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On the Table
Tossing your current table solely for the sake of upgrading to a greener model isn’t exactly eco-smart. But if you’re in the market for massage furniture, check out the tree-saving alternatives available. Earthlite tables, for example, are crafted from sustainably harvested wood.
“Our wood comes from managed forests, which means the lumber companies are replanting trees in the areas where they’ve been cut down,” explains Earthlite CEO Jim Chenevey. In addition to recycling all its scrap wood and sawdust, the company uses water-based lacquers (instead of petroleum-based) and foams free of chlorofluorocarbons (one of the classes of chemicals most responsible for the destruction of the ozone layer, according to the EPA).
Fresh Air
When your client takes a deep, blissed-out breath mid-massage, you want that inhaled air to be as pure as possible. But most buildings suffer from indoor pollution, says Ragan. In fact, she notes, “the toxins that you take in just from being inside an average building can be far worse than what you’d get from breathing the air outside in Los Angeles.”
To clean up your air, start by inspecting your carpeting, cabinetry and paint. All three likely contain volatile organic compounds, like formaldehyde, that release harmful fumes into the environment. “Try to change one thing at a time,” suggests Ragan. “If you’re truly in the business of health and wellness, you need to consider these things.”
Carpets often contain toxic chemicals, so it’s better to lay down a few natural-fiber rugs or—if your budget allows—install sustainable bamboo or cork flooring. For your cabinets, skip the cheap particleboard and choose solidwood cabinets with formaldehydefree resin. You can also keep formaldehyde from off-gassing in existing cabinets by applying a nontoxic sealant (try AFM SafeCoat, available at www.afmsafecoat.com). When adding a new color to your walls, shop your local Sherwin- Williams and Benjamin Moore for low- or no-VOC latex paints.
If you don’t have much control over your work environment, talk to management about adding air purifiers to each room. Just watch out for products that employ a process called ozonolysis: A 2006 study from the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association found that such purifiers can create indoor ozone levels high enough to warrant a smog alert. Instead, consider 3M’s Filtrete Air Cleaning Filter (available at www.amazon.com), which meets the American Lung Association’s Health House indoor air quality requirements. Freshening up your workspace can even be as simple as opening the windows and letting in some outside air, adds Lee, who also encourages replacing your air conditioners with fans.
Save Big
Conservation of the planet’s most precious resources is crucial to any green business. One of the simplest ways to save energy—swapping out incandescent lightbulbs for compact fluorescents (CFLs)—doesn’t have to be hard on your clients’ eyes. Just look for a color temperature in the range of 2,700 to 3,000 degrees Kelvin.
Although they’re slightly more expensive than conventional bulbs, CFLs use two-thirds less energy to provide the same amount of light and last up to 10 times longer. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Star program, replacing just one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent in every U.S. home would prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars.
To save water, Ragan recommends installing aerators on all your faucets. By adding air to the water, these devices (available for just $1.60 at www.conservastore.com) lower flow and conserve about a gallon of water per minute.
To cut back your paper consumption, make sure all your paper products have at least 30 percent post-consumer recycled content; although you always should aim for 100 percent. You can also save trees by launching a recycling program in your office, setting your printers to print double-sided and switching to paper-free billing.
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American Massage Therapy Association®
