Living in a city apartment, I don't have much contact with nature. I tried growing organic veggies in pots on my little balcony, but except for the potatoes, they didn't do very well. I think the air is just too polluted, so the potatoes have some protection because they grow underneath the soil.

But recently a friend sent me a link to an article about air-cleansing indoor plants:

Breathe Easier: 12 Houseplants to Purify Indoor Air

I now have all three of the ones recommended in the TED Talk, a small areca palm, a little money tree plant, and a mother-in-law's tongue plant. I also have a dracaena, a pothos, and a small rubber tree plant. Despite the fact that my apartment gets very little sun, they are all doing well. The areca and the money plant like a lot of humidity, so I keep a little water in the pans below them and mist them frequently. The rest don't seem to need any special care.

I used to think about buying an air cleaner, but never did because they use electricity and you have to keep buying new filters for them. The plants use no electricity at all and never need new filters, although they sometimes need some organic worm castings for fertilizer.

I've also started sprouting again. The reason I stopped years ago was because I don't eat many salads or sandwiches and didn't have much use for sprouts. But now I'm sprouting mung beans, and I like them plain with brown rice, or I can just sit at the computer and munch them like candy.

I love watching the beans sprout, and watching the plants grow new leaves is almost like watching new births. They are little miracles of life.