In this article in Hardwood Floors Magazine, internationally renowned ecologist and environmentalist Patrick Moore says we should embrace using wood instead of non-renewable materials such as steel, concrete and plastic.
As wood is a natural product, using it should be a common sense ecological choice but it isn't. Whether it is the reputation of the foresty industry or concerns over clear cutting, we regularly meet people who love the look and quality of hardwood floors but worry it is a non-ecological choice.
We don't want to suggest that all forestry practices are perfect or that using products other than wood is bad. Rather we just want to help educate people to the idea that hardwood is as eco-friendly, and potentially more so, than other floor options.
Solar factories have no carbon footprint
As Moore points out in his article, every substitute for wood products must be produced in factories but wood comes from forests which are effectively 'solar factories' that require no fossil fuels, only time, to produce. When you consider this, installing anything other than a wood floor means using a product that is almost is guaranteed to cause an increase in carbon dioxide emissions.
Trees can and do grow back
We don't support non-sustainable logging practices but as Moore suggests a lot of rhetoric is used to give the impression that logging is somehow different from other forms of forest disturbance such as fire, ice or volcanos. Moore even goes as far as to say, "Forests are just as capable of recovering from destruction by logging as they are from any other form of disturbance."
Natural, beautiful and eco-friendly
Hardwood floors come in a wide array of eco-specific options such as reclaimed timbers or specialty bamboo but all hardwood, whether it is Wisconsin Maple or American Cherry, are eco-friendly by definition. So embrace the natural beauty of hardwood and rest easy you are also being good to the earth.
