The Birdie Fresh Air Monitor is a simple but brilliant design that features a recycled plastic bird that drops dead when the air quality is poor and reanimates itself when the air quality has improved, as detected with a built-in CO2 monitor. There is neither sound nor technological display, just a simple plastic bird that hangs on the wall and does all the work.
When air quality is poor, Birdie will drop down until you open your windows and bring it back to life. Simple as that.
The designers got the idea from the old tradition of miners carrying a canary into a coal mine to see if the air was breathable.
Around 1911, miners started carrying canaries into the coal mines to detect toxic air. When the bird fainted, it was time to get out of the mine. With a built-in CO2-sensor, Birdie® works exactly the same way – but in your home, office, or classroom.
The Police once sang about a “Canary in a Coalmine”.
via My Modern Met
