What are some alternatives to our wood industry?

Question

Right now we are logging WAY more than is sustainable. what are some alternatives? way can we do to avoid cutting down so many trees?

Answer 1

Forest Plantations. Longterm investments but it should provide more than enough wood in the future and without any intervention from governments. Its already happening and the reason why the decline of forest coverage has been reversing. There is hope. Dont despair.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?Ne...

"Economic growth contributes to curbing deforestation by improving conditions for sustainable forest management, the report says. Strengthened forest institutions and increased participatory decision-making will also help to protect forests."

Also see:

http://www.fao.org/DOCREP/004/AC133E/ac1...

Answer 2

Yes, our forests were harvested in unhealthy and unsustainable ways eighty years ago.  In other parts of the world they still are.  However, logging in the United States IS sustainable and has been for some time.  Nearly every state has a collegiate forestry program that teaches sustainable forestry practices to college students and landowners.  Foresters, (that is their title) manage both private and public land to provide sustainable lumber to national and international consumers.

     Unfortunately, the public is still very misinformed and undereducated on this subject.  If you want to help then push your elected officials to require more environmental education and educate yourself.  I've attached several links you can use to find out more.

Answer 3

That may be true in some parts of the world, but NOT in the United States. There are more trees now than there were 100 years ago in the U.S. Timber companies are planting trees as fast as they cut them. It IS sustainable. If this were not true, they would have run out of their only raw material long ago.

Answer 4

There is an important lesson to be learned from The Three Little Pigs.  What did they build when their wood frame house blew down?  

California is working on changes to the building code to allow formulations of cement that produce less CO2.    There is a lot more limestone in the world than trees.

There are also numerous ways to build "green" without cutting down all the "greenery".  Recycled materials are one easy way to avoid cutting down trees.  Did you know there is even a company that makes home insulation out of recycled blue jeans?  Straw bale construction, berm assisted structures, paper crete and rammed earth construction are just some of the methods which require no trees to be cut at all.  

Even good urban planning can reduce the demand on resources.

The biggest problem is there is no work force trained in these building methods and green architecture so far is little  more than rooting through the garbage for reusable building materials.  Building Codes must change and contractor/ builder/ construction worker training standards must change with them.

Answer 5

Grow and harvest bamboo!

Answer 6

When you compare the total forest in the US when we arrived to today we have less total forest land.  But we now replace more trees than we harvest.  If you want any substantial reduction in the use of trees the examples given by others will not make much of a dent in timber use.  The only way to substantially reduce timber use in the US is to import more wood or reduce the number of people in the US.

Answer 7

Aluminum framing

Import lumber from Russia

only allow harvesting of 2d growth trees.  (being done on the West Coast, partially.

Answer 8

Stop the pulp production of trees and logging of old forests entirely by reducing demand to zero.

How? Plant your own native trees on your own land or community schemes/city council scheme that can be responsibly managed and a yield produced.

Other than that, there is straw bale building, grown your own home in a season.

Cob building which is dig your own home, made from compacted clay and creating a wildlife pond in the process.

Rammed earth, using old tyres.

Earth bag construction using bags or tubes filled with moistened earth. Earth bags totally removes the requirement for timber as it is constructed as a dome.

Earthships and below earth building.

Japanese domes that can be built in a day.

Using available natural resources by adapting caves.

Answer 9

Would you care to support your claim that we are "Logging WAY more than is sustainable." with some facts and figures?  The last time I looked, this was not the case.  If something has changed, you should have the facts to back it up.

Answer 10

Plastic wood has some merits. It is generally resistant to rot, mildew and insect infestation, & thus desirable for seawalls, docks, and other marine applications. Decks, picnic tables, landscaping ties, benches and refuse containers are also common uses for plastic wood. Most plastic lumber does not have the same bearing strength as natural wood, however.

Answer 11

first recycle used paper!!!!products[cardboard].

2.plant a tree shade the earth/ no as many as you can...

3.use E-mail to wright letters.

Answer 12

hemp.......http://www.ecomall.com/greenshopping/hem...