Tree-friendly Furniture c/o care2.com

If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear it? Woodworkers with a passion for solid hardwood are rescuing and reclaiming downed trees to create one-of-a kind handcrafted modern heirlooms do.


“We live in this amazing former forest,” says artisan/environmentalist Jessica Wickham of Wickham Solid Wood Studio. As a gifted craftsperson and professed localvore, Wickham possesses a rare combination of skills. She can look at a downed tree in the forest and see its inherent potential. From an ecological perspective, a responsibly-sourced tree becomes the perfect green building material. Wickham reclaims trees and reinvents their beauty with an earthy and sophisticated modern aesthetic. With respect for the rich grain and natural shape of trees, Wickham uses minimal processing, traditional joinery, and natural finishing techniques reminiscent of both Japanese traditions and Shaker sensibilities.



The very best things take time. Founded on “process, poetry, and patience” of designing carefully crafted solid wood furniture, Wickham begins with the premise that we have extraordinary resources “in our own backyard.” This commitment to create timeless, quality, handcrafted pieces with the least impact on the environment, makes this wood furniture the exact opposite of the glut of mass-produced furniture.
I live in the woods and my property seems like a tree mecca, but a quick understanding of how forests have suffered, illuminates the importance of protecting our forests. As a member of the Moms Clean Air Force, I’ve learned that deforestation caused by air pollution, acid rain and other environmental hazards aids in the erosion of our forests and has become a leading contributor towards the loss of biodiversity. Intact eco-systems provide an intricate web that controls floods, conserves oxygen, soil, insects and creates diverse habitats. While forests do regrow, when older forests decline, they eventually lose more carbon to the atmosphere than they absorb, thus fueling climate change.


Represented in this celebration of wood is a cycle of production that promotes less waste, a lessening of dependence on our precious natural resources, healthy finishing techniques (low or no-VOC stains, dyes), and a reverence for promoting a way of life that is local.


If there is one thing that will get us beyond the planet’s sustainability woes, it will be the eco-enlightenment that includes a lifecycle analysis of everything. With environmental awareness becoming more mainstream, and the coexistence of style and sustainability taking center stage, artisans like Jessica Wickham will light the way.
Bench photo credit: Wickham Solid Wood Studio

Ronnie Citron-Fink is a writer and educator. Ronnie regularly writes about sustainable living for online sites and magazines. Along with being the creator of www.econesting.com, Ronnie has contributed to numerous books about green home design, DIY, children, and humor. Ronnie lives in the Hudson Valley of New York with her family.

Read more: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/forest-friendly-wood-furniture.html#ixzz1IUHPvIWW

EPA How to Safely Clean Up a Broken Compact Flourescent Bulb

http://www.epa.gov/cfl/cflcleanup.html#before

This is no joke- while CFL's are clearly better than incndescent bulbs for the environment, they do contain Mercury, which is extremely toxic. Pets, children and pregnant women are most at risk in this situation. Follow the link to see the simple, safe way to clean a broken CFL.

Take burnt our CFL's to an electrician. lighting store or hardware store that will recycle them. Never throw them in the trash!!!!!

Consider purchasing LED light bulbs, safer and with an even longer life, these are the win-win. Some say they can last up to 20 years!

Article on CFL's c/o Care2.com....> http://www.care2.com/greenliving/are-cfl-bulbs-a-health-hazard.html

The Sacredness of All Life

What is your definition of "living things"? Many people consider just about every creature beyond humans, cats and dogs, and a few other "cute" ones to be less valuable, somehow dispensible. Is it brain size that deems an animal worthy of being valued? If so, we'd do best to worship whales, elephants and anything bigger than us. Is it consciousness that we deem valuable? If so, most humans are not fully conscious- they live in their own minds more then their present reality, like sleepwalkers.

Many people don't think or feel much about ending the lives of insects, "food" animals, and trees everyday. More and more people are awakening to the inherent connection between all of nature and all life. People are widening their circle of compassion to encompass vaster and more diverse lifeforms.

Furthermore, most people at one point or another take "inanimate objects" for granted. Not only do we consume without gratitude or limit, especially precious resorces like water, but we treat our objects with a general lack of respect. We toss, throw, kick, drop, hit and abuse the objects we use on a daily basis. We drop our clothes mindlessly in a heap. We hit our computer, or pound on the wall. We toss a book onto the table.

Any concept of the inherent value of other living beings and the objects themselves not withstanding, what does living this way say about us? What are we, when we let feeling beings, including other humans and countless "food" animals suffer or be enslaved so that we can eat food that causes disease or so that we can get cheap shoes that we disrespect by tossing them around? Certainly not mindful. Certainly not humane, or compassionate. Ignorant, perhaps. But the moment one knows the effect of one's actions on others, the defense of ignorance fades and conscious ignoring begins if choices are not modified. We are responsible morally for all the dirty work we support with our spending- factory farmed food, sweat shop made clothing, shoes, and all manner of useful and frivolous objects. Wiping our asses with freshly-murdered trees, instead of using recycled paper.

If we are to seek wholeness, we must first understand where and what we are. We are connected to this body, which is like a crystalization or symbolic description of the intangible and subtle energy of the Spirit. If scientifically, at the finest level detected, ALL matter (that is to say all manifested form, all that is in the physical level of existence) is made of the same fundamental building blocks. So be it rock, plant, insect, human, sofa, fish, or paperclip, it still is just a variation of the same thing- energy.

So just because we don't understand what it is to be a tree, a boulder, a sneaker, or a squirrel, doesn't mean that these entities don't have some intrinsic value, perhaps a form of consciousness. What if we could expand our awareness to extend respect to everything we see and experience? What if we acted with a conscious intention to recognize the sacredness of existence?

Sufis, Hindus, Jews and Muslims believe that God is in everything, that Spirit or God is the fabric of all that is. Christians say that God is omniscient and omnipresent. That means God cannot be a physical form, like an old man, because to be omniscient and omnipresent one must dwell equally in everything, so God must not be in any one form, but in ALL forms. Where Muslims and Sufis won't allow represetational depiction of God, because it fosters a false association of God as one physical being, Buddhists don't give the concept of God any name. They simply point to the oneness of all that is, saying that the concept of individuality is empty, that all that is is one whole existence.

When we live gratefully and reverently, treating existence itself as if it has meaning, we transform our lives. You can go as deeply as you wish, but in the least using objects respectfully and recognizing the value of all lifeforms and interacting with them accordingly changes us. We become mindful and present, appreciating the miracle that is life. We live deliberately and kindly, love grows within us. We truly transform ourselves and the world around us into something holy, something sacred.