and just happen to be suicidal... go to China.
On January 29th 2013, Matthew Hilburn's article entitled "Pollution in China goes "off the charts"" was published on Voice of America's website. This articles explains that that the United States measures air quality by using this six-colour scale index measuring from 0-500. The higher the number, the more polluted the air. By the title, you can deduce that China has exceeded this 500 marker and sits comfortably in code red.
Now in steps Mr. Chen Guangbiao, a celebrity businessman and philanthropist who has been urging his people to adopt a more environmentally friendly and sustainable lifestyle. Not only does he own a recycling company but he as donated over 6,000 bicycles in an effort to urge people to reduce their carbon footprint. Some may say that he is exploiting the situation but at the end of the day, he is a businessman; an entrepreneur who saw an opportunity to make a profit.
People in China NEED clean air and good old Chenny boy is supplying this need in a convenient package and in a variety of flavours including Pristine Tibet and Post Industrial Taiwan. In this part of the world we may seem so perplexed at this idea because air pollution on such a wide scale is not our reality. Here, there is no market for such a product. In China, the markets are everywhere.
Millionaire Entrepreneur Chen Guangbiao shows off two flavours of his company's new and controversial product; canned air, at the Beijing Financial Street of January 20, 2013.
Photo via www.dailymail.co.uk
The cans of air will be going for US$.80/ J$75. and Mr. Guangbiao has committed to giving a portion of the proceeds to charity. Despite the avenue for profit, he has stated that this is an exaggerated tactic to send a message that China needs to pay greater attention on the environment in order to preserve the future.
Here's a video that sheds some more light on the situation in China:
Chinese Billionaire sells cans of fresh air in light of China's increasing air pollution problem
On another note, we really shouldn't be too quick to judge the Mr. Guangbiao or even the Chinese who buy into this idea. We live in a place where clean water flows through our pipes yet we choose to go out and buy bottled water that comes in plastic bottles that are not labelled as BPA free. So we buy "purified" water that is full of toxins caused by harmful chemicals. Makes sense? No.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention.
Mr. Guangbiao just happened to be the mastermind behind this invention... an invention that made his pocket just a few million fatter seeing that over 8 million of those cans have been reportedly sold as of February 1, 2013.
By the way, you know that saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure"? Yeah. Mr. Guanbiao made his $740 million fortune from the recycling business. Think twice before you dismiss ANY idea as too small or stupid.
That's all for now folks!
Janelle
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