"Wood is good" says Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace. Greenpeace originated at UBC around the time I was there studying architecture. That is when an earnest concern for the environment began. David Suzuki was teaching genetics but also preaching the fears of global cooling which changed to global warming, now simply climate change. To be fair David, along with other environmentalists felt that the melting of the ice caps would cool the oceans to a critical threshold which would enact a rapid cooling resulting in a new ice age. We know that the last ice age about 100,00 years ago happened very quickly. Large mammals we associate with much warmer climes were frozen in ice. Pretty scary stuff. We could live with warm beaches in northern Canada but a mile of ice above our heads is a bit hard to adapt to. Regardless, there was the continuing sense that mankind was having an effect in burning fossel fuels. To what extent our activities affect or can affect the weather remains a question but we know we do in terms of pollution. Everyone agrees on that. So what can we do? In terms of architecture, one thing we can do is use more wood. By the way, ice ages happen on average every 100,000 years, so we are due.
Moore believes wood is the answer to the future of human civilization ("Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout"). He outlines the history of wood harvesting where we practically decimated all the forests close to the cities, then we learned to farm trees the same way we grow crops. It might surprise you to learn that China has added more forests than any other country because they realize its value for the environment and in construction. Its growing middle class needs it. And this is the irony. The more harvesting, the more replanting and management is done. This helps tremendously in carbon capture. Untended forests create potential fire hazards. Burning soil during forest fires releases massive amounts of carbon and other pollutents.
Trees are tremendous solar collectors. Wood kept dry and protected from sunlight will last for hundreds of years. Properly used it is safer than metal construction. Firemen tell me that metal floor joists are called "widow makers" as they collapse early in a fire situation. Wood beams and joists stay integral much longer under similar conditions. But like much in our society popular fears trump common sense and proper science.
Moore believes wood is the answer to the future of human civilization ("Confessions of a Greenpeace Dropout"). He outlines the history of wood harvesting where we practically decimated all the forests close to the cities, then we learned to farm trees the same way we grow crops. It might surprise you to learn that China has added more forests than any other country because they realize its value for the environment and in construction. Its growing middle class needs it. And this is the irony. The more harvesting, the more replanting and management is done. This helps tremendously in carbon capture. Untended forests create potential fire hazards. Burning soil during forest fires releases massive amounts of carbon and other pollutents.
Trees are tremendous solar collectors. Wood kept dry and protected from sunlight will last for hundreds of years. Properly used it is safer than metal construction. Firemen tell me that metal floor joists are called "widow makers" as they collapse early in a fire situation. Wood beams and joists stay integral much longer under similar conditions. But like much in our society popular fears trump common sense and proper science.
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