SOLON, OH -- In celebration of National Indoor Air Quality Month, Tarkett, a worldwide leader in innovative and sustainable flooring, is bringing together leading voices from the A&D community for a series of free webinars. Termed the “Learn.Give.Breathe. Series,” the discussions will highlight the importance of healthy indoor spaces for their inhabitants. To take the celebration even further, Tarkett has partnered with Breathe DC for its Breathe EASY Project to help establish healthy home environments for families with asthmatic children. For every webinar attendee, Tarkett will donate 25 square feet of its asthma and allergy friendly^®-certified flooring to a Washington, D.C. area family in need, and AAFA will have it professionally installed.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates Americans spend roughly 90 percent of their time indoors, where the concentration of some pollutants can be more than double what one would experience outdoors,” said Roxane Spears, vice president of sustainability at Tarkett North America. “National Indoor Air Quality Month is a great opportunity to take stock, as an industry, of the various ways our material choices can impact indoor air quality, and also to give back by supporting the Breathe EASY Project in helping families identify and remedy potential asthma and allergy triggers within their homes.”
The month’s programming with include the following:

CEU: Improving Indoor Air Quality in the Built Environment
Presented by Tarkett, this course will provide a general overview of how indoor air quality (IAQ) is defined and quantified today and how poor IAQ can impact the health and safety of occupants. The course will also identify common contributors to poor IAQ and specifically look at how Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOCs) play an important part in understanding IAQ. As part of a strategy to improve IAQ, participants will be introduced to modern flooring systems that focus on reduced TVOCs and the certification programs available to better evaluate and choose healthy, durable flooring products.

Organization credit:

• AIA Learning Units: 1.00 LU/HSW
• IDCEC Credit and Designation: 0.1 HSW
• USGBC: 1 GBCI CE Hours

Date: Wednesday, October 28
Time: Noon-1 p.m. EST
Click here to register

Panel Discussion: Healthy Materials for Indoor Environmental Quality
There’s much more to material selections than their visual appearance. This panel discussion brings together experts from UL and Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute to help attendees understand the impact their material choices have on the health of the indoor environments they create.

Date: Wednesday, October 14
Time: Noon-1 p.m. EST
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Panel Discussion: Building a Better Future: Equity, Indoor Air Quality and Healthy Spaces
Everyone deserves the same access to good design and healthy materials, but that can be easier said than done. During this panel discussion, attendees will hear from senior designers at Smith Group and Gensler, as well as a representative from Design Museum, as they share inspirational projects and collaborative approaches to designing for diverse needs and populations.  

Date: Wednesday, October 21
Time: Noon-1 p.m. EST
Click here to register

Tarkett remains the only flooring manufacturer to offer both residential and commercial flooring solutions that have been certified asthma and allergy friendly^® by AAFA. The certification program helps people make informed purchases for healthier homes, schools and workplaces. Only those products that pass stringent tests are awarded the designation. For flooring to be certified asthma and allergy friendly, AAFA’s independent third-party testing must show that the floor is easily cleaned and has a low capacity for retaining allergens. The certification process involves testing not only the product itself, but also the installation method and recommended cleaning process as a complete system to ensure no harmful materials are introduced while installing or cleaning the floor.