I am a big fan of FSC Certified wood and wood products. The Forest Stewardship Council oversees the management and production of wood, ensures that forests are not clear cut, that the rights of indigenous people are respected, that proper forest management protocols are observed, and that the wood that you buy has not been swapped out with other, poorly sourced product. The FSC has a chain of custody process that is in my opinion a model for other sustainable building materials.
Here are some highlights(Taken from the FSC Site):
More than 100 million ha forest worldwide were certified to FSC standards in April 2008, distributed over 79 countries.
FSC certified forests represent the equivalent of 7% of the world’s productive forests.
FSC is the fastest growing forest certification system in the world (UN FAO, 2007)
With over 7’500 certificates, the number of companies along the forest product supply chain committing to FSC certification peaked at 40% in 2007.
The value of FSC labeled sales is estimated at over 20 billion USD.
Great video from the other side….long on fear mongering, totally devoid of facts. It is this sort of spooky music, fast scene changing video that really does influence people, far more than, say, research. The NY Times has an interesting write up today of an “International Conference on Climate Change” not to be confused with the “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” that one the Nobel Prize for its definative conclusion that Global warming IS a threat.
Interesting piece in today’s Sunday Real Estate Section of the Chron on “Vegas Show Stopper” a 9,000 square foot monster built out in the desert with “green technology”. Can you really be green or sustainable with a SFH at 9,000 square feet? My answer is yes, hedged with a small aside:
WTF 9,000 SQUARE FEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I guess I would reconcile my philosophical meets reality take on this by saying that the house can be green, but not sustainable. You can input lots of green features in a place like this, like the gas driven heat pump that the article crows about. But green inputs does not sustainable make. It’s too plain big. I get the whole I need to prove something look at me and my big green house/car/schlong whatever…ok maybe a big green schlong isn’t something to look at. My point though is that just because you call something green doesn’t mean it’s better. Green is a color, a fad, something the corporate types have co-opted into their marketing lingo to sell you stuff. Sustainable is a way of living. And even if a project incorporates the latest in “green” features, the sheer size is self defeating.
Maybe it is counter-intuitive to talk about drought when it is raining, but it shouldn’t be. It can rain all day, all week, all month, so what? We use too much water. Period. Increasing supply is not going to get people to use water sustainably. If anything, more rain is going to let us be lazy when it comes to water use. Honestly, if it’s not on the front page most folks won’t give water a second thought. They probably won’t give it a second thought if it is on the front page anyways, given the declining readership numbers of daily newspapers, but I digress
Nothing promotes waste more than abundance. Let’s say enough rain falls to get our regional totals up to “average”. A family of 4 uses more than 150% more water than they did 50 years ago! “Average” yearly rainfall doesn’t cut it anymore. Agriculture and commercial users have to step up to the plate, sort of – but that does not absolve myself or you, the residential user, from our responsibility to sustainable water practices.
When you remodel your bathroom, think about a dual flush toilet. At the absolute minimum, make sure your unit uses only 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf). When your washing machine breaks, buy a front loading model. You might pay more coin on the front end, but you will lose money over time in your water bills. Do you have to have grass? Maybe you can plant a front landscape of beautiful natives instead. I even stopped showering, and my wife does not seem to mind, though she has taken to sleeping in the next room for some reason.
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