It’s a long shot, but have you ever seen the movie Spaceballs? In it, there’s a scene where Mel Brooks assures the people of his planet that there is nothing wrong with their air, then proceeds to pull out a can of ‘Perri-air’ – which is air in can – opens it and enthusiastically sniffs its contents.

I always thought it was a clever scene, and a cheeky play on words with the Perrier brand. Now, I see, that canned air is now a reality. 

Yep, increased air pollution around the world, specifically China, is the catalyst for a peculiar new industry called ‘air farming’. You read that right: air farming is where fresh air is bottled and sold to consumers at a high price.

And China is lapping it up, or sucking it up, depending on how you look at it. They’re buying crisp, clean, country air in a jar at around $160 per jar.

The air from each area is described similarly to how wine is marketed, with great attention to detail, including such descriptors as "a morning dew feel" with "vibrant and flavoursome undertones".

One such air collector, Mr De Watts, has sold 180 bottles of luxury air since his business started up just a few weeks ago.

"Demand has just got so high its outstripping supply," he said.

With air pollution in China so extremely high, and hazardous emissions levels estimated to kill around 4000 people a day (according to a study by Berkley Earth), it’s not so difficult to believe that this could be the way of the future.

Read more at www.abc.net.au

What do you think of this new industry? Where will it lead us? Will we one day be paying for the right to breathe fresh air?