Earth Day Exercise

On Tuesday I alluded to green happenings at Equinox Fitness Clubs around the country but didn't share any more than the event that included free entry for guests and an Earth Day party. Well, Equinox is doing more than throwing fetes to celebrate our Mother Earth, and they're only the latest company on the fitness front to be sharing their efforts (Vail Resorts is another that comes to mind, some marathons, and locally it's easy for me to remember the Fitness Formula Club's Gold Coast location's green roof deck). But anyway, it's Equinox that's getting the attention this Earth Day with its environmental preservation actions.

Equinox recently announced a corporate-wide stance to aid in the protection and preservation of the environment while also catering to members' experiences. The company opened its first green club at 17th Street and Tenth Avenue in New York City (100 Tenth Ave. in Chelsea, to be exact) and hopes to incorporate many of that club's eco-friendly features when building new clubs, as well as retro-fitting the existing ones. How are they doing it? These are only some of the ways:

• Green cleaning solutions--already in use in many of the clubs--that are environmentally benign and practically fume-free
• Minimal or zero VOC content in select building materials like adhesives, sealants and paint
• State-of-the-art filtration systems that clean outdoor air thoroughly before it's pulled into the clubs
• Tons of recycling opportunities where you'd have to be blind not to see them: numerous and convenient storage and collection areas for recyclables
• More efficient water flow in the locker room showers where they will be equipped with showerheads that create the experience of a 3- to 4-gallon per minute shower while only using 1.6 gallons per minute
• Power savers like dimming technologies that adjust the electric lighting levels depending on the amount of natural daylight available
• Lighting--except for emergency and night lights--is time-clock controlled to turn off when the clubs are closed

I don't know about you, but I'll have to look at these enhancements the next time I'm at Equinox. Amazing how the smallest things can have such a huge impact on our environment. Photo of the Equinox Lincoln Park location provided by Equinox.