[Greenbuilding] Lumber to Avoid: Get Thee to the Salvage Yards + Confronting the Global Triple Crisis in DC Sep 14!!!

Fri Aug 17 11:58:58 EDT 2007

Matt and Greenbuilders!

****Get thee to the salvage yards!**** Such yards also carry new lumber from windblow or otherwise removed urban trees. I've gotten all my lumber new and used from salvage yards, both for the building of our cottage  and other structures at Chalice Farm, and for repairs, remodel, and maintenance of our  building in San Francisco. I also use non-wood building materials whenever possible, such as recycled HDPE plastic (Trex), steel, and so on (YES, even with it's embodied energy, steel is better than wood--the life of a Doug fir embodies more carbon in a lifetime than its equivalent in steel)

Buying new forest products contributes to the catastrophic resource depletion planet earth is currently experiencing. 

Anyone in the DC area might consider going to what promises to be one of the best teach-ins of our times: Confronting the Global Triple Crisis: Climate Change, Peak Oil, and Global Resource Depletion and Extinction put on by The International Forum on Globalization www.ifg.org. I wish I could take off (by train, of course!!!) and go, but I cannot...

****Get thy head out of the sand!**** There is virtually no sustainably logged wood to be had--a few pockets of community/indigenous run forest ops in Canada perhaps--but anything commercially logged by industrially-strength corporations is out, FSC certified or not!

Sorry to be the bearer or this bad news, Matt.

BTW after much struggle with every person in pipeline: engineers, contractors, and County, we have managed to use HDPE instead of PVC  for water, sewage, and electrical lines--evidently we are the first in Sonoma County. Did I mention recently that since acting as my own general contractor in the development of Chalice Farm, I have come to hate the building trade? The worst depleters, polluters, and wasters on earth!

Also, I've started taking the train where I used to fly to lessen my carbon footprint, and it's a wonderful mode of transportation--I highly recommend it to all! Of course, it will only get better, fuel and efficiency-wise--but anything is better than jet travel.

Cheers and Best,

Mary

Mary Bull, Co-director
Greenwood Earth Alliance, Save the Redwoods - Boycott the Gap Campaign
252 Frederick, San Francisco, CA 94117 http://www.gapsucks.org
Chalice Farm and Sustainable Living Center, 748 Montgomery Rd, Sebastopol CA 95472
415-731-7924 - 415-509-1188 chalicenew at earthlink.net

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matthew Grove" <matthew at gdaaia.com>
To: <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:47 PM
Subject: [Greenbuilding] Lumber to Avoid

> Does anyone know of a dependable resource that
> identifies imported lumber that is or is not raised in a
> sustainable manner or somehow rates lumber as to
> its "green" value.
> 
> Matthew W. Grove AIA
> Grove & Dall'Olio Architects PLLC
> 304 267-2120
> 
> 
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