Indoor Plants Clean The Air

The health benefits of live plants in the home and workplace have been widely studied and documented by such reliable resources as NASA since the 1980's. For a fraction of the cost of artwork, furniture, or architectural renovations, plants can imbue an office environment with warmth and color while providing significant health benefits.

Psychological benefits include providing workers and customers with a sense of comfort and nurturing, and transforming a cold, industrial atmosphere into a colorful, earthy environment. Frequently, plants are also strategically placed to hide unsightly clusters of cords or other mechanical eyesores.

However, the most significant health benefit of plants in the workplace or home is that indoor plants clean harmful pollutants from the air. NASA scientist Dr. William Wolverton has researched the effectiveness of tropical indoor plants at removing chemicals and other pollutants from indoor environments for many years. The results of his research have been duplicated by respected scientists worldwide.

The Plants for Clean Air Council, a national nonprofit organization, widely promotes and distributes information on this research, and has received support from organizations and corporate giants including NASA, the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum, Pepsi, Home Depot, McDonalds, and CTB MacMillan/McGraw-Hill Publishers, to name just a few. Extensive information and further resources can be found at PCAC's website, www.plants4cleanair.org.

This is the air we breathe everyday in our homes and workplaces. There has been a frightening rise in asthma, "sick building" syndrome, and other airborne pollutant-caused ailments, generally attributed to energy-efficient construction, which does not provide continuous ventilation in our daily environments. The good news is that readily-available, tropical indoor plants are a natural, low-cost, attractive way to clean the air in our homes and offices.