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You are here: Home / General Article / Footprint for Indoor Air Quality: Stop Laser Printers!

28. September 2016 | BLOG Team

Footprint for Indoor Air Quality: Stop Laser Printers!

By Achim Stelting, nano-Control foundation

achim_stelting_blog1

In just 20 years the prevalence of allergies has doubled. One in three people now suffers from allergic reactions. Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children and youths. Four million people are diabetes patients. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cases of cancer will have increased by 20 per cent in 2025. Skin cancer cases have doubled in ten years. Sickness absenteeism from work is at a 20-year-high and one in four employees will be incapacitated before reaching retirement age. Those developments have underlying causes.

As early as 1995 the American environmental authority realized that polluted indoor air is one of the biggest risk factors to the national health, especially so because we spend 80 to 90 per cent of our time inside buildings. As room air is unfiltered breathing air it should be as worthy of protection as food. The USEPA statement came after an investigation into the emissions of copying machines. Today, around one billion laser printers and copiers around the world emit billions of mainly ultra-fine particles per page – unfiltered and with fatal consequences.

At the invitation of Professor Dr Michael Braungart, chairman of the Hamburg Environmental Institute, the Hamburg-based foundation nano-Control left behind a special kind of footprint in the form of an art performance in support of healthy room air at the Footprint Days of the 2016 Venice Biennial on August 20 and 21. The biennial, which runs until November 27, 2016, is often referred to as the Olympics of architecture.
For their performance the „Nanos“ took signs from the very convincing Sick-Building exhibition (from which garden gnomes – which are known as nanos in Greek – flee) as well as from the light and airy building that’s as useful as a tree, adorned them with warning messages similar to those on cigarette packs, and

achim_stelting_blog2

brought those messages into the fresh air.
The stroll through the world of architecture, which was accompanied by Monika Griefahn, was stopped quickly by security guards and police officers equipped with automatic pistols, but the message had already been sent: Printer Emitted Particles Can Ruin Your Health! Even the friendly policemen were interested.

In order to rescue the garden gnomes, nano-Control equipped two of them with fine particle masks upon their return to the Sick-Building.

Four days after the performance the German government warned for the first time against health risks associated with nano particles emitted by laser printers. If we’ve learned anything from nano particles it’s the fact that even the tiniest nanos can have huge consequences.

Filed Under: General Article

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Insights

Appointments

February 5, 2023: New Year’s reception of the SPD Heidekreis with party chairman Lars Klingbeil and the new Minister of the Interior of Lower Saxony Daniela Behrens in Walsrode.

February 7, 2023: Women in Lead event in Berlin. In 2021, the “Women in Lead” network was founded out of the SPD Economic Forum to add female leaders to the dialogue on the key economic and social issues of the day. Now it will be expanded to include an “Expert Group.”

February 14, 2023: Public meeting of the Climate Advisory Board of the City of Buchholz with presentation of the Climate Action Plan in the City’s budget.

March 10, 2023: The winner of the “Alternative Nobel Prize” Vladimir Slivyak from Russia is a guest at the “Reading without Nuclear Power” event in Hamburg. Read more about the event week of the association Culture for All!

March 17, 2023: Organizational meeting of the Swiss board of the Right Livlihood Foundation (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) for future events.

March 22-23, 2023: Roundtable of the Living City Foundation.

March 28, 2023: Keynote at the Automotive Industry Association VDA on “New Solutions for Climate Neutral Drives” Read more about the conference here (in German).

March 30, 2023: Participation in the real estate congress of the Federal Association of Free Real Estate and Housing Companies (BFW). Discussion in the panel “Departure into the circular economy.” Click here for the program (in German).

April 20, 2023: Start of the four-day nature film festival Lüneburger Heide under the patronage of Monika Griefahn. You will find the program here shortly (in German).


Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath

Planning group for the next Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath.

April 20-24, 2023: 2nd Nature Film Festival Lueneburg Heath with Monika Griefahn as patron. At four venues in the region of the Lüneburger Heide Nature Park, after 2021, it is once again: “Film off!” Visitors can expect fantastic nature films, stirring documentaries and, above all, great conversations with filmmakers and experts. From now on, check the status of the program planning at www.films4future.de (German).


Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021

Logo C2C-Congress

Cradle to Cradle Congress 2021: Because of the Corona pandemic the C2C Conress took place in three parts this year: The first one was on June 14, 2021 in Freiburg. The second took place on September 7, 2021 in Mainz, the third November 4, 2021 in Mönchengladbach.


eFuels

Synthetic fuels are one of the decisive factors for the energy transition away from fossile fuels. That is why I am committed to the further development and practical use of eFuels and became a member of the Sounding Board of the eFuel Alliance in May 2021.
English website of the eFuel Alliance


Climate committee

Constituent session: Photo: City of Buchholz / Helms

In May 2021, the climate committee was constituted in the climate forum at my place of residence in Buchholz in the Nordheide. I am pleased to be chairwoman of the advisory board! The city has set itself the goal of becoming climate neutral and there is still a lot to do to achieve this. The committee advises the municipal  administration on fundamental questions of climate policy.
To the article on the Buchholz website (in German)


Right Livelihood Laureate 2021

Right Livelihood Award

They stand up against violence and climate change and address the most pressing questions of our time: Marthe Wandou (Cameroon), Wladimir Sliwjak (Russia), Freda Huson (People of the Wet’suwet’en, Canada) and the Legal Initiative for Forest and Environment (India) are the winners of the Right Livelohood Award (“Alternative Nobel Prize”) 2021. Please find here the award ceremony documentation or read more about the laureates in our blog.


Federal Order of Merit

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

After the award ceremony, Olaf Lies, Monika Griefahn and Rainer Rempe stand together. Photo: Frank Ossenbrink

Our CEO Dr. Monika Griefahn received the Federal Order of Merit. Please read more about her biography and about the award ceremony in our blog.


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