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Building Product Comparisons
Most building materials—including steel, concrete, and
plastic-based products to name a few—are very energy-intensive
to extract as raw materials and to manufacture into finished
products. Because most energy is produced by burning fossil
fuels like coal, oil, and natural gas, which in turn releases
carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere, the
production of building materials other than wood contributes
more to global warming as a result.
Wood, by contrast, is essentially a renewable carbon sink:
utilizing solar energy and photosynthesis, young growing trees
take carbon from the atmosphere and fix it in a cellular structure
- wood. Mature forests are carbon-neutral as
natural decay matches new growth. In harvesting mature trees, making wood
products from them (which are then incorporated into building structures and
do not decompose), and growing new trees to replace the old, we are creating
carbon sinks and thereby mitigating the greenhouse effect—provided, of
course, that the forest is allowed to regenerate itself.
Unlike oil wells, ore mines, or other ultimate sources for the building
materials cited above, forests provide a variety of ecological
services, including wildlife habitat, air and water purification, soil stabilization,
and so forth. Furthermore, forests can continue to provide these services
while being managed for a sustainable-yield of forest products.
The truth is that each and every choice of flooring has an environmental
impact. In choosing between building materials, one
must dig deep to fully understand all the environmental impacts
that emanate from the sourcing, production, and ultimate disposal
of your product choice.
A perfect example is wool carpet which at first glance seems
a perfectly natural product without significant environmental
downsides. But digging deeper, producing wool requires sheep. Sheep require grazing lands which are sometimes created
by converting forests to grasslands, hence contributing to deforestation. Sheep’s
digestive systems are also large producers of methane gases - one of the leading
causes of the "greenhouse effect". In addition, sheep
are now a domesticated species and are introduced animals in
most all areas where they are farmed , meaning that they take
over range from native species. What on the surface looks like
a natural choice has many hidden environmental costs.
Thus, every building material has its own associated environmental
costs. Synthetic
carpet made from petroleum-based products has all the environmental
costs associated with oil, including drilling, occasional spills,
large amounts of pollution and toxic chemical by-products, energy
used in different stages of manufacturing, and the lack of biodegradability--not
to mention a short life cycle. Ceramic tile has its own set
of environmental costs, as does vinyl.
Rather
than go into the details of each on this webpage, please
read what several experts say about wood:
At WFRG, we are also very aware that wood harvested from living
trees has its own set of environmental costs. These include:
- the impact of logging on health of the forest
and the well-being of local communities.
- logging
roads that can facilitate the incursions of non-native
species and of settlers, which in turn can accelerate
the conversion of the forest to agricultural uses.
- high grading — which is hunting for mature specimens
of high-value species and taking only those while
leaving behind lesser-known, less-valuable species.
This can impact large areas of forest, since valuable
trees often grow widely dispersed in the forest (particularly
in the tropics)
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We also know that any harvesting whatsoever from a “natural” forest
adversely impacts that forest. This is why we support a varied
and balanced approach to land-use and and forest management
in every country, ranging from:
- National Parks which preserve old-growth forests in an untouched
state,
- Conservation zones which protect areas of forest for
their ecological and biological uniqueness and/or importance
to indigineous populations and threatened flora and fauna.
- Well-managed production forests
- Plantations on afforested lands
In an effort to promote this balanced approach and to mitigate
the risk of sourcing wood that was harvested irresponsibly
or illegally, WFRG has committed itself to improving its sourcing
and has recently joined World
Wildlife Fund’s North America Forest & Trade
Network and committed itself to the following Sourcing Policy.
Finally, we offer wood from a myriad of reclaimed, recycled,
and salvaged sources as well as rapidly renewable alternatives
to wood.
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