Job Security for PMPs

Tom Green of the IPM Institute in Madison, Wisconsin, just sent me this link to a CNN article on a new building trend PMPs might want to be aware of. It's called "vegitecture" or "biotecture", and it refers to the architectural practice of including plants as an integral component of buildings.

Before you laugh, this is not just for looks and a lot of people are dead serious about vegitecture. There is even at least one blog dedicated to the concept: http://vegitecture.blogspot.com/

In a nutshell, the idea is that there are numerous aesthetic and environmental benefits of building nature into architecture. A few positives include increased beauty, energy conservation (plants help keep buildings cool), carbon sequestration (to battle global climate change), reduced stormwater runoff, noise reduction, psychological boosts for building inhabitants, air filtration (something NASA recognized years ago for indoor plants) and even the potential for food production.

Of course the idea of incorporating plants into buildings is not new. The historian Herodotus (484 BC–ca. 425 BC) included the hanging gardens of Babylon as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. American pioneers recognized the benefits of sod homes, or "soddies" when they colonized the prairies of middle America (although some chafed at the dirt and the insects). Germany pioneered the modern "green roof" in the 1960s and today it is estimated that about 10% of all flat roofs in that country are green.

So what does all of this have to do with pest control? As nearly anyone with experience in the pest control industry can tell you, nature often chooses unpredictable and undesirable paths (at least from our human perspective). While the architects' sketches always depict verdant, well maintained gardens covering roof and walls, with smiling people staring up at them, reality is likely to be somewhat different.

You don't have to be a certified entomologist to know that green walls and vegetated roofs provide abundant habitat and shelter for all manner of (often unwanted) urban wildlife, including rodents, birds, spiders and mites and many insects. Birds are nice until they fly into your building, or share their parasitic nest mites with workers in a nearby office. Sod- or wildflower-covered roofs inevitably will sprout weeds and unplanned trees. Poison ivy anyone? No problem, you say, we know how to control these things--we do it in our landscapes. Keep in mind though, that most new buildings that incorporate green roofs are on a LEED certification, or similar certification, track. Most of these building owners will insist that no pesticides be used in the maintenance of the building. The assumption seems to be that using pesticides will negate the value of the vegitecture.

I believe the pest control industry needs to be ready to challenge this particular assumption, look for new and innovative ways to control pests safely, and be more involved in the design of this new generation of buildings. The assumption that no pesticides have any place in a green building is hard to justify from a purely logical basis. In self-contained rooftop systems, for example, it's hard to see how a low-toxicity, granular herbicide with zero drift and zero pesticide runoff risk poses any environmental or safety risk. On the insect side, baits and highly selective insecticides that break down quickly in the environment can do more environmental good than harm. Many insecticides, I believe, could be considered acceptable in green buildings once the anti-environment stigma that pesticides carry is examined scientifically.

This is not to say that change in the way we do pest control will be unnecessary in these new, "greened-up" buildings. Use of broad-spectrum, residual insecticides will probably no longer be acceptable. Pesticide use will have to be justified and benefits weighed against the possible negatives. And our industry will have to become more serious about finding ways to prevent, rather than react to, pests. In other words, we'll have to really do IPM and not just talk about it.

Some of the most challenging pests, I believe, will continue to be the vertebrate pests such as birds and rodents. Even some architects are admitting that wildlife experts should be involved in the planning process for green buildings. I say include entomologists and PMPs too! As vegitecture becomes more common, new and unique urban ecosystems will be created. And not all of the new denizens of these ecosystems will be invited guests.

We in the pest control industry need to be aware of these new trends, and be ready to adapt to them. After all, you'll be the one getting the call about the snake on the 25th floor.

Wanted: Buildings that build pests out

Anyone who's worked long enough in pest control has come up with bright ideas about how to do pest control better. It's called building a better mousetrap.

My current mousetrap idea is that we need to figure out how to get some of our brightest architects, engineers and code enforcement professionals to sit down together and come up with better ways to build a truly pest-proof building. Furthermore, if we were really smart, we'd market the ideas as part of the current green building movement.

And why not? Once you have a building that is either (1) very difficult for pests to get in, or (2) extremely uncomfortable for the pests that do get in, you should find yourself needing far fewer pesticides (cleaner air) and the cost of building maintenance should go down. Both clean air and reduced building maintenance costs are important to the goals of green design.

So why don't we do this? It's not because of a lack of ideas or know-how.

To pick just one pest challenge, we know a lot about ways to termite-proof a building. A quick Google search reveals, for example, that NCSU entomologist, Mike Waldvogel has a nice online guide to termite proofing a home. Building code experts have struggled with termite-proofing issues for years. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services’ Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control has a publication about Florida's code requirements for new construction to prevent termite damage. The National Institute of Building Sciences has an interesting website on a concept they call whole building design. This group secured government funding to develop a web portal on the concept, including information on termite proofing.

The concept should apply as well to all sorts of pests including rodents, cockroaches, a variety of crawling insects, birds, bats and other wildlife.

So why don't we do the things we know work well to save the consumer or business money, and reduce our need for pesticides? I think there are many reasons that pest proofing has not gained greater acceptance in the field of building design. For one, building a pest proof building is not as sexy or high profile as an avant-garde design, or a building with high energy efficiency or even one built using recycled materials.

Another important reason is that there is currently no good venues for pest management specialists and architects and engineers to sit down and talk with each another. Entomologists and pest management specialists traditionally have their meetings, and architects and engineers have their separate meetings. Rarely do paths cross.

Last February our office held a meeting with folks from around the country to discuss some of these issues. About 40 experts in pest management, architecture and engineering participated in a three-day seminar to share ideas on designing pest-proof public and commercial buildings. We discussed how integrated pest management concepts could be blended with green-building designs. Lots of good ideas were shared, but, unfortunately, comparatively few architects and engineers were able to participate.

We hope to try again next year at the 6th International Symposium on IPM, to be held in Portland, OR. If you know of anyone with a special interest in this area, you can tell me about it through the comment button on this post. I am especially interested in connecting with people who have expertise in building engineering, architecture and building codes. It can be a long process to build a better mousetrap, but it's one that's worth pursuing.