What is Green??
Everyone is talking “Green” these days.
Timbergreen Forestry has been working for 30 years to promote responsible forest management on our private woodlands. I was an active proponent of FSC Certification when it came to the woodlots of the Lake States a decade ago. I’m still on many “Green” building lists and hear the word used everyday – everywhere I go.
My pet peeve is when someone wants just the wide-clear-perfect boards for their pet project, and it has to be Green Certified – oh yeah, at rock bottom prices too.
The ads today show bamboo flooring, engineered flooring, Brazilian wood, ‘made in China’… and on and on – all ‘Green’ products, according to someone.
So how do you know? Common Sense Maybe?
Do you Know.....
Where is the wood from?
Where is the product manufactured?
How far has the product been shipped?
What form is the wood in?
The more the wood is manufactured, the more energy was used, the more chemicals used…
just look at it – does it still look like real wood?
(Bamboo Flooring – if you have seen Bamboo growing and then see Bamboo Flooring
and realize where it was grown and how much manufacturing was used to transform it,
yeah – that’s Green?!!?)
Is it just the very best part of the very best tree, or representative of the whole forest?
Who grew the wood – do you know?
100,000 small sawmills have been purchased by forest owners and small businesses in the past 25 years. There are many sources of locally grown and manufactured forest products - a real alternative to the "Green" stuff at the Big Box Stores.
We Americans use way more than our share of earth resources and are fouling the planet in direct proportion – Yes we need to change for the better. But don’t use a little “Green” washing to feel less guilty as you drive your “hybrid” luxury car on the way home to your 6,000 square foot “green” built house… if I’m around to hear.
Kermit the frog