Healthy Indoors Magazine
Issue link: https://hi.healthyindoors.com/i/1489776
4 | December 2022 Bob Krell Founder & Publisher Publisher's Rant W e close out another year at the end of this week. This will effec- tively mark 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused loss of life for millions and substan- tial economic hardships for much of the world. It also brought the topic of healthy indoor environments front and center for public discussion. For quite some time, I have been plant- ing the notion that we need to take this opportunity to push forward a paradigm shift about how we design, construct, op- erate, and maintain our buildings, making healthy indoor environments a primary goal. Public awareness for IAQ/IEQ has never been so high, and this new agenda could be realized—could being the oper- ative word. Old habits die hard. We have effective- ly been doing things wrong for a long time with respect to the healthiness of our build indoor spaces. It isn't that we don't have the available technology to make a shift for the better. The argument about the unreasonable costs of making this move is somewhat overblown. What could possi- bly be more important than our collective health? I believe that we need to allocate the necessary resources and efforts to vastly improve IAQ, reduce our climate-de- teriorating emissions, and forge a resilient, sustainable path forward. To not do so will be to the detriment of all life on our planet. The pandemic disrupted industry events over the past few years, with in-per- son events becoming almost non-existent by the end of 2020. Many groups pivoted to online offerings with varying degrees of success. By the beginning of this year, most events had returned to the in-person for- mat, albeit with typically less attending than meetings held prior to the global crisis. For many industry groups, these national events were a major source of revenue as well as a major incentive to be members of the respective organizations. While it was clear that in-person gatherings of- fered significantly enhanced oppor tunities to network, most other aspects like ed- ucational sessions and technical demon- strations could be accomplished with an online format. It seemed likely that these groups would shift to hybrid in-person/on- line events going forward, as many found Winds of Change online offerings to be beneficial by elimi- nating travel costs and the additional time away from work to attend events in per- son. Alas, many organizations cast off this oppor tunity just like the masks that were no longer required. Many industry groups are seeing their membership numbers dwindling and are becoming ever-desperate to establish rel- evance in the coming years. Will a con- tinued herd mentality offset the costs of membership vs the actual (or perceived) value of belonging to an industry organi- zation? I suspect that the management and boards of directors are indeed scrambling to attract and retain members with new or rebranded value propositions for 2023 and beyond. In closing, I would like to wish every- one a happy holiday season and a safe, healthy, and productive New Year! Let's embrace these oppor tunities for change not as a crisis, but rather a chance to make our world and lives better! Bob Krell Bob Krell is president of IAQ Technologies, Inc., a Syracuse, NY-based indoor environmental firm he founded in 1990, offering con- sulting, mitigation and training services to a variety of clients throughout the coun- try and abroad. He co-founded IAQNET, LLC in 2013, and serves as publisher of its Healthy Indoors Magazine. Bob is the Producer/Director for the online video series, The Healthy Indoors Show, along with numerous other industry video projects and online events, and is Training Director for live distance learn- ing offerings through IAQschool.online. Contact him at: bob@healthyindoors.com