[Greenbuilding] Lumber to Avoid--please spare all recoverable and recovering forests!!!!

[Mary Bull - Greenwood Earth Alliance]

Please spare the thousand year old forests--in fact, please spare all
recoverable/recovering forests! If not for the habitat, then for the
climate, global warming, water... inconsequentials such as these.

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: "Tim Vireo Keating" <t.keating at rainforestrelief.org>
To: "Matthew Grove" <matthew at gdaaia.com>; <greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org>
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 1:48 PM
Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Lumber to Avoid


> Sorry for the post on this very old thread but I just caught it in my box:
>
> As far as I know, our website is the most comprehensive site on this:
> www.rainforestrelief.org (click on the What to Avoid section for the
> majority of the info you seek).
>
> In general, tropical species are not sustainable unless they're
> coming from operations in second growth that are certified. So you
> can find species such as mahogany and others from places like Mexico,
> Guatemala, Costa Rica, etc., the old growth forests of which were
> cleared or logged already in the past. The forests in these areas are
> generally at most only about 1000 years old. Other rainforest areas
> in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, etc. can be as old as 65
> *million* years, not having seen any massive disturbance since then.
> These forests are quite different in terms of biodiversity and
> scientific studies have shown that even so-called "low impact"
> commercial logging has a large-scale negative impact on biodiversity
> and thus, by definition, cannot be sustainable. One scientist has
> said that in order to be truly sustainable in these places, logging
> would have to mimic natural conditions: one or two trees per hectare
> taken *per century* - *by hand*. No commercial logging operations of
> which I know are coming close to that as it's probably impossible to
> make any money.
>
> The Rainforest Relief website also has two "hierarchies" that rate
> the 'greenness' of wood and wood alternatives.
>
> tim keating, director
>
> At 11:47 PM -0400 8/16/07, Matthew Grove wrote:
> >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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>
> -- 
>
>
> "The Earth and myself are of one mind. The measure of the land and the
> measure of our bodies are the same..."
>                                     - Hinmaton Yalatkit, Nez Perce chief
> ____________________________________________
>
> R   A   I   N   F   O   R   E   S   T        R   E   L   I   E   F
>
> Sparing  the  World's  Rainforests  from  Consumption
>
> Rainforest Relief works to protect the world's remaining tropical
> and temperate rainforests by reducing the demand for the products
> and materials of rainforest destruction such as timber and paper,
> industrial agricultural products such as bananas, beef, coffee,
> chocolate and cut flowers, and mining products
> such as oil, gold and aluminum.
>
> New York, NY: (917) 543-4064
> Portland, OR: (503) 236-3031
> http://www.rainforestrelief.org
> info at rainforestrelief.org
> Church Street Station * PO Box 298 * NY, NY 10008-0298
>
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
>
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