The campaign sounds a bit self-serving, since the forest industries have been suffering mightily during the current economic hard times. But in principle, the use of wood does make sense. The devil is in the details, of course, and unless increased use of forest products for construction is accompanied by really good reforestation and forest management policies, nothing will be gained. As Le Devoir’s Louis-Gilles Francoeur notes, the campaign is being launched just after the appearance of a big UN report charging that deforestation is the cause of more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transportation system on the planet.
Worth following, though.
3 comments:
Details indeed.
Too often the industry's method has been to replace complex eco-systems, e.g.: old growth forest, with mono-crop tree farms which are clearcut far too often to sequester much carbon. Solid and durable wood construction -- think fitted post and beam rather than quick and dirty balloon-frame made, now, of mostly composites -- would be more helpful. Problems: It requires skill and time to build them. Profit margins are less.
Urban density for walkable cities is a lot more problematic with wood as opposed to steel and concrete.
The real problem remains that the carrying capacity of Gaia is less than the present population. Our fixes for that are too destructive to sustain. The only viable solution to that that I see is to do with less consumption of non-durables. But who will tell us children so we understand?
--ml
You are absolutely right about needing to cut down on our consumption. But many walkable areas of cities were built with wood: our neighborhood is all wood frame with brick facing dating from before World War I. Going up is not necessary for walkability, but living close together is.
Monoculture is a grave problem, I agree, though.
Opps! Too busy thinking about old town city brick rowhouses, so I forgot about the many walkable western cities with frame houses next to each other cheek by jowl. Still, The balloon frame was a dangerous shortcut resorted to first after the Chicago Fire. We,ve piled up a lot of building codes since trying to make it safer.
--ml
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