This article was taken from the March 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Amsterdam is about to be encircled by a giant letter G -- a park planted with specially modified honeysuckle that has been designed to capture air pollution.
Engineer Ton van Oostwaard, 58, started the seven-year project in January and plans to build a 25,000-hectare G-shaped park in 36 stages. He's starting in the cemetery near the Amstel River where Dutch astronaut and climate change activist Wubbo Ockels was buried last year. Van Oostwaard expects his urban design concept to grow beyond Amsterdam. "We've been in contact with developers in Shanghai and Korea," he says. "So it might be possible to take the concept into other cities."
So, why honeysuckle? It seems the hair on its leaves, stem and flowers have useful anti-pollution qualities. "We irrigate the plants with liquid aminos after they have spent ten to 18 months in the greenhouse," says van Oostwaard. "That increases the strength of the hairs, so each plant gathers more pollution." He estimates that the modified honeysuckle will also produce 640,000 tonnes of biomass over a five-year period, which can then be converted into enough biofuel to heat every home in Amsterdam for a year. "It turns pollution into a resource," he says. This fuel will then be used to heat Schiphol airport, and the 40m-plus people travelling through it each year.
The honeysuckle has also been bred to withstand rising temperatures. "We're future-proofing the plants," Van Oostwaard says. "We planted them in locations that are 5°C above Dutch temperature to take into account climate change." The land being used for the concept was once Amsterdam's "defence line", which safeguarded citizens from floods between 1874-1914, but now it will provide the city with a new type of protection. The city could soon be known for a different kind of bud.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
