Wood
Floor Resource Group strongly believes that wood is an environmentally-sound
flooring choice.
Wood’s inherent attributes compare favorably
to most other materials from a life-cycle analysis (cradle-to-grave)
perspective. Besides being renewable, wood is non-toxic, energy-efficient
to grow and manufacture, recyclable and biodegradable. Wood
products are readily produced without toxic manufacturing by-products.
Wood is among the only major building materials whose regrowth
yields life-sustaining oxygen and absorbs a
greenhouse gas
(carbon dioxide).
Because wood as a material is eco-friendly, discussions of
the "greenness" of wood products tend to focus on sources
rather than inherent characteristics: in short, to determine
if a given wood product is environmentally responsible, you
need to know where the wood came from. There are a variety
of environmentally-responsible sources for wood products.
All wood comes either from salvaged,
reclaimed or recycled sources, or is harvested from forests
or plantations. If wood is harvested, the key questions to
ask relate to the long-term social and environmental impacts
of forest management. Harvested wood is only as environmentally
sound as the forest management practices that stand behind
it. At the end of the day, woods sustainability goes hand
in hand with sustainable
forestry.
How can you tell if wood products come from well-managed forests?
The answer lies in the independent certification of
forests and forest management. By setting a high standard for
forest management practices—a standard that includes social
and economic, as well as environmental, considerations—and
a labeling and tracking mechanism for forest products, credible
forest certification empowers consumers to use their purchasing
power to promote forestry that conserves forests for future
generations. |