Okay, so it’s a slight twist from the original idea, but the intent is just as meaningful. Using earth friendly, natural furnishings is healthy for our planet and therefore healthy for us. Green home appliances, cleaning products, clothing, and cars get a lot of attention while green home furnishings are often overlooked. A little attention to the environmental impact of the furniture we buy can improve the beauty, the earth-friendliness, and even the air quality of our homes.
What exactly are “green home furnishings”?
Green home furnishings are made of sustainable sources or reclaimable and recyclable products. Sustainable sources include woods and other materials that are easily replaced and replenished in our environment. Materials like bamboo, sea grass, and rattans are fast growing and easily replenishable. Many of the home furnishings that are widely available are made from virgin, unsustainable harvested wood. Using this diminishing product is exasperating to the environment and adds to the growing problems of deforestation. Look for the Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable forestry certification if you buy wood furniture. These products must meet dozens of principles and criteria for responsible and sustainable forest management.
The other option is to purchase products made from reclaimed or recycled wood. This reduces the need for virgin wood sources. There is a fast growing group of furniture companies using reclaimed wood from around the world. A popular source for this is teak reclaimed from old ships in India, China and Indonesia. One of the companies we have come across recently is farming the teak from buildings destroyed in the Tsunami and fashioning contemporary teak furnishing with a beautiful low luster finish that enhances the deep character of this old wood. For more information on these products email us or call (702) 471-8266.
Are “green home furnishings” expensive?
You may spend a little more on these earth friendly products, but constructed properly they should last a lot longer. Think about it . . . reclaimed and recycled woods are hundreds of years old and have lasted through centuries of use. Durability is not an issue with these materials. Buying one item that will last 30 years will undoubtedly use fewer resources than buying lesser quality items once every few years, regardless of what they’re made from. Even if the item changes hands several times over its life, buying durable furniture helps reduce the extraction of virgin materials from the earth and lessens the need to landfill inferior products. The concept of “cradle to cradle” design is attracting a lot of attention in the green community. This idea explores the possibilities that nothing should ever become waste. For example, once a sofa has reached its useful life, the materials used to make the sofa should be reused in other products. Keeping this concept in mind, shoppers should look for products in particular furnishings that are designed to be easily repaired, recycled, and disassembled. This can of course apply to any product on the market today and would take a huge step toward eliminating the “throw away society” we have nourished for that past several decades and in turn renourish our environment.
Environmentally conscious home decor incorporates all aspects of green living: energy and water efficiency, reused, recycled, and sustainable products, and earth and human healthy materials. The task of decorating an earth and people-friendly home can be small and simple, large and elaborate, or anything in between. For more articles on “going green” check out these links:
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