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Our Solid Waste Management District (for which I am a humble advisory commitee member) has recently launched a ‘Green Building Website’. This serves as a resource for architects, builders, contractors, and owners regarding principles, ratings, resources, and products relating to enviromentally friendly building. – click on the link and check it out – we would appreciate feedback –
http://www.slashthetrash.com/grbld.htm
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A PDf file this big needs frames. Its impossible to scroll through it. However, I read enough in the first few pages to know that I don't want to read the whole 115 pages. This sounds like something left wing communist activists wrote.
*Mark, what in the hell is wrong with thinking ahead a little bit? Are we supposed to believe that it's better to keep using and wasting resources at our present full-blown rates until we simply run our culture into the ground?
*Think the download time would scare a lot of folks with dial up modems away.
*Don't they replant trees? I always assumed wood was a re-newable resource.
*They do replant trees Allen, trouble is that they replant with the cheapest seedling available, generally resulting in large tracts of monoculture. This is dangerous since it can result in widespread destruction if a disease or blight gets into the trees. also the forests it creates are not effective hbitat for the animals displaced by the clearcut a forestry company will create before it replants.Most forestry companies (In canada Anyway) will lease a tract of land, clearcut, then replant with fir or pine, and renew their lease for 15 years down the road so they can strip the land again. I am a wilderness canoeist and have come across numerous clearcuts and replants. The clearcuts you usually smell before you reach, since all the useless trees and plants are left to rot. At least this puts some nutrient back in the soil. The replants are a joke. Long straight lines of pine or fir going back into the woods, all evenly spaced and all the same height. Often you'll see signs nearby that say something like "ABCD Foretry - forest #123 - Harvest 2007"It is a renewable resource but it isn't being effectively managed from a habitat/wilderness perspective, for profits its excellent, since if blight or disease gets into the forest the forestry companies cancel their lease and go start cutting elsewhere.
*Your observation on download time and space is noted - I'm sitting here with the hard copy - left-wing label won't stick - every member of the board save one is a registered Republican - we do have several local industries based on recycling - aluminum, paper, mineral fiber - you kinda started at the wrong end of the book (or for this audience the book is laid out backwards) - the last section is 30 pages of suppliers of recycled content supplies, with descriptions and contacts - check that out and see if it is interesting and useful -
*Thanks, I'll talk to Holly about breaking it up into several smaller sections -
*Part of the impetus behind this effort was our county's decision to build a courthouse annex attached to a Historic Building and in the process move the museum from the HB into a downtown building that needed total renovation - identifying 'green' materials and suppliers revealed no central resource - the resources assembled in this document represent many hours of work by the Waste District staff - one of the problems with recycled materials is lack of markets - many of these materials are distinctive and competative with conventional products - purchases of recycled content materials helps develope volume and economy in recycling markets - floor tile from tires, ceramics from glass, arsenic and chromium free treated wood -countertops from soy, 100% recycled content 'slate' roofing, there is a marketing opportunity here, folks - and here's a list of materials and where to get them -
*David, That only looks at part of the whole picture. For example if the source for " green" is across the country how green is it when you figure transportation/ energy costs back into the formula? One of the resons I'm building a timberframe is because every tree is a local one. On the other hand, some of the trees were growing when the consitution was signed, that doesn't really make them a very renewable resourse. On the other hand, I'm building this house to last at least as long as it took those trees to grow maybe longer so maybe in one sense they could be considered renewable. David, it's a complex subject, is recycled plastic really green or simply a neat way of disposing of waste. For example, if you recycle milk jugs into lawn edgeing haven't you just moved the plastic from one place to the next? I agree that if you were to make edgeing out of virgin plastic, then recycled plastic makes sense, however if you create a market for your recycled goods have we really helped anything? Then what do we do with the recycled lawn edgeing? I don't know of anyplace that recycles that stuff.
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Our Solid Waste Management District (for which I am a humble advisory commitee member) has recently launched a 'Green Building Website'. This serves as a resource for architects, builders, contractors, and owners regarding principles, ratings, resources, and products relating to enviromentally friendly building. - click on the link and check it out - we would appreciate feedback -
http://www.slashthetrash.com/grbld.htm