Papiers d’Arménie as an Example for Simple and Sustainable Solutions
Some time ago, while working at a technology consultancy, I was invited to a brain-storming session on innovation for consumer products. One topic was how to help a company to come up with a technical and commercial concept for a solution to mitigate odours in homes, e.g. a combination of an electronic device and consumables, the latter in order to generate a constant revenue stream. While my technical and commercial mind was tickled into thinking about complex solutions that would lock-in customers, my practical mind suggested a simple solution: keep your homes clean, make sure your homes are aired at least twice a day and after every period of cooking, and if there are still odours, burn one tiny sheet of Papier d’Arménie; all odours will be gone. I was not invited back.
A Simple Solution to a Simple Problem
What is the problem at hand? Odours. These are commonly volatile organic compounds that offend our olfactory senses, our noses. An ad-hoc solution would be: let’s cover those volatile organic compounds up somehow with some other chemical substance, perhaps even involving some clever technical solution such as an automatic dispenser. However, it is necessary to step back a bit: where do these compounds come from and how could their production be avoided in the first place? Identifying and eliminating the source is a large part of the solution, e.g. removing any organic matter subject to decay. Or, odours emanating from perspiration or cooking and baking; airing regimes help in ridding a home of the associated volatile organic compounds (and humidity) quite effectively.
What if there is still this strong smell of cooked fish lingering in your home after all the above measures have been exhausted? Well, here the Papiers d’Arménie or incense come into play.
The story of the Papiers d’Arménie starts in the 19th century when, upon a trip to Armenia, Auguste Ponsot noticed that its inhabitants perfume and disinfect their homes by burning Benzoin, a resin obtained from Styrax officinalis, a tree grown in Laos and other tropical regions. Auguste Ponsot and his associate, the pharmacist Henri Rivier, conceived a way to impregnate blotting paper with a chemical solution of the resin while maintaining all its beneficial properties. After drying and cutting up the immersed paper, the result is a booklet of small sheets of papers where one tiny sheet can be burnt like an incense with the odour-chasing and disinfecting properties of the original resin.
It is not entirely clear to me how the combustion products of benzoin resin work to deodorise air, but it seems to be effective. Perhaps the combustion products bind to the volatile organic compounds that make up odours and render them neutral. Maybe these combustion products affect the nerve cells in our olfactory sensors and mask the effect of odours. Whatever the underlying mechanism is, burning a small sheet of Papiers d’Arménie constitutes a very simple, effective and sustainable means to chase odours in your home with a very small ecological footprint.
Beyond Simple Problems and Solutions
While it is in general easy to come up with an over-complicated and complex solution to a problem, however difficult it is, it is often more challenging to find a simple solution. And, again drawing from my technology consultancy experience, at times it is necessary to even question the problem itself in cooperation with the client to be consulted; sometimes there is a sequence of causes leading to a root cause. Addressing that root cause is often more effective albeit painful at times; but it sometimes avoids conceiving complex solutions. Yet, our economic system tends to gravitate towards complex solutions.
The question is why does our civilisation prefer complex over simple solutions? For one, seeking complex solutions seems to cater to the human desire to create, our propensity to novelty and sophistication. In addition, like in the case of a business opportunity for a consumer product company to create an electronic device with refillable consumables, complex solutions contribute more to a country’s GDP, i.e. economic growth entails, and they maintain the interests of the incumbents. There is, however, a downside to that approach: higher resource and energy consumption to the detriment of our planet. If long term negative effects (with large time constants and delay) were internalised, such as energy and resource usage, then simple solutions would automatically prevail.
In broader terms, technology is a means to facilitate life and economy is there to support our society. Given a certain problem, our civilisation would do well to step back and address its root cause. For instance, if roads are congested, building more roads may not be the solution (cui bono? construction industry). Or, if vehicles with internal combustion engines burning fossil fuels contribute to climate change, the transition to electric vehicles or worse, e-fuels) may not be the best solution either (cui bono? automotive industry). Would it not be advisable to step back and try to understand what need (and not what want) has to be addressed, and then find sustainable and less resource-intense ways of meeting that need?
Papiers d’Arménie epitomises the concept of a sustainable solution to a problem as it is as simple as can be and relies on renewable resources only; note, that only activities that can be continued in perpetuity can be considered sustainable (Sir David Attenborough). Perhaps humanity should replicate this approach to problems wherever possible.
