RE: [GBlist] Sustainable Teak

["Ralph Bicknese" <ralph.bicknese@christnerinc.com>]

Jon:

Good question.  I recently talked to people at the Certified Products Forest
Council about this. http://www.certifiedwood.org/,
http://www.certifiedwood.org/search-modules/SupplierSearch.ASP

They suggested to buy from a sustainable source and request a certificate
stating that the wood you are purchasing is specifically certified
sustainable.

Here are some suggestions from their web site.

1. Certified Forests
• Search by species or acreage to find a primary source for   certified
timber.
• Search by location and forest type to learn about certified forests
worldwide.
2. Confirm Certification
• Search by company name or certification number to   confirm the status of
any company.
• Search by country, certifier, or certificate type to get a  global picture
of certification.

Another resource is to search in the ForestWorld FSC companies database
http://search.forestworld.com/fscdbr/1fscdbr.html

I am sure a search with google.com  or others would turn up more.  It would
probably be worth calling any or all of these national resources.

Cheers,
Ralph Bicknese

-----Original Message-----
From: Dohlin, Jon [mailto:jdohlin@wcs.org]
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2002 3:20 PM
To: Green Building
Subject: RE: [GBlist] Sustainable Teak

Green Building List:

Will's question raises an issue that I'm not sure if anyone has come up with
a solution for yet.  I'd really like to hear peoples experiences and
opinions.

Leaving aside discussions for the time being of whether or not anything
harvested and shipped  halfway around the world could be called
"sustainable"-- has anyone satisfied themselves that, in a situation where
there are radically different sources for a product (like teak), there is
any reliable way to ascertain that the product sold to you by from an unseen
supplier is indeed the one harvested from sustainably managed teak forests
(and all that implies) as opposed to, say, clear-cutting the cambodian
highlands?  I've seen so many instances of greenwash in labeling that I have
a tremendous amount of hesitancy in trusting a label placed on something
where there are so few checks on the supply.

I generally wind up thinking, given the downsides of a mistake, I'd rather
not use a product-- even if I think it would be perfect if it WERE
sustainable-- than run the risk of creating an end market for something
taken very destructively.

Any ideas?  Any trustworthy controls out there?

Jon Dohlin
Architectural Designer
Wildlife Conservation Society

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This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
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______________________________________________________________________


______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
Solstice http://www.crest.org, and BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of
Environmental Building News and GreenSpec http://www.BuildingGreen.com
______________________________________________________________________