Semi-persistant gloat

WOW you have a right to gloat. If you can't handle it all you can send some my way.

You suck big time. But what on earth are you going to do with all that GA? I love it, but it is a bear to work. Maybe the worlds prettiest deck?

I read an article that said that woodworkers shouldn't feel bad about depleting the tropical forests; if we bought nothing at all, it would just go into skids and paper. I guess you are evidence of that. GA paper?!

Well, there were some drastic pictures this week of major damage being done to the rainforests in South America. It's real.

Most, from what I know, of that wood is just burned. It's ONLY after someone realized that there could be a market for the wood does it bring in some sense into play. Managed forests can be both beautiful and substaining a commercial trade.

Years ago, Ipe was just slash wood. Now it's a viable commerical product.

Just as duckhunters are the most "vocal" group promoting duck viability, perhaps as woodworkers we should be doing the same for our favorite medium of expression.

MJ Wallace

Amen. I don't feel "bad" about it anyhow. They're __trees__ after all, not mountains. God gave them seeds for a reason...CUT ONE DOWN, PLANT ANOTHER ONE!! Geez, you'd think people could grasp that simple concept.

In any case, there are so many tropical tree farmers out there you really don't _have_ to buy "rainforest wood" to get beautiful exotics. The dealer I get all of my exotics from gets his from sustainable, "rainforest-safe" plantations, not the "bow-down-and-worship-us" trees.

-- Chuck *#:^) chaz3913(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Anti-spam sig: please remove "NO SPAM" from e-mail address to reply. <

September 11, 2001 - Never Forget

The way I see it, I am already doing the ecologically correct thing. At this stage of the the game, the only point where I have a voice, the stuff either comes to me or it goes to a landfill or it gets burned for firewood. The wood that comes to me will see a second use, making this beautiful wood stretch much further and thus reducing the stress on those forests you mentioned.

As one of Jehovah's witnesses, I don't get myself all wrapped up in politics nor do I hang out with those who do. But I can make my presence known by how I, personally, treat the planet. Close to 100% of the wood I use for turning comes from either windfall (literally) or bug-killed wood. I'd say that I'm already 'doing the right thing'.

I might add that shipping wood half-way around the globe has a fairly high environmental impact because of the fuel consumed in the process. By the time I get this wood, that debt has already been incurred. It comes to me with next to no environmental burden.

Bill

I would certainly buy into this idea. I see no reason why some of the exotics could not be part of a suststainable harvesting plan in their native lands. The farmers would probably make more from the trees by selling the wood than they do selling the crops they are clearing the land to grow.

No personal experience with this company myself, but I do know others who have invested:

The reason they clear to grow/graze is there's not enough to eat. Having cash means little if there's nothing to buy. Ask any inhabitant of a communist or formerly communist state.

While much of what you say is true, at the same time, since they would have a marketable commodity, the ability to import food to buy while exporting lumber would be a readily attainable condition. There *is* an ample supply of food worldwide, the ability to import should not be an impediment as long as they have something with which to trade.

Foreign currency requirements? Couldn't earn or hold it in Comunist states. Same problem in these third-world places, really. Hard currency is the stuff of bribes and official pensions, not to be wasted on feeding people who can scratch three crops out of a slash and burn....