I am the keeper of plants in my office. I water them when their leaves droop, remove dead leaves and periodically prune. Having recently completed some of this work, I pondered what the plants had done for me lately. What I discovered was remarkable.
We all know about humans’ special relationship with plants. Even my kindergartner can explain that plants “breathe” out oxygen, which we breathe in, and then “breathe” in the carbon dioxide that we exhale. It’s a beautiful cycle.
So what happens when you take plants out of human’s immediate environment? The answer is simple: We don’t thrive. A recent survey found that people who spent two or more hours outside in nature per week are significantly more likely to report good health than those who don’t.
But behavioral trends are going the wrong way. In 2001, the most recent year for which we have data, Americans spent, on average, 90 percent of their time indoors. More recent data from the United Kingdom suggests the British are inside even more now, and I imagine the same is true on this side of the pond.
The public and researchers are increasingly interested in what we’re breathing when we’re indoors, and unfortunately, the news isn’t great. We’re breathing building materials and home furnishings, from vinyl siding to synthetic paints to carpets, off-gas chemicals that can harm our health. The cleaning agents we use, the personal care products we apply to our bodies, and even the process of cooking food pollutes the air we breathe in our homes as well.
Take a simple everyday activity like toasting bread, which releases cancer-causing volatile compounds like toluene and benzene into the air. It also unleashes ultra-fine particulate pollution that can go from our lungs into our blood, where it can contribute to heart disease and other cardiovascular problems. Cooking a Thanksgiving dinner can render the air quality in our home worse than that of the most polluted city in the world.
So, what does all this have to do with the peace lily my friend gifted me a few years ago?
It turns out indoor plants are really good at reducing air pollution. As NASA researchers worked to design a breathable habitat for humans on the moon, they discovered that houseplants can remove up to 87 percent of toxic fumes from our indoor air, including common pollutants found in the modern home. Another study found that air in rooms with houseplants contains up to 60 percent less mold and bacteria than the air in rooms without plants.
In addition to purifying our air, houseplants also make us feel better. Many studies in different settings have consistently uncovered that people feel less stressed and anxious when there are plants around. People reported feeling happier and more creative, and independent studies found patients who had plants in their recovery room healed from illnesses more quickly than those in rooms without plants.
All these findings make me think that we should be proactively pursuing ways to populate the indoor spaces where we spend our time with plants as much as we can.
In Amherst, many are concerned about indoor air quality in our elementary schools. While we anxiously await the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s decision on whether to permit our community back into its funding process to replace these flawed and failing buildings, we could explore ways to get indoor plants into the classrooms at Fort River and Wildwood Elementary Schools to make the best of this problematic situation.
And even when our new child-oriented, net-zero energy school is eventually built, plants could help our kids and teachers breathe cleaner air, think more clearly, and reinforce that they are part of a global ecology that requires give-and-take with the natural world.
Clearly one big question that comes to mind when introducing plants to a space is maintenance. After all, not everyone has the time, bandwidth or know-how to care for a fleet of houseplants. Thankfully, there are services that can help. The UMass Five College Federal Credit Union, which boasts gorgeous broad-leaved plants throughout its lobby, hires a contractor who regularly visits the Hadley branch to maintain the plants. There might even be plant-loving volunteers who would help maintain plants in schools and libraries if presented with the opportunity.
If we can’t be outside as much as we should, then let’s at least bring in some of what makes the outdoors good for us: houseplants.
Johanna Neumann, of Amherst, has spent the past two decades working to protect our air, water and open spaces, defend consumers in the marketplace and advance a more sustainable economy and democratic society. She writes a monthly column on environmental and public interest issues and can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.