Telework Exchange

Proponents of telework have long touted the obvious benefits of a flexible work arrangement: higher productivity, improved employee morale, and reduced commuting costs. Now add one more, says Janice Nolen, the luncheon keynote speaker at the September 24 Telework Exchange Town Hall Meeting: Telework can actually save lives.

Nolen, Assistant Vice President for National Policy and Advocacy at the American Lung Association, provided audience members with a treatise on the negative health implications of traffic jams, extreme commuting, and other contributors to air pollution.

"Lung disease is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.," Nolen stated, noting that California recently estimated that 18,000 residents die each year from air pollution.

The American love affair with the automobile has a lot to do with that, according to Nolen, although, of course, there are plenty of other contributors, including coal-burning power plants, wood-burning fireplaces, and heavy industrial use of chemicals.

Too many cars on the road send dangerous levels of carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and organic compounds into the atmosphere. These poisons can cause cancer, heart attacks, debilitating headaches, and asthma; aggravate chronic conditions like diabetes; and increase individual risk of contracting infectious diseases.

"Bear in mind that it's not just the traffic exhaust," Nolen said. "We’re learning that things like tires and brakes as they wear – those particles get caught in the air too."

The American Lung Association works at the legislative and regulatory level to try to improve clean air policies, but Nolen said that it's important for individuals to do their part as well. Among the steps people can take to improve air quality include using less electricity, not burning trash or wood, sharing a ride to work or taking public transportation, getting involved with local efforts to develop a plan to reduce future pollution, giving Christmas seals or posting them on a personal Facebook page, and letting the Environmental Protection Agency know that you support higher standards for clean air.

A key solution, however, is telework, Nolen stated. "The cars you keep off the road are enormously helpful, and I want you to appreciate how much that means," she said. "So thank you for the work that you’re doing to fight for clean air."