When a video or article catches my attention, I like to share it with followers on our Good Earth Plant Company social media pages. When it catches YOUR attention, then I know the message has meaning and impact beyond my little universe.
A video I posted earlier this week got more attention than anything we’ve posted for a long time. We aren’t alone. In just 10 days, this video has gotten over eight million views – and that number is going up every day.
In case you aren’t one of those eight million, here it is.
This video hit me like a runaway truck of truth. I’ve dedicated my 40 years in the plant and flower business to addressing exactly this problem. How do we improve the quality of our workplaces, our homes, and all the other indoor spaces where we spend the majority of our time with plants and flowers? Can we clean the air? Remove toxins? Add oxygen and make ourselves healthier, happier, and more productive?
This video was created as an advertising campaign by a company that sells skylights. It’s true. The company paid to put it on news websites and other places. It doesn’t make it any less true. But if you notice, their only solution is sunlight. Natural day-lighting is an important component of the WELL Building Standard and it’s a great place to start!
But it’s not the single solution. Sunlight is part of a much bigger overall solution and a change in our thinking. If we are not going to spend more time outside in nature, we have to bring nature INSIDE. We have to recreate living in nature the best way we can.
This co-working space in Portugal has 2,000 plants. You don’t need quite that many to have a healthy workspace.
Let’s start with light. But the most important step without question is adding plants to your indoor environment.
We’ve written about this many times on this blog. This won’t be the last time. But if this viral video finally got your attention, we’re going to take advantage of the message. Now is the time to bring nature into your indoor life.
As you go through the video, there are so many scenes we can all relate to. This is why we’re paying attention – we see ourselves in there.
Ever wonder why you fall asleep at your work desk during the day? Lack of oxygen and too much carbon dioxide. Plants can help fix this.
Ever wonder why you seem to have so many allergies? Toxins (volatile organic compounds) in the indoor air from the furniture, carpets, walls, and all the chemical cleaners we use. Sometimes indoor air is more polluted and unhealthy than the air outside. Plants can help fix this, too.
Are you and especially your kids getting enough vitamin N – as in Nature?
Ever wonder why you seem to have trouble concentrating on anything, or feel down more than seems normal? You’re suffering from a lack of Vitamin N (that’s “Nature”), as author Richard Louv calls it. You are feeling the lack of connection to nature, which we now study as biophilia, the innate tendency of human beings to find their place and their relationship with the natural world. People suffer from their lack of biophilic connection when they’re shut inside all day and night.
Adding plants to your indoor environment along with natural light and fresh air can go a long way toward preventing all the problems of The Indoor Generation.
Why?
You’ll be more productive, happier, and take less sick days when you work in an office with plants like this one.
Plants purify the air. We know from research conducted by NASA years ago how much plants improve air quality, removing benzene, formaldehydes and carbon monoxide while releasing oxygen. See the list of plants that Dr. Wolverton tested that remove these indoor toxins from our air.
Plants increase humidity. Plants release 97 percent of the moisture they take in when we water them. A Norweigan study found plants soothe dry skin (no itch!), decrease the number of common colds, and decrease respiratory disease.
Plants sharpen your thinking and improve your memory. Studies repeatedly show when you do work in a natural setting with plants around you, you perform with greater accuracy. Side benefit: it will make your boss and your customers happy too.
The green roof at Sharp Memorial Hospital, installed by GreenScaped Buildings in 2012.
Plants speed up the healing process. We know plants in hospital rooms (where safe) and even the view of nature through a window allows people to heal from surgery more quickly, use less pain medication (opioids) and complain less. This is why we helped install a green roof at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, which is in view of dozens of hospital recovery rooms.
Plants make you happier. People who spend time in nature have a lower rate of depression and feel less stress. Seeing nature is soothing.
Human beings need exposure to nature for their physical and mental health.
With Memorial Day weekend coming up, you have NO excuse not to get outside and enjoy improved health with a big dose of Vitamin N. But on Tuesday, you will be back to work, school, and other things that keep you inside. If you’ve read this far, I hope I’ve convinced you to do something about your indoor environment, and bring nature inside by increasing the number of plants around you.
Good Earth Plant Company can help. If you own or run a business, or supervise people indoors, isn’t it time you helped improve everyone’s health and productivity? Together we can save The Indoor Generation.
