By Chris Stanley – Sustainable Consultant for Go On Green.

The number of new cases relating to Asthma within our population is dramatically on the rise. Scientists have established that Asthma, a chronic obstructive lung disease can now be found in nearly 1 in 13 school children. Indoor environments and poor indoor air quality appear to have a direct link to the development and/or exacerbation of Asthma in people. When you enter you safe home you will be surprised to find that the indoor pollutants in your home can be between 2 and 100 times higher than outdoor levels. To add to the concern of indoor air pollution most of us spend up to 90% of our time indoors.

Now that I have talked about how poor the air quality is inside your house, you are probably wondering where is all these pollutants coming from. Well to put it short, it is coming from all those beautiful interior finishing you have in your home. You see a lot of the products you find in your home contain VOC’s (Volatile Organic Compounds). In the Journal of Health Professional (an internationally peer reviewed journal) they found that most individual VOC’s appeared to be significant risk factors for Asthma with the highest odds ratio being found associated with benzene,, ethylbenzene and toluene. And where can you find these VOC’s, well they can be found in things like cigarette smoke, cleaning products, room fresheners, polishes, fitted carpets, solvents, paints and floor adhesives and so on.

Now that I have scared you about the harsh chemicals in your home literally killing you, you are probably wondering “How do I get rid of them?” Well you could go out and spend thousands on a new state of the art air filtration and purification system to attach to your furnace or you could spend a lot less and just put some air filtering plants in your home. That’s right plants!! Cheap, simple and brought to you by nature.

NASA conducted a 2 year study that has shown that common indoor landscaping plants can remove certain pollutants from the indoor environment. NASA found that these common indoor landscaping plants take substances out of the air through tiny opening in their leaves, roots, and soil bacteria. Leaving your home with clean purified oxygen and while leaving you feeling better.

Listed below are the top ten most effective purifying plants for removing air pollutants:

 Bamboo Palm – Chamaedorea Seifritzii
 Chinese Evergreen – Aglaonema Modestum
 English Ivy Hedera Helix
 Gerbera Daisy Gerbera Jamesonii
 Janet Craig – Dracaena “Janet Craig”
 Marginata – Dracaena Marginata
 Mass cane/Corn Plant – Dracaena Massangeana
 Mother-in-Law’s Tongue Sansevieria Laurentii
 Pot Mum – Chrysantheium morifolium
 Peace Lily – Spathiphyllum
 Warneckii – Dracaena “Warneckii”

By taking proactive steps to manage indoor air quality and consistently following best practices, your home will become a safe and healthy place for you and your family to grow in. For more information and cheap effective solutions on how to improve the indoor environmental quality of your home give us call or send us an email. We would be happy to answer any questions you have.

Chris Stanley helps businesses and homeowners increase profits and property values through a variety of sustainable strategies. He can be reached via www.ecoconsultant.ca.