Greetings!
This month’s article is how green plants are used in the workplace and home. To everything from cleaner air to assisting in productivity.

Green Plants in the Home/Workplace

 Workplace
Along with decreasing noise levels, there are more benefits to adding green plants to a workplace. The presence of indoor plants in the office is not only aesthetically pleasing, but also helps increase worker productivity, reduce stress, and improve air quality.  
According to a Texas A&M University and Surrey University study, participants also reported feeling more attentive when green plants were present. Participants who worked in an office environment with indoor plants were 12 percent more productive and less stressed than those who worked in a building with no plants.
An office plant can also improve the indoor environmental quality and thus health and safety in the workplace. Research from the Environmental Laboratory of John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi showed that rooms with plants contain 50 to 60 percent fewer airborne molds and bacteria than rooms without plants. The indoor plants clean the office air by absorbing pollutants into their leaves and transmitting the toxins to their roots, where they are turned into food for the office plant. With cleaner office air, building occupants are less likely to be sick - increasing productivity and reducing absenteeism. In office buildings where sick building syndrome is common, employees should each have a plant within six to eight cubic feet of where they spend most of the day.

Home
There are active ways to go green, and then there are things you can just set up. Growing plants and trees is a good way to help clean the air.
Some plants are excellent at cleaning pollution from indoor air. Which ones do the best job? Dr. Bill Wolverton has published the efforts of his team of researchers at NASA to answer that question. His inexpensive, well-illustrated, and extremely practical book is called "How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants that Purify Your Home or Office."
These plants absorb toxic chemicals like benzene, formaldehyde, and trichloroethylene which are commonly used in the production of clothing, furniture, mattresses, carpets, plastics, and printing.
One healthy plant can clean a 100 sq ft room of 87% of these contaminants in 24 hours. (Hint: the Rubber Plant and Peace Lily are star performers.)

February Letter

December Letter