Every day, each of Earth’s almost 7 billion inhabitants, on the average, uses a four pound block of wood. But the average American uses 3.5 times this much wood.
Should Americans be using less wood?
Steel, aluminum, plastic, and concrete are often mentioned as substitutes for wood but these resources are not renewable. Wood is the only natural resource on Earth that is renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable.
The only energy required to grow a tree is the sun. As trees grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air and give off oxygen.
Wood manufacturing processes consume only 4% of the energy used by all primary industrial raw manufacturers.
Global demand for wood will increase by 50% by the year 2020, but governments around the world are establishing more new forest preserves where harvesting is prohibited. Left unanswered is the critical question: Where will we get our daily wood?
At Curtner Lumber Company, a manufacturer of Ozark Natural Paneling, we believe the world should be using more wood, not less, because no other natural resource on Earth can match its environmental advantages.
But first, nations must make a major global commitment to growing our daily wood, just as we do our daily bread.
