{"id":19062,"date":"2015-12-09T12:46:26","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T17:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=19062"},"modified":"2015-12-09T12:53:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T17:53:56","slug":"chinese-artist-turns-beijing-smog-into-building-bricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/chinese-artist-turns-beijing-smog-into-building-bricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Artist Turns Beijing Smog Into Building Bricks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/beijing-smog.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-19063\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/beijing-smog.jpg\" alt=\"beijing smog\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/beijing-smog.jpg 640w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/beijing-smog-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While we don&#8217;t address <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/2015\/10\/is-the-lowly-mealworm-the-answer-to-our-plastic-pollution\/\">pollution<\/a> a lot here at sustainablog, we probably should: most toxins and pollutants that end up in our air, soil, and <a href=\"http:\/\/gas2.org\/2011\/11\/13\/well-frack-me-or-the-chemicals-are-in-the-water-now\/\">water<\/a> are the byproducts of wasteful processes. So, the particulates that create smog, for instance, come from incomplete combustion of fuels like gasoline and coal. And, as we&#8217;re seeing in Beijing lately, that kind of waste isn&#8217;t just academic: it dramatically impact the lives of millions of people.<\/p>\n<p>Shenzhen-based performance artist Brother Nut decided that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/nation-world\/amid-smog-wave-artist-molds-potent-symbol-of-beijings-pollution\/\">Beijing smog had potential as an artistic medium<\/a>. So he spent one hundred days in the capital city literally collecting polluted air. He bought an industrial-strength vacuum, and walked around Beijing with it running, collecting airborne dust. He took this dust, mixed it with red clay, and made a brick.<\/p>\n<p>Performance artists usually don&#8217;t get to the A list, but, apparently Brother Nut (who&#8217;s real name is\u00a0Wang Renzheng) has made quite a name for himself in the Chinese capital. The brick has become a potent symbol for the impact of the country&#8217;s ugly air pollution, as well as the potential that exists in that wasted material.<\/p>\n<p>While Brother Nut&#8217;s activity is largely symbolic, the <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.people.cn\/n\/2015\/1201\/c90000-8983804.html\">People&#8217;s Daily<\/a><\/em> notes that he does plan to advocate for scaling this activity up to create bricks for building. Obviously, that will take more than one man with a vacuum cleaner &#8211; even a particularly powerful one &#8211; but there are definitely precedents for this kind of technology.<\/p>\n<p>Is this a good use of the waste material created from burning fossil fuels? I worry about it creating more demand for these fuels; at the same time, though, we are burning a lot of coal worldwide. We might as well put that waste to some use while we&#8217;re looking for better, cleaner ways to power ourselves. Got other thoughts? Share them with us in the comments. And many thanks to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.glueandglitter.com\">Becky Striepe<\/a> for the heads up!<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/pic-178208156\/stock-photo-asian-boy-wearing-mouth-mask-against-air-pollution-beijing.html?src=kf1uBJHaV6sF0hRu-Ig7RA-1-0\">Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese performance artist Brother Nut spent 100 days vacuuming up Beijing smog to create a brick that could be used for building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":19063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[1001,2765,8728,273,85,364,8729,478,192],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Artist Turns Beijing Smog Into Building Bricks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chinese performance artist 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