The opening scene in Joe Versus the Volcano (above) is a brilliant depiction of the classic soul-sucking office job. The main character, Joe, works at the American Panascope Corporation (“Home of the Rectal Probe”), in an office dominated by the buzz of flickering fluorescent lights, the automatic-artillery sound of a typewriter, and the high-strung, one-sided ranting of a boss on the telephone.
Joe does not feel good, and the other people in the office don’t look like they feel good. The secretary, Dede, pauses her work every few seconds to take a hit off of her inhaler and wipe her nose with the back of her hand. When Joe tells his boss that he doesn’t feel good, the boss dismisses everyone’s substandard health as “a fact of life.” “Do you think I feel good?” He asks Joe. “I feel rotten. So what? I don’t let it bother me…”
The film is replete with hyperbole, but I think this first scene gets the dismal office-job reality just right. While we tend to think of job-related health risks as a strictly blue-collar or unskilled worker issue, studies have shown that conditions in many office buildings pose risks to human health. Sick-building-syndrome, once thought to be synonymous with mere malingering, is now understood to be a real result of poor air quality, indoor pollutants, and biological contamination.
A study conducted in 2000 estimated that improved indoor environments in the U.S. could save $20 billion to $160 billion from direct improvement in worker performance, as well as billions of dollars per year in health care costs associated with asthma and other respiratory illnesses.
It’s no wonder, then, that the U.S. Green Building Council considers human health issues as part of their standards for sustainable building. The Council has developed a Green Building Rating System called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) through which buildings can become certified as Officially Green. The System works by granting points for various building aspects, such as sustainable site development, energy efficiency, water savings, material selection, and indoor environmental quality. Buildings can be certified on a number of different levels, from Certified to Platinum.

2 comments:
I love the green building series. I also love that you published a Joe vs the Volcano video clip... I watched it from my cubicle.
I'm finally catching up on Sidewalk Science.
I think there is some funky air in my office.
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