How to Pick Green Furniture
The furniture you pick can have an impact on both the environment and your health. Here are some pointers to remember as you choose green. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Go for sustainable wood. As beautiful as old growth wood looks, remember that in these days of global warming the world needs more trees, not fewer. Trees are a carbon dioxide sponge, producing oxygen. They also provide a wildlife habitat and help cool the planet directly. There are trees that are grown for harvest as well as wood cut from forests where limits ensure replenishment. Look for wood that is certified sustainable. One agency involved is the Rainforest Alliance.
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Bamboo is another choice. It's not a tree, but a fast growing member of the grass family. It's very versatile, and can be either bent into furniture of pressed flat to make floors. Clarum Homes of California makes bamboo flooring the centerpiece of the company's zero energy homes. Walking on it I had no idea that it was anything other than a hardwood floor until its unconventional source was pointed out to me. EcoDesignz.com makes a complete bamboo furniture line.
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Reclaimed wood is recycled from dismantled homes and old furniture. It's a great way to incorporate woods like teak into a piece. Teak is gorgeous and durable, but harvests have led to major deforestation, soil erosion and flooding. You can give precious old growth hardwoods a second life by looking for the Rainforest Alliance's Rediscovered Wood Certification.
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Recycled metals and plastics can also be used in furniture construction. They can be amazingly durable. Environmental activist / actor Ed Begley Jr. likes to recount the story of a fence he installed made from recycled milk jugs. While his neighbor was fretting periodically about termites and repainting his fence, Begley's was maintenance free. When it comes to recycled furniture sources, consider BranchHome.com. It sells the popular RD4, chair made of hand woven recycled plastic waste. No two are alike.
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Another option is simply to buy furniture that's been recycled. Thrift shops and garage sales are the ideal sources for furniture that's available at a fraction of what it would take to buy something that's new. My used file cabinets have performed flawlessly for more than 20 years. Buying pre-owned is another great way to add tropical hardwoods like mahogany, avodire, and limba guilt free into your décor.
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Avoid particle board or plywood in your pieces. These units are held together with formaldehyde the same substance used to preserve corpses. For living tissues it acts as a carcinogen. Furniture can vent this toxic brew into your living space.
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Formaldehyde isn't the only volatile organic compound released from furniture. Stains and paints can leak toxins as well. If you're refinishing an older piece you picked up, work on it in a well ventilates space and favor benign surface coating. At RealMilkPaint.com you can get non toxic paint in 27 colors made with milk protein, lime, clay and natural earth pigments.
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Look for furniture that can be readily repaired. If the parts break, can they be replaced, or at least broken down and recycled? Is the piece durable with a long potential life, or will you have to replace it soon?
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When you can, buy locally. The carbon footprint of the furniture you buy is not only dependent on its material, but by how far it had to travel to get to you. Remember the same precepts are at work here as with food; the closer you are to the furniture's point of origin, the less of an environmental impact it made in reaching you.
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