Create a Healthy Home
The New Year isn’t just about getting yourself in shape—it’s a perfect time to extend that spirit of reform to your home. Switching over to non-toxic laundry detergents and household cleaners, low VOC paints, and energy-saving appliances, is a great first step. But you may also want to cast a discriminating eye over the furniture you’ve chosen for your bedroom, living and dining rooms. Did you know that more than 80 percent of the world’s old growth trees have already been razed, and some of that wood is supporting your coaster as you kick back to watch “The Sopranos�? Forests in Papua New Guinea, for example, provide wood for a good chunk of the inexpensive furniture in the US and Europe, and experts say the country’s rainforests will vanish by 2020 if current logging rates continue.
So how do you even know what kind of furniture to buy or flooring to put down in your foyer? Organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) can help you see the forest for the trees. This nonprofit, founded in 1993, certifies timber cut in an environmentally and socially responsible manner that protects the forests�?ecological integrity, the area’s water quality, and the rights of indigenous people and local communities. More than 6,000 manufacturers and distributors carry FSC-certified products (look for the FSC seal of approval); if a particular retailer doesn’t carry them, Miller advises asking why not and whether they can. For more eco-friendly furniture tips
Living Spaces
Green in the Grain
By Kristin Bjornsen
Normally when you think of environmental villains, you think of smokestacks, Hummers, and aerosol hairspray—not the floral-patterned loveseat in the corner of your living room. But everyday furniture often contains wood clear-cut from endangered forests around the world, forests critical for clean air, wildlife preservation, the development of new medicines, and countless other essential functions. More than 80 percent of the world’s old growth trees have already been razed, and some of that wood ends up supporting your coaster as you kick back to watch “The Sopranos.�?Forests in Papua New Guinea, for example, provide wood for a good chunk of the inexpensive furniture in the US and Europe, and experts say the country’s rainforests will vanish by 2020 if current logging rates continue.
Staring at aisle upon aisle of tables, chairs, and papasans, scratching your head over which to buy, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed—after all, simply deciding on a color palette is hard enough, never mind tracking down whether the wood was sustainably harvested. But organizations like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) can help you see the forest for the trees. This nonprofit, founded in 1993, certifies timber cut in an environmentally and socially responsible manner that protects the forests�?ecological integrity, the area’s water quality, and the rights of indigenous people and local communities. “If wood’s logged illegally, a community might only make $1 per log compared to $100 for a legally cut log,�?says Katie Miller, FSC communications director. The FSC certifies more than 190 million acres worldwide, but the group protects more than just rainforest hardwoods from exotic locales. “Tropical species get the most attention, but we need to take care with any species of wood to find out how it was harvested,�?Miller says. “Was it cut and run? Were people, wildlife, or the land harmed?�?/STRONG>
You can spot sustainably harvested wood by looking for the FSC seal at timber stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s or at furniture stores like South Cone and even Crate and Barrel. More than 6,000 manufacturers and distributors carry FSC-certified products; if a particular retailer doesn’t carry them, Miller advises asking why not and whether they can.
The carpenter’s call
Along with nonprofits like the FSC, a growing number of independent furniture makers are working to green the business as well. Faber Dewar, one of the star carpenters on the hit TV show “Trading Spaces,�?represents one face of the sustainable furniture movement. He started his career dumpster-diving in California: In 1995, “a friend from Britain and I decided to make furniture using wood we salvaged from old 1920s cottages being torn down,�?explains Dewar from his store, Alderley Edge, in Venice Beach, California. They also incorporated reclaimed tin and copper into their tables and mirrors.
The unique look of the furniture caught on, and today Dewar sells to celebs like Steven Spielberg, Pierce Brosnan, and Cindy Crawford. He also travels the country woodworking on “Trading Spaces�?(a TLC show on which neighbors dramatically renovate each other’s houses in two days). Still, Dewar hasn’t traveled all that far from the dumpster—or at least from the “reduce, reuse, recycle�?ethic behind it. He steers clear of typically clear-cut woods like mahogany, lauan, and teak and instead prefers the fast-growing and abundant American walnut, which he loves for its look and its “smell of fresh hay.�?
Dewar also has carved out a green niche for himself by designing furniture in an ancient Japanese style that uses no nails or glue. He simply cuts the pieces so precisely that they fit perfectly together. The Zen-like art of the style and its beauty motivates him just as much as reducing waste. “Without a lot of froo-froo ornamentation, you’re just letting the beauty of the grain and wood stand out—strong and sturdy with an aesthetic of its own,�?he says. “It’s like something out of nature, simple but beautiful.�?/STRONG>
Besides using sustainably harvested wood, another eco-friendly option is to build furniture with recycled or reclaimed materials. Sources for material include everything from salvaged timber from buildings and bridges to cork from bottle-stopper factories, post-industrial seatbelt straps, and planks from wine barrels. At Solid Wood Products in British Columbia, owner Mitch Upton recovers Douglas fir from old buildings, as well as from scrap piles at logging sites and mills, and then uses it to build tables, cabinets, chairs, and the like. The seed for his business was planted 15 years ago while he was under contract to demolish a bridge. “We would pull out these giant timbers, and when I shaved off the outer gray layer, I saw this beautiful wood underneath,�?Upton says. He traded his labor for the right to keep the wood and built his house with it.
Recovered wood, in fact, is often stronger than freshly cut because it usually comes from old-growth forests, so it has a tighter grain. Not only that, Upton says, “Aesthetically you can’t compare freshly sawn wood to recovered Douglas fir, because it develops a deep patina with age that’s just incredible. People try to mimic that aged look, but it just ends up looking like new wood that you’ve tried to make look old.�?/STRONG>
The (toxic) icing on top
We need to worry about more than just the wood in furniture, however. Many of the paints, stains, glues, and sealants that coat our furnishings harbor noxious ingredients we can inhale. For instance, says Dewar, “Polyurethane continually leaches gases in the home for years, and many waxes have things like toluene, a nasty carcinogenic substance.�?
These fumes can trigger nausea, headaches, and asthma and can lead to potentially more serious illnesses in the long run. After a rash of such symptoms appeared in people working in “sick buildings�?in the 1980s and �?0s, activists founded the nonprofit Greenguard to certify safe, low-emission products. “There was an express need to minimize health risks from chemical emissions in building products and materials,�?says Carl Smith, CEO of Greenguard. “We needed to measure the emissions, protect against them, and assure the public [their furniture] wouldn’t cause harm.�?
To do that, Greenguard places a product in a large vacuum-sealed steel container through which a stream of air is pushed. Testers then analyze the compounds contained in the air as it exits the box. Emissions from the product have to fall under certain levels for a range of chemicals for the product to receive certification. Take formaldehyde, for example, a common ingredient in adhesives and paints: “We call it ‘the F-word,’�?says Smith. “Though naturally occurring, in significant levels formaldehyde’s a carcinogen. At lower levels, it causes discomfort and nausea,�?a fact supported by a wealth of studies. To eliminate fumes, manufacturers can completely encapsulate the wood in a safe sealant so that emissions are less than 0.025 parts per million or, even better, switch to nontoxic alternatives completely.
You can find a list of the thousands of Greenguard-certified products on its website at www.greenguard.org. Much of the certified furniture, however, is for the office. “Commercial office buildings are where low-emission furniture has had the most tracking, since architects and designers were some of the first in the industry to recognize the problem and want to do things differently,�?Smith says. That’s changing, though. More and more home-furniture makers like Dewar offer green products made with nontoxic finishes like shellac, beeswax, and milk paint, as well as with organic, natural fabrics and sustainably harvested or recycled wood. The diversity of their creations rivals the biodiversity of the forests they protect: everything from Geisha screens made from faulty yard rulers discarded by the manufacturer to grass armchairs (grow-it-yourself kits in which your lawn grows over a chair-shaped cardboard frame).
Dewar incorporates green furniture-making into “Trading Spaces�?by using recycled or sustainable woods and nontoxic finishes, though he admits the producers sometimes roll their eyes at his determination. “But I’m going to build it my way because the furniture has my name on it,�?he says. Growing numbers of people are also demanding his greener, more sustainable furnishings, Dewar explains, as they “become more aware that we have to be better patrons of the environment.�?After all, anything less wobbles like a two-legged chair that you wouldn’t rest your tush—or the planet’s future—on.
This message is from AlternativeMedicine.com
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