The Modern Ethical Home – Is It Acceptable to Buy Wood Furniture?
Published on January 21, 2012 |
There’s seldom a more poignant symbol of ethical living than the tree. Whist a select few consumers are incredibly well informed and able to make conscious eco-friendly decisions regarding everything in their home, choosing things like wood dining room furniture can be quite difficult for the layman. Is it OK to buy cheap? Should the buyer look for UK-made products? What if there’s no stamp from the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)?
Key Issues
• According to figures reported in The Guardian’s environment section, the world loses an area of forest the size of Nepal each year.
• The FSC points out that the UK is the third largest importer of unethical and illegal timber, usually imported through China.
• Just 25% of the UK’s wood is certified by the FSC.
• A huge proportion of the UK’s timber and wood furniture imports hail from illegal or environmentally detrimental boreal sites in places like Canada, Russia and the Baltic states.
What Can Consumers Do?
Choosing rustic oak furniture for a new summerhouse, it can difficult to remember the chain of production. But ethical buying is about considering the whole process.
• Fast-growth forests are designed to produce the maximum amount of wood for the minimum growth time and cost. Consumers are advised to stay away from fast-growth wood because it promotes an environmentally damaging sector of the industry.
• Greenpeace and the FSC recommend ALWAYS buying wood with the FSC stamp.
• UK-made products are commonly more fairly produced than imports.
• Avoid tropical hardwoods; the logging industry in the likes of Brazil and Indonesia is heavily under regulated.
Bio:
This guest blog post is written by Webmaster of furnitureplusonline.co.uk, offering Rustic oak furniture and dining room furniture services!