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Regular
plywood comes from valuable forest tracts. And the more plywood
you use, the faster you deplete forest resources. Large-scale exploitation
of forests hides the enormous truth at stake : forests protect water
quality and soil stability. They provide habitats for most of the
world’s land-based plants and animals. And from this biodiversity
comes a wealth of foods essential to human health. |
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On
a larger scale, forests act as ‘carbon sinks’, absorbing
carbon dioxide, a green house gas responsible vitally for global
warming. Forests regulate temperature and rainfall and influence
climate by a complicated interaction among ground, water, air and
trees. |
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Forests,
once blanketed more than 40 percent of the earth’s land surface
and now cover only 27 percent of it. Around 11 million hectares
of tropical forest is disappearing each year. And with the current
trend, tropical rainforests would disappear altogether within 25
years from four countries in the Americas, three countries in Africa
and two countries in Asia. |
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At
an “aware consumer” level, it’s unthinkable to
address the goliaths of the lumber lobby. But it’s possible
in some small way to create ripple effects that could make a big
difference.
We
could start by using wood substitutes that will go a long way in
reducing the demand for wood that comes from trees that are chopped
down. |
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