Green Business Awareness

Was it really a shock when you heard that cities in Spain, like Barcelona, not only had some of the worst air in the world, but also contained at least five drugs.  n The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a government institute, said on its website that in addition to cocaine, it found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid -a relative of LSD - in air-quality control stations in various Spanish cities.

There was no real threat from the minute amount of these drugs in the air, but this example does show the real concern for the amazing amalgam of ingredients found in the air.  We all share the air, and we breath in more air than food that we eat or water that we drink.  The air, with all that is in it, goes into our lungs where we absorb more than oxygen.  We are also ingesting a share of everything in the air.   Finally, we know that what you breathe can make you sick or open the door to various chronic illnesses.

The EPA has said that indoor air quality is 5 to 6 times worse than outside air, and we are now learning that indoor air quality is linked to a wide variety to diseases.   It seems that we are able to resist disease for the majority of our life because of our normal well-being and immune system.  Disease is always at our collective doorstep, but stays there only as long as we are able to resist it.

Disease is “Opportunistic” meaning that it waits for the time when our immune system leaves open the door for it to come in.  It is not just a matter of being exposed to germs or bacteria.  It is the point in your life when you are a good target for the diseases that have been floating around for years.  So, in many ways, disease is not just bad luck.  It is also connect to how beat up your immune system is over time.  Indoor air quality is a big, big part of disease immunity leading to such more serious issues as Sick Building Syndrome and Building Related Illness.

Get you Green Business Certification and IAQ review from a Certified Green Consultant.   This is part of the Green business certification through the Green Business League program.   They set a standard an area that badly needs a serious approach to the subject.  The current diversion from real commitment is found in websites offering a signed pledge and a payment of several hundred dollars.  This is a fool’s errand.  The Green Business League uses a field force of Certified Green Consultants and a 100 point system of Green Practices applicable to any kind of business.

One of the worst feelings in the world is the day a civil lawsuit lands at the doorstep of a business.  Like the diagnosis of cancer, everything is thereafter controlled by the pending threat that embroils every part of our life.   A lawsuit is never kind, and it is almost never a fair presentation of the facts.  It is filled with accusations, horrendous claims, and what seems to be intentionally one-sided lies.   Of course, the is the final section where the “Relief” that is sought from the court is so immense as to be heart stopping.  Reading a lawsuit feels like hearing about a deadly diagnosis from a hateful doctor who hopes that you’ll die a particularly painful death.

With this in mind, it should be no surprise that there is now more attorneys studying environmental law than every before in history.  Like tremors before an earthquake, it should come as no surprise that we are seeing a serious rise in environmental lawsuits and an expected surge of new environmental regulations.   Ready or not, we are about to see the enforcement of environmental laws like never before.  For this reason, Going Green is a proactive aspect that should not be ignored.  Businesses are deemed to have deep pockets, and that makes them excellent targets for litigation.  If a business would like to keep the profits that they have struggled to make over the years, it must take positive steps to reduce and eliminate potential liability issues.

Indoor Air Quality is one of those blindsided type issues that most people will never see coming until it hits them hard from behind.   Remember that people spend 90% of their time indoors according to the EPA.   This is day after day and year after year.   Over a 40 year working career, employees have endured prolonged exposure to the recycled air that frankly seems like an invisible, toxic cloud that they cannot escape.   This exposure to poor indoor air quality is yet another liability to the company.

Over the years, doctors have linked more and more chronic diseases to exposure to chemicals in the air.   I am sure that you remember the battle over “second-hand smoke.”  Evidence was clear that non-smokers had impressively higher occurance of lung cancer when exposed to second-hand smoke in the workplace.  This can by way of civil litigation.  Asbestos was yet another ingredient that caused lung disease proven in courts time and again.   You can find other dangerous ingredients in the workplace as well.  There is benzene, formaldehyde, pesticides, cleaning chemicals containing volatile organic compounds, and bad levels of carbon dioxide to name only a few of the bad things found in most businesses.

That “New Smell” of fresh paint, new furniture, glue from the carpet, as well as stains and varnish are not good at all.  they are often volatile organic compounds that will make you ill or dizzy with overexposure.  When you walk into a room cleaned by bleach, do you think that it smell clean and sanitary?  You should also know that it is bad for you.  If you doubt me, try taking a strong whiff our of a bleach bottle.  It will be a rough experience.  Ammonia is not different, but we typically see these cleaning products as healthy when they are actually harmful to us.  The danger is lost in the fact that they are used in diluted and small quantities.  Try eating just a very small quantity of arsenic over a period of time and you will kill yourself.

One of the very real benefits of Going Green is the provision of a healthy workplace and the mitigation of a lawsuit arising from an employee made sick at the workplace.  A six month check up by a Certified Green Consultant is one of the best ways create a paper trail of a health office.   Earning your Green Business Certification may be the prime motivator for improving the office.   Going Green will often provide substantial savings in the budget.  It will likely improve the overall performance of worker and well as their health.  One of the other important benefits to the positive defense when an environmental lawsuit comes your way.  Green Business League encourages businesses to consider working to improve indoor air quality as the first phase of Greening a business.