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PLANTS
How green is my office
If you’re seeing red every time you step into the office because
of certain colleagues’ bad attitudes, or perhaps the cheap,
overpowering perfume that someone seems to bathe in before coming
to work, then maybe it’s time you started seeing green. With
a few plants put into your workplace, not only will the air be purified
and stress levels be diminished, productivity will increase and
office morale will improve.
“It makes a big difference if you’re comfortable and your
office looks nice,” says 28-year-old sales executive Samir,
whose dusty Garden City office is less than enchanting, with chipped
paint, no air conditioning and old furniture. “With plants
or other nice decorations I think you feel more productive.”
Scientific studies conducted by professors Virginia Lohr and Caroline
H. Pearson-Mims of the Department of Horticulture & Landscape
Architecture at Washington State University show that participants
working in a plant-decorated office were 12 percent more productive
and less stressed than those who worked in an environment with no
plants. People volunteering for the study also demonstrated more
positive emotions, such as happiness, friendliness and assertiveness,
and less negative emotions like sadness and fear, when working in
a greener environment.
But why not just bring in some artificial plants to beautify your
office? “Plants clean, plant-shaped ornaments pollute,”
was how Professor Ronald Wood from the University of Technology
in Sydney, Australia, bluntly put it at a recent Plants for People
Symposium held in Holland. Fake plants, he explained, can literally
pollute the air by expelling volatile organic compounds.
The concept that real, live plants can improve our surroundings
is nothing new. “Plants were an essential component of the
evolutionary process that converted the earth from a highly toxic
environment into the life-supporting ecosystem it is today,”
writes environmental scientist Billy Wolverton – who conducted
a study on the issue more than 10 years ago for the NASA-affiliated
John C. Stennis Space Center – in an article on his website.
Our ancestors may have known a long time ago what we’ve only
now started to understand. Egyptians in the third century BC were
likely the first civilization to consider bringing plants indoors.
Archaeological evidence indicates that indigenous plants were potted
in clay vessels and placed in inner courts for ornamental purposes.
Yet hundreds of centuries later, in today’s ultra-polluted
Cairo, many office managers don’t recognize the importance
of plants. Any office in the city – whether in a refurbished
villa, a drab concrete box, or a purpose-built glass and chrome
showpiece – is likely to contain hundreds of kinds of airborne
mold and bacteria. But don’t worry. “Plants have been
found to suck these chemicals from the air,” Wolverton says.
“After some study, we’ve unraveled the mystery of how
plants can act as the lungs and kidneys of these buildings.”
Plants clean contaminated office air by absorbing pollutants into
the tiny openings in their leaves, transmitting the toxins to their
roots and transforming them into a source of food for the plant.
“However, simply placing a few interior plants in a building
with poor IAQ [indoor air quality] will not significantly impact
the indoor environment,” Wolverton adds. “On the other
hand, placing a plant within one’s personal breathing zone
(generally an area of 6 to 8 cubic feet surrounding an individual)
can have an impact.”
A personal breathing zone is an area where a person usually remains
for several hours, such as at a desk or computer, on the sofa in
front of the television, or in bed. According to Wolverton, plants
placed within these zones “can add humidity, remove human bioeffluents
and chemical toxins and suppress airborne microbes.” Plant-filled
rooms contain 50 to 60 percent fewer disease-causing airborne molds
and bacteria than rooms without plants.
If we are to believe these studies and implement their recommendations,
plants in the work environment are simply good business, because
they keep employees happy and healthy, and thus reduce absenteeism
and increase productivity. Professor Roger Ulrich of Texas A&M
University went one step further when he spoke at the Plants for
People Symposium. “Without plants you could be out of business,”
he said.
Detoxifying plants
Office plants are great air fresheners and air cleaners, especially
the prolifically growing spider plant, which was so often seen sprawling
out of macramé plant hangers in the late 1970s. Here are
some other plants suggested by retired NASA researcher Billy Wolverton
in his book Eco Friendly House Plants (London: Weidenfeld &
Nicholson, 1996).
Weeping Fig (Fiscus benjamina): An effective air purifier suited
to a large open space like an atrium, preferably with a lot of light.
Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum friedrichsthalii): In addition to being
an efficient remover of chemicals, this is one of the best plants
for removing bioeffluents. It is best grown as an underplanting
beneath the Weeping Fig.
Kentia Palm (Howea forsteriana): One of the best plants for removing
volatile air-borne pollutants.
Areca Palm (Chrysalidocarpus lutescens): The best plant for removing
xylene and toluene emissions released from adhesives, caulking compounds,
computer VDUs, paint and particle board.
And here’s a planting tip: Placing a layer of 5 to 10 centimeters
of aquarium gravel over the potting soil in a plant container helps
prevent mold growth on the soil’s surface.
Annik M. Lussier
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