“I GREW UP ON A FARM and I understand the importance of farming,” shares Theresa Lehman, director of Sustainable Services at Miron Construction Co., Inc. based in Neenah, Wis. “Until I went to college, I didn’t eat processed food; I ate what we grew and raised on the farm. My mom made, and still makes, everything from scratch; not from a box. I grew up to not be wasteful. My roots in sustainability come from that.”
While recognized and educated in green building, LEED, and WELL- recognized concepts and practices for nourishment in public spaces, she also takes guidance from Boston-based Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. But the role she plays locally and nationally regarding public health issues is not where Theresa starts our conversation. Her journey to organics and whole food is a personal one.
“Your health is based only on 10 percent genetics,” Theresa says with confidence.
She became acutely knowledgeable about the impact holistic food choices have on a body while managing a serious health condition without medication or regular surgery, but rather with nutrition and vitamins.
”Enhancing health and well-being of people starts with their environment,” she concludes. “Each person is a direct product of their environment.”
Focused on five major areas— air quality, what you eat and drink, the quantity and quality of your sleep and your movement—she lives out the mission of her WELL certification every day, working to change the environment, and ultimately improve personal health for Miron employees and its customers.
Connected to green building, she utilizes the LEED, WELL and Fitwel framework to help guide organizations along their sustainability journey. Specifically, to tackle nourishment, she utilizes the nourishment concepts of WELL and Fitwel to help create space to ensure healthy food and food choices is a priority in public spaces, incorporating the latest in health and wellness medical research.
According to WELL program updates released earlier this year, “Our dietary patterns are influenced by a complex mixture of personal, cultural and environmental factors, including the buildings and communities where we spend the majority of our time and consume the majority of our meals.”
“The way our food environments are designed and operated, as well as the availability and access to foods and beverages in these environments, has the potential to support healthy diets and improve human health…,” WELL’s second edition nourishment concept research concludes.
Theresa is credentialed by Green Building Certification Inc. (GBCI), as a LEED and WELL-Accredited Professional and committed to
Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council’s “healthy, productive, sustainable and responsible work environments”. She—and all WELL-certified executives responsible for the safety of environments and health of people who spend time there—ensure companies like Miron Construction apply International WELL Being Institute’s (IWBI’s) guidance. They consult with teams on how to incorporate fresh food and vegetables, understand macronutrient measures and be transparent about healthier choices vending areas, dining and kitchen settings while also accommodating special dietary needs.
“Our food today is chemically laden and so stripped of nutrients [and we just need to make healthier choices available],” she urges. “Eating has become a social means of getting together, rather than a source of nutrition. And that means, while we all enjoy a meal together, we need to be mindful of the purpose of the food we are eating.”
“It’s expensive, but I buy organic and grass-fed versus food-like substances,” Theresa shares her No. 1 holistic behavior choice.
She doesn’t expect everyone to adopt organic and grass-fed eating practices at home. But for Theresa overcoming the business environment hurdles leads to improved health. Initiatives at Miron Construction started with “baby steps” to make wellness an easy choice.
WATER WORKS
“Everyone who comes to the office breathes the air and eats food [and drinks beverages],” she says. Removing plastic bottles of water seemed natural.
“When I arrived, plastic bottled water and soda was available to employees, and I asked the question [about an ION machine to take out particulates] to provide healthier choices for Miron’s employees, as well as to reduce waste,” she recalls. “Today, ION machines are located by all sinks in the break areas. We test the water of the sinks and the ION machines, and the quality of the water from the ION machine is significantly better.”
But it was only the first step in removing waste and adopting healthier choices for a better work environment.
Air quality in all Miron Construction office spaces features MERV 13-rated filtration, which complies with the highest air quality standards of LEED filtering out particulates, Theresa confirms. “We know filtration matters, as there was never a COVID-19 outbreak in any of our offices. We contribute this to the heightened filtration and increased air quality measures taken throughout the pandemic while essential businesses like Miron Construction remained open.”
PRODUCT PROTECTIONS
PFOA and PFOS are both types of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs), a group of synthetic chemicals that are used in many products and can be harmful to human health and the environment. Both are considered carcinogenic to humans, according to sources. They can build up in the body and environment over time from water, among other sources.
Buildings— and building products— contain PFAS, too, and corporations with green building standards are taking measures to ensure they are free of forever chemicals. Similar to manufacturers of pots and pans like Made In, which is taking measures to actively move to finishes that are not harmful, companies like Miron Construction are tackling waste-water clean-up in the environment as many of Miron’s municipal and utility clients are installing PFAS filtration equipment.
”Miron is building waste water treatment facilities to remove PFAS from the drinking water. PFAS, a forever chemical, used in waterproofing sealants, non-stick cookware, fire-fighting foam, building products like waterproofing, stain-resistant fabrics and carpeting, and much, much more,” Theresa says. Now that PFAS are finally recognized as a hazardous chemical, municipalities and utilities are installing the infrastructure needed to remove PFAS from the drinking water they supply, she adds.
Miron constructs the wastewater treatment plants and installs high-end water filtration equipment to filter out the PFAS and PFOS in Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan.
BIODIGESTERS FOR RENEWAL ENERGY
According to Theresa, Miron also works at minimizing environmental impacts by building biodigesters, which takes the methane and converts it to renewable energy via generators that turn the gas into electricity.
“Cattle and huge dairy farms not only impact water quality via the chemicals that are used on the farm fields, but also from the manure, which also produces methane that impacts air quality,” Theresa says. “The farmers not only are able to create renewable energy from the methane produced by manure, they are able to dehydrate the manure creating “plant fertilizer” that is sold to consumers.
Biodigesters are not just built for farms but can be built for food waste or byproduct food waste for food manufacturers, municipalities, casinos, hospitals, and universities, and alike that creates food waste. Biodigesters capture the energy from food waste to create electricity, she says. Some states are starting to require people to collect their food scraps in a separate compost bin, just like they separate recyclables from landfill waste. This is creating a clean renewable energy source and is minimizing the amount of “trash” that is going to the landfills. It’s a win for the environment, she adds.
Miron has also built landfill-gas-to-energy projects.
“We take the methane generated by the trash as it decomposes and convert the gas to electricity via large generators. Again, this is taking “waste” and converting it to clean energy,” Theresa says.
Miron has built several food processing facilities that convert the byproducts such as cheese whey waste into energy, Theresa shares. “To simplify, instead of dumping [waste] down the drain and requiring the whey-water byproduct to be treated by a wastewater plant, the biodigesters we build remove the “sugar” and convert it to renewable energy.”
When creating renewable energy, there are no carbon emissions [like emissions that exist when fossil fuels are burned to create energy], which scientifically is proven to impact climate change, according to Theresa. When the climate changes, the environment is impacted by weather be it drought, flooding, severe temperatures (cold and hot), hurricanes caused by rising ocean temperatures, wind pattern change, ocean current change, etc.
But in the end—before any training and professional credentials— growing up on a farm gave her the basic health and well-being knowledge she carries with her today. She knows a farmer’s success depends on the weather, soil and water. And she knows people are a product of their environment.
