I’m working from my friend’s home where I’ve been farmsitting this morning, waiting for the plow to come so I can get out the driveway. The snow has passed and now the sun is baking my right side and the concrete floor under my feet. On my left, the woodstove is roaring, devouring wood cut off this property.
The horses are outside, munching hay (locally harvested) after doing their duty of transporting my friends up and down the hill this weekend via seasonal use road since truck couldn’t make the trek. The toaster oven is warming up some 2010 venison—I think I got all the hair off. I’m feeling very green this morning…not in the face.
This whole concept of green is something I’m constantly mulling over. In my previous job I did IPM on farms. In this context, I ran into the similarities and differences between IPM and organic. Now, working in structural pest control, the buzzwords “green,” “sustainable,” “eco-friendly” are all the rage and I hear them used in both the housing and the pest control industries. A few weeks ago, while I was in California, I did a presentation for the Orange County Vector Control District for their online training series. The title of the presentation is “IPM in the Context of Today’s Eco-movements” and I’d like to share some of the points with you today.
I hope that, after reading this post, you will be able to have an informed conversation with your pest management professional about what their green service entails. Because of its marketing value, most companies do offer green service programs, but they don’t all involve the same service. You want an IPM program, and I want to help you know if that’s what you’re getting.
So, what is green? Green usually means the service or item is energy efficient, sustainable, renewable, or has a low carbon footprint. It can be as vague as working in an environmentally aware way. When you hear a pest control company talking about how they are green, they could be describing the way the company runs, not necessarily the service you receive. Internal green practices include recycling and energy efficient lighting in the offices, using fuel-efficient vehicles, routing service routes to minimize drive time, or responsibly disposing of hazardous materials. All of these are commendable and green, but they don’t directly apply to the service you receive.
The pest control industry is well prepared to offer all versions of green, but you have to know what to ask for. I’ve spoken with many property managers (who have not been trained in IPM) who tell me they think they are getting IPM service because the PMP uses “nontoxic,” “non-chemical,” or “safe” products. Let’s clear two things up, if it kills pests, it’s toxic. And any product has some level of risk. As some of you have learned through IPM training, risk = toxicity of the product + risk of exposure to the product by a non-target organism (usually wildlife, pets, or humans). Keep this in mind when planning pest control interventions. Sometimes the risk of using a pesticide is less than the risk of having the infestation persist. Don’t be afraid of the terms chemical and pesticide, just be informed about the products and how they are applied. IPM is the coordinated use of pest and environmental information with available pest control methods to prevent unacceptable levels of pest damage by the most economical means and with the least possible hazard to people, property, and the environment (Environmental Protection Agency, 2010). If you want IPM, there’s more to it than just using a certain set of pesticides.
If you have questions about any pesticides, even the botanical ones that are exempt from EPA’s federal registration under section 25(b) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), visit the National Pesticide Information Center at www.npic.orst.edu or 800.858.7378.
If you have questions about how pest control relates to green building practices, I recommend you listen to a 15-minute podcast with NPMA’S former director of technical services, Greg Baumann on Green Building Practices and LEED. http://www.pctonline.com/Content.aspx?content_id=1930
I’ll be posting more on IPM considerations for construction and renovations another day.
Sustainable is another phrase I hear a lot. In this context, sustainable means the capacity to endure and remain productive over a period of time. We could mean sustainable for the life of the building or take the big-picture view and ask if the product or practice is sustainable for humans on earth. An IPM program emphasizes building-wide pest management strategies aimed at preventing pests rather than just exterminating when a problem arises. IPM is sustainable because, if done well with quality products, the small repairs we make to prevent pest entry and shelter will be in place for a long time. In addition, educating residents and staff and putting procedures in place to help prevent pests from getting in the building in the first place is the best way to maintain pest-free homes. Prevention is fundamental to IPM—when a home is good for people and bad for pests you’ve found a sustainable way to do pest control.
And how about the term healthy… it’s one we hear a lot, but don’t necessarily associate with pest control. We should. Again, preventing problems in the first place is always preferable to taking action when the problem arises. Pests do cause health problems like asthma, skin reactions, and stress. A pest-free home is part of what makes a home healthy. For more on this, I recommend you read the New England Asthma Regional Council’s “The Role of Pest Control in Effective Asthma Management: A Business Case.” http://www.bphc.org/hpfhi/SiteCollectionDocuments/English%20Documents/IPMBusCaseforHealthPlans2009.pdf
Using the term “green” pest control rather than the technical “IPM” can help start a dialogue, but make sure you define what “green” means in the context of your service agreement so that everyone is on board with the IPM program. Marketing buzzwords come and go, but science-based IPM is here to stay. Talk with your PMP and make sure you are both on the same page. Make sure the service agreement defines the roles of the property staff, residents, and PMP. Also, make sure all parts of IPM are covered:
1. Inspection and monitoring: in every unit at least once a year.
2. Identification: identify pests before treating in order to target control.
3. Establishment of threshold levels: if there are no pests, there shouldn’t necessarily be treatment. Control actions (and time spent in a unit) should be relative to the level of infestation present.
4. Employment of two or more control measures (which may be cultural, mechanical, biological, or chemical): Relying on pesticides is never IPM.
5. Evaluation of effectiveness: records should be kept for every inspection and service so that the IPM program for both individual units and the whole building can be tracked, evaluated for effectiveness, and changed if need-be.
Time to stoke the fire and brave the roads to Cornell. Wish me luck!
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