LEAD STORY: Government Purchasing to Biobased Exhibits, April Events For All

FEATURE STORY: Grab a Seat: Exploring Wood Consumption in Furniture

NEWS BRIEFS
a) Olympians Taking Out the Trash
b) Wal-Mart Balks At Green Building Standard
c) Office Workers to be Divided by Hemp & Kenaf
d) Hemp Approved
e) Paper, Scissors, Straw?
f) Houses By Hand
g) Taking Charge: Bush Appoints Federal Environmental Executive
h) Summertime = Deck-building
i) Greening the Land of the Space Needle

CAMPAIGNS & EVENTS
fall conferences: green building
fall conferences: kenaf

RESOURCES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
campus fellowship

LEAD STORY
Government Purchasing to Biobased Exhibits, April Events For All

As the month lucky enough to have Earth Day, April saw a host of events -- some successful, others not so -- for those wishing to consume wood responsibly and conserve ancient forests. A number of forest groups held another National Day of Action against Staples on April 11, pressuring the corporation to greatly increase its availability of recycled products, among other demands (see www.stopstaples.net for more information). On the international front, Greenpeace was among the nonprofits to criticize governments for their inability to finalize significant resolutions to protect ancient forests during the Conference on Biodiversity in The Hague, Netherlands on April 19, 2002.

Of course, numerous events and announcements took place on Earth Day, April 22, 2002. Global tree planting was a particularly popular activity, occurring in Palestine, Poland, Kenya, China and Argentina, among other countries (see www.earthday.net).

Wood product alternatives received a boost as USDA held an Earth Day "Biobased Products Showcase" exhibit for government purchasers and a Congressional Briefing "Biobased Products: Back to the Future?" in Washington, DC (contact AgroTech Communications, Inc. at www.agfibertechnology.com for more information). Government purchasers also had an opportunity to become educated on issues related to wood consumption at The Center for a New American Dream's North American Conference on Green Purchasing in Philadelphia from April 22-26 which included topics such as "specifying affordable environmentally preferable papers" (see www.cnad.org/procure). The Certified Forest Products Council meanwhile organized the Forest Leadership Forum from April 25-27 in Atlanta with a track on "responsible consumption" among other topics (see www.cfpconference2001.org).

For more information on government purchasing, see our government purchasing project at . For more information on biobased products, see the "agricultural fibers" section of our website at .

FEATURE STORY
Grab a Seat: Exploring Wood Consumption in Furniture

Herman Miller -- the office furniture manufacturing giant -- was recently highlighted in the media for its efforts to make its products more sustainable. According to "A Seat At the Table: How Herman Miller Integrates Environment Into Product Design" published in The GreenBusiness Letter on April 2002, the $2.2 billion furniture company has been on the forefront of corporate "greening" efforts with its decision not to use rosewood -- a threatened tropical hardwood -- in its famed Eames chair in the 1980s and its zero-landfill goal established in the early 1990s. The company has been working to develop an environmental rating tool for new products and a materials database that prioritizes existing environmentally friendly materials and spurs the development of new ones. Depending on how these are implemented, the strategies could reduce the company's wood consumption, particularly any products that may come from high conservation value forests. The third strategy is to develop disassembly guidelines.

The products are evaluated in three areas: disassembly (the products ability to be broken down into different parts for reuse or recycling), material chemistry (human and environmental health factors) and recyclability (containing recycled products and ability to be recycled). The evaluation results in a final overall score for the product. Although the process is new, the tool will be used to assess all new products (roughly 10 per year) and all updated or relaunched products. For the first time in its operation, Herman Miller is now able to determine the volume and content of raw materials that it consumers and distributes, according to the March/April 2002 green@work magazine article, "The Anatomy of a Transformation" by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. These efforts will serve as an excellent model for other furniture manufacturers, indeed Herman Miller plans to share its experience with them.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace has launched a campaign to transform the furniture industry in the United States. Greenpeace is targeting furniture companies to stop buying timber that is illegally logged, to stop buying timber from endangered forests and to commit to selling timber that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The campaign's demonstrations targeted Ethan Allen and Stickley on April 14-16, 2002. Ethan Allen uses khaya mahogany, largely from Africa's ancient forests much of which is illegally logged in Cote d'Ivoir and Ghana, according to Greenpeace. Stickley, a well-known, high-end furniture maker is estimated to be the largest single consumer of big-leaf mahogany from Brazil, accounting for approximately 4 percent of the U.S. import.

For more information, see Greenpeace's website at www.greenpeaceusa.org/forests which includes the latest information on Greenpeace's recent action to block a ship carrying illegal mahogany into the Miami port. The site also has an electronic version of Greenpeace's Partners in Crime report -- a detailed expose on the illegal trade in mahogany.

a) Olympians Taking Out the Trash
The Salt Lake City Olympics may be long over, but final scores for one event just came in -- trash reduction, reported Waste News on April 1, 2002 in "Olympic Results" by Jim Johnson. Approximately 1,436 tons of materials that had been generated over the course of about a month at the Olympics was recycled, including nearly 130 tons of cardboard. Only 51 tons of waste went to landfills.

b) Wal-Mart Balks At Green Building Standard
As if individuals did not have enough reasons to dislike "big-box" stores which suck local businesses dry (see the Institute for Local Self Reliance at www.ilsr.org for more information on this issue), Wal-Mart recently gave consumers another. According to an article in Wisconsin State Journal by Dean Mosiman published on March 14, 2002 (and summarized in GreenClips 03.27.02 issue), Wal-Mart is fighting the City of Madison's requirement that it obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for "green" building. The certification scheme is a project of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Madison's Urban Design Commission sought LEED certification along with other demands such as skylights and energy efficiency from Wal-Mart if the company plans to open a store in the city. Wal-Mart has agreed to all of the concessions except the certification and has even offered the city $75,000 (purportedly their cost to obtain the LEED certification) to drop the requirements. The reason? Wal-Mart does not want it known that it will build a store to LEED standards, fearing a national precedent may be set.

c) Office Workers to be Divided by Hemp & Kenaf
Nonwovens, often used for paneling, made from industrial hemp and kenaf blended with polypropylene are finding their way into ever more and newer applications, reported AgFiber Technology Newsletter on April 5, 2002 in Volume 4, Number 7, Issue 64's article, "Dodge Viper and Ford Expedition to Boast Bast Fiber Composites Made by FlexForm Technologies." While hemp/kenaf nonwovens can already be found in numerous cars, Dodge Viper, Mercedes and Ford Expedition are the latest cars to incorporate this product. FlexForm Technologies is also using hemp and kenaf to develop office partition panel products. Unfortunately, the newsletter also reported in "Durafibre Plant Can't Find Investors" that the flax straw processing plant in Saskatoon, Canada has closed, pending a new buyer.

d) Hemp Approved
Two states recently passed pro-industrial hemp legislation. West Virginia's Governor Bob Wise recently signed the Industrial Hemp Act into law, according to "Ready for New Cash Crop State Prepares for Commercial Growth of Industrial Hemp" by Sam Tranum published in The Charleston Daily Mail on April 8, 2002. The state's Agriculture Commissioner, Gus Douglass, hopes to work with West Virginia University's Davis College of Agriculture to grow research hemp crops. Governor Benjamin Cayetano also signed a bill which extends the Hawaii Industrial Hemp Research Project. The project has established a privately-funded industrial hemp plot for research.

Also on the industrial hemp front, the first North American hemp straw bale house is scheduled to be built in May, according to Global Hemp News' April 22, 2002 article, "Hemp Straw House Schedules Momentous 'Bale-Raising' for May 18th." The house will use hemp in other applications as well such as Enviroshake roof shingles and hemp-based fabrics. For more information, contact Hempola at 1.800.240.9215.

e) Paper, Scissors, Straw?
Paper for packaging is often used once and then sent to the landfill. But, that may all change as researchers attempt to replace paper with straw waste for packaging, according to "Leftover Straw Gets New Life" in the April 2002 issue of Agricultural Research Magazine. USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are investigating possible packaging applications for the straw that remains after wheat and rice crops have been harvested. Annual rice and wheat crops generate more than 700,000 tons of straw in California alone. The program hopes to provide a benefit to growers who would realize another market for their harvest, to manufacturers who would have an affordable raw material for products and to forests which would undergo less pressure for resources. For in-depth information on this issue see RCA's agricultural residue policy paper at <http://www.rca-info.org/irc1.html#agres>.

ARS is also investigating ways to use another potential waste product as a replacement for wood, reported the article "Desert Shrub May Help Preserve Wood" in the same issue of Agricultural Research Magazine. The guayule (why-YOU-lee) plant, a desert shrub, is likely to become an alternative and non-allergenic natural source for latex in coming years. The production of guayule latex, however, leaves much waste fiber. Scientists have been combining this fiber with recycled plastic from soft drink containers to make a composite material that can replace wood in various applications including floors, walls, roofing, etc.

f) Houses By Hand
The Christian Science Monitor featured straw bale homes, an energy-efficient and wood alternative on April 10, 2002 in "The First Little Pig Was Right" by Sara Terry. According to the article, Nebraska settlers living in the plains were the first to use straw bales for homes in the United States back in the 1890s (although natural materials such as straw, clay and mud have been used around the world for centuries). The straw-bale movement may be small, but in recent decades, it has seen an upsurge in interest. The homes have numerous benefits including reduced energy costs (by as much as 75 percent), a natural beauty with thick walls and deep-set windows, eased pressure on forests as wood is substituted with a waste material and increased fire and pest resistance. Experts say that with a good foundation, roof and wall coating, straw bale buildings can be built almost anywhere. With the United States producing 200 million tons of straw annually, approximately 4 million 2,000 square foot buildings per year could be built in this country.

g) Taking Charge: Bush Appoints Federal Environmental Executive
The Office of the Federal Environmental Executive has announced that President Bush has designated John L. Howard, Jr. to be the new Federal Environmental Executive, a position created by President Clinton's Executive Order 12873 in 1993. Most recently, Mr. Howard had been the Senior Associate Director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Previously, Mr. Howard was the Environment and Natural Resources Policy Director for then-Governor Bush from 1996 to 2000. As the new Federal Environmental Executive, Mr. Howard will have the potential to greatly impact the federal government's consumption of wood products. The office works to "promote coordinate, assist and track the federal government's work in waste prevention, recycling and the purchase of recycled and environmentally preferable services and products, including biobased products." The federal government's purchasing standards and specifications for environmentally preferable products often become industry-wide standards and models followed by other large purchasers.

h) Summertime = Deck-building
Wood-plastic composite lumber products, often used for applications such as backyard decks, are skyrocketing in sales, according to "Wood-Plastic Composite Lumber Taking Off" in Environmental Building News, Volume 11, Number 3 in March 2002. As consumers have become more knowledgeable and accustomed to the product, they are choosing it over virgin lumber due to its maintenance benefits. As long as the product is made of recycled wood flour and polyethylene, their environmental impacts are relatively lessened. However, a shift to virgin materials would be much more troublesome. Manufacturers are already beginning to shift to virgin resins, including PVC.

i) Greening the Land of the Space Needle
Government agencies are huge consumers of products and services in the United States. In some instances, they are also a model of "green" consumption. Such is the case with the City of Seattle, Washington, reports the March/April 2002 issue of green@work magazine in "Green Keeper" by Penny S. Bonda, Fasid and Katie Sosnowchik. Seattle's operations, hence its purchasing power, is substantial with 10,000 employees, 23 departments, 700 facilities and thousands of acres of land. The city is participating in the LEED rating program to ensure that new buildings are "green." Seattle's current projects aim for a "silver" LEED rating and account for approximately 2.8 million square feet of space.

CAMPAIGNS & EVENTS

U.S. Green Building Council is preparing for its November 13-15 conference in Austin, Texas. For more information, see www.usgbc.org.

The American Kenaf Society will host their 5th Annual Conference on November 7-9, 2002 in Memphis, Tennessee. For more information, see www.kenafsociety.org.

RESOURCES & ANNOUNCEMENTS

-National Wildlife Federation (NWF) has announced a "request for proposals" for its Campus Ecology Fellowship Program due June 14, 2002. The program provides a modest grant as well as project support and other resources to students working to "green" their campuses. For more information, see www.nwf.org/campusecology/fellowships.cfm.