Daily Detox: Choose Good Wood

Wood is beautiful as a building element and home decor material but it can carry a heavy environmental burden. The good news is it’s getting easier to choose products made from sustainably harvested materials.

Organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) help protect forests and encourage socially, environmentally and economically viable forest management by certifying a wood product’s origins through a “chain-of-custody”.

Since 1990, FSC has certified over 90 million hectares (over 22 million acres) of forest landscape in more than 82 countries. A large and prolific network of manufacturers and retailers means FSC certified wood is widely available. The products are of comparable quality to non-certified products and can be used without limitation in application.

Personally, I live about an hour from FSC’s headquarters located in Bonn, Germany. For a sustainability fanatic like myself I consider this close proximity to one of the most effective green building advocacy programs more exciting than a celebrity siting. It also means that I often find myself swooning when I run across FSC wood products on “big item” trash day. FSC certified and reclaimed; be still my heart.

Helpful Links:

• Earth Source Wood
• NRDC: How Forest Certification Helps the Environment