# tree hugging



## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

Aloha

So a person told me the other day I am destroying trees.I told them I salvage trees other wise head to the waste facility.They still said I am destroying trees?

As far as I can see using something that would headed to waste is correct in my eyes?I also pointed out to them driving a bmw living in a mansion and pretending to be green isnt what its about.Is it my point of view thats off I figure sustainability is best utilize whats right.Todays media has miss guided the term sustainability.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

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## watermark (Jan 29, 2013)

Aloha Joe,
Every time I drive home with a load of wood here on the Big Island I get looks from people like I have just rapped mother earth but I just smile and throw them a shaka because I get all of my wood as salvage. I know and you know what we are doing is the right thing and that is making use of something that was going to waste. Don't let some out of touch trust-a-farian ruin a good haul of wood.


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## Pono (Mar 10, 2012)

Mark I have heard on big isle lately you cant go anywhere with timber your right.If its not the tree huggers its the has been local loggers trying to hold onto to past dreams or the out of state companies.Seems like everybodys in everybodies business cut throat.Mahalo


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## NiteWalker (May 7, 2011)

Those tree huggers are a big peeve of mine.
If they won't accept the answer that we're using wood that would otherwise be thrown awayor burned, or from naturally harvested trees, then a simple "deal with it" is my response.

You can't change one sided thinking, so I don't bother to try.


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## Knothead62 (Apr 17, 2010)

Tree hugger seem to have a self-righteous attitude that everyone else is wrong. How much wood is in their homes- furniture, framing, etc.? Don't they know that paper is made from wood?


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## mtenterprises (Jan 10, 2011)

If they owned wooded property, as I do, they would see things differently. After a big storm often you find big trees blown down taking with them several younger smaller ones. This is no fault of my own but what happens in nature. Now should that tree be allowed to rot there or should it be utilized? Should that tree have been harvested previously to keep it from destroying or damaging other trees? These people cannot see the big picture as to where we stand on this earth. 
Do not get angry with the next statement.
The Bible says that we, man , is to have dominion over all things of the earth. Which basically means everything thing here is for our use and, yes, we should use it properly. They think trees are as perennial as the grass. But then, think of that one shaft of wheat should it live or be cut down to make bread to sustain mans' life. Maybe, in their eyes, we should all die decreasing the surplus population of man and just leave the earth to the vegetation, insects and animals. They need to see things in a proper perspective, the big and small of these issues. Raping the earth is one thing but proper stewardship is another. So do I let it rot or make something useful from it. They need to be educated that as small woodshop owners we use and recycle as much wood as we possibly can, not like the manufacturer who creates waste, which many of us use. The small woodshop owner down through the ages has always made the best use of the natural resources given him taking only what he needed and using it all. The majority of tree huggers and animal rights people, for the most part, are truly ignorant they just parrot and twist certain phrases and thoughts of what some few who are more educated have tried to say. 
Those people who look down their noses at you driving by with your load of wood are actually the first in line at the craft shows to buy what you made from that load of wood you brought home

Ok, I'll get off my soap box and stop preaching to the choir.

MIKE


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## barlow (Feb 28, 2008)

You can always tell them if they are that worried about saving trees they should switch to plastic toilet paper


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## wmodavis (Aug 28, 2007)

Tell them and all their buddies to exhale lots more CO2 because that helps plants including trees grow faster.


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## JoeinGa (Nov 26, 2012)

Or just tell 'em to go pound sand… !


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## mporter (May 5, 2011)

There are more trees now in North America than there was before we started cutting them down. That's a fact Jack! When I tell them that is usually shuts them right up.

Here is also a question that they can never answer, "How is using a renewable resource considered killing the environment?"

I am unusual as I have a degree in Forestry and Environmental Science(tree hugging)!


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## EPJartisan (Nov 4, 2009)

They are morons.. I am totally a tree hugger, hippy lover, granola eating, north American Druid.. Destroying trees… what a joke. Who destroys trees are large construction companies that build over sized Mc Mansions… large furniture producers like IKea who make crap and leave tons of wasted materials… and fast food restaurants who pay south america to wipe out rain forest… THOSE people destroy trees.

At most my studio could consume one tree a year.. and I collect fallen trees and trees other people have cut down. I collect fire wood and old porches… I am a dumpster diver and re-user.. And I am a dedicated tree hugger, who knows my species, and is responsible… which is also means I am frugal. and in the end every tree gets new life.

I agree.. you know you are responsible.. they are just being provocative and desperate to poke at anyone they can for their lack of feeling control in the world…. sad.. just sad. We are the good guys in this.


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## renners (Apr 9, 2010)

That person is an idiot.


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## Buckethead (Apr 14, 2013)

Right on EP.

I'd argue that woodworkers are among the most ardent advocates for healthy trees and forests. There are exceptions to the rule, just as there are exceptions in the trust trustafarian realm.

We can't always tell the difference, but we can always live and let live.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

Any professional tree guy will tell you that most trees will "hit the curve" and unless culled will die unused. In the meantime the canopy they have will prevent any new growth. Forests need to be managed.


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

Tell the tree hugger that he should go replant the driftwood (trees) on the beach instead of having any fires, if he feels that capturing "trash" out of the waste stream and turning it into furniture is raping the environment.

EDIT…
Best to wave him off - as the tree huggers that are that "In your face" are mentally unstable and if confronted would likely set fire to your shop in retaliation.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

*teejk* Forests, can be managed. I would agree they are better for all managed, but many will argue that they don't need to be managed. Of course, that same crowd cries when they burn down. That is usually where I go in the argument with others. My other favorite is this. With out a demand for mahogany, many more of those forests would be cleared for farm land. There is a very substantial argument that the use and demand for mahogany in the USA has saved more forest land than all of the other conservation efforts.

As to the op's opposition's insult… I would remark to them that they are destroying O'2, cows, etc. all to produce a bag of meat that can't even conceive of the truth that that bag of meat, like all others, is always consuming in order to live. Creation from an object is not the same as destruction for no purpose… hippie.. you have no purpose… you are the destroyer!!!


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## mporter (May 5, 2011)

Joeyinsouthaustin, 
Tell me if I am wrong, but I thought that only one mahogany tree (Swietenia mahagoni) is native to the USA and is only found in about 100 square miles of Florida. I doubt if any farmland in the US was saved for mahogany. However a large portion was saved for white oak and the southern pines.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

*mporter* I was talking about south america. Mahogany (and the species considered or called by the same) has given a lot of motivation to not "slash and burn" the forests there. Now there are many problems in those forests, including mahogany poaching, but there are also several large managed forests because of the price of mahogany. Some of them expanding into managing and marketing other, more sustainable woods out of those same forests.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

Joeyinsouthaustin

I hunt turkeys with a friend that has a 30 acre woodlot. They were always reluctant to do any logging on it. Now there are a lot of dead trees (a big waste of what might have been some nice pocket change) and the forest floor is almost totally bare and not really good for attracting wildlife. Culling trees would have permitted some trees to start growing years ago so usuable trees didn't have to wait 40+ years.


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## joeyinsouthaustin (Sep 22, 2012)

Same story in southeast texas… many didn't wan't to cull their pines.. Two hurricanes later, and they are left with a pile of splintered rotting pine.

Edit- of course hurricanes, fire, and decay… is the natural way!!


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## Cosmicsniper (Oct 2, 2009)

The self-importance of opinionated people intrigues me…though I never give them the satisfaction of engaging them.


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## bondogaposis (Dec 18, 2011)

This is a common sentiment, but entirely without merit. For one trees are renewable, unlike just about any other material. Concrete, steel, plastic, glass can all be utilized instead of wood but they are not renewable in any way. Let's talk about carbon, when you make a piece of furniture that carbon in the wood is stored for maybe a 100 years or more in the meantime another tree has taken it's place in the forest storing even more carbon. Can other materials say this, no they cannot. Think of iron mines and steel smelting, plus steel is heavy and energy intensive to transport compared to wood. The same could be said for concrete, glass and even plastic. All involve energy intensive industrial processes that release carbon into the atmosphere. Wood is the only environmentally friendly material. Just about all forests in North America and increasingly in the rest of the world are manged sustainably. Forests can only remain forests when the value of the wood exceeds the value of other uses. As users of wood we are actually helping to maintain forests through our dollars as well a those of us that use salvaged wood by keeping that carbon stored. End of rant.


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## LakeLover (Feb 2, 2013)

Growing up on a treeless plain, I appreciate any wood. I salvage many $$ in wood that would hit the landfill.
If some dimwit got on my case about it, It would be a very short conversation.

I had some Vegan on my case about wearing wool, and leather shoes. He was wearing an all synthetic materials and thought he was saving all the animals from pain.

I asked him how all his animal friendly clothes were made. He did not understand 99% of all that is made of oil.

Then I asked him " have you ever seen an oil rig getting setup" ? Of course no!!

So I said first you drop the blade on a D9 cat and scrape about 1/2 a sq. mile, then access roads. How many animals are killed by that? What about a small oil spill? Well had no clue what it took to make his " feel good " items. SO I asked him nicley to shut up till he does some basic research. Or try and remember what you took in grade 8 science class.

Same as the anti hunters, They don't realize that most true sports people pay lots of money into conservation fees via hunting tags, and are active members in local wildlife federations , ducks unlimited etc.

Also I like to say "the deer is better in my freezer, than my windshield"


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

You forgot to mention that a big part of the state/federal forests are possible because of license fees and excise taxes paid on hunting/fishing equipment. The "anti's" don't pay a dime for the space they get to enjoy (and it really irks me when they claim we can't hunt or fish on properties we largely paid for).


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## sixstring (Apr 4, 2012)

I'd like to know what the "tree-hugger" suggests we use for building furniture aside from wood. I welcome criticsm from folks, but I also expect alternate suggestions… What is more friendly to the environment than reusing trash? And I aint building tables out of tofu or granola.

Reuse, Recyle, Relearn how to live properly.


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## debianlinux (Jul 27, 2013)

Trees are a renewable resource so the entire accusation is a complete non-sequitur.


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## alohafromberkeley (Oct 26, 2011)

Hi Joe, just now saw this topic and belatedly had to say something. You know, Brah, I was born on Maui and was there last year for visit to my ohana. What struck me was that most of my relatives have to make do catering to the tourist trade, it's rough for Island Born to see the lands they played, fished, surfed being turned into playgrounds for the rich malihini, and sometimes to survive you have to get creative. I envy your access to the great Hawaiian woods that cost an arm and a leg on the mainland. I used to be able to get an occasional box of Monkey Pod and Koa cutoffs for $20 for small kine stuff- inlays, carvings etc. A lot of the small stuff is being bought up by a big time furniture store for watches,sunglasses & trinkets. It's damn near impossible to find an affordable source anymore. Betcha your critics are not kamaaina. I think you work too hard to have to listen to them. Oh, the neat thing about Hawai'i is that you don't need a fishing license for shoreline casting. At least you can eat!


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

There is a role for "tree hugging" to an extent. Primarily having to do with trees that are on the brink of extinction of over logging. For example, ebony. Woods like ebony wouldn't be so expensive and hard to find if ebony hadn't been over exploited. I believe mahogany in Cuba was nearly wiped out.

But the woods most woodworkers use (or what I think they use, at least) is stuff like oak, poplar, pine, maple, cherry, etc. As far as I know these trees are still in abundant supply. And I believe many are grown on plantations which doesn't do anything to harm natural forests.

Even if I could afford it I probably wouldn't buy ebony or lignum vitae for moral reasons. I would like to see plantations for those trees so we can actually get a supply of the stuff back into the market.

But I don't worry that the world will lose white oak anytime soon.


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## Loco (Aug 11, 2013)

Cut a few hug a few. We went from 2X% forest coverage to over 50% in the last 20 or so years. I planted 3000 plus and over 10,000 other mostly native plants. I also whacked a few big'uns to build my shack and furnishings.
The property to the left of said shack has since been reforested and will soon have a pool in the middle.


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## mojapitt (Dec 31, 2011)

Most of what I take is standing dead. Mother nature already killed it. I virtually never take green trees unless the owner was going to dispose of them anyway. By the way, I have planted about 150 trees on my property. Tell them to go save the whales.


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## Mahdeew (Jul 24, 2013)

If you find a decaying tree and cut it down, mill it into lumber and make a beautiful object with it that is treasured for 100, 200, or more years by others, then you have done the right thing. Buy a "furniture", let say shelves from wal-Mar, move it around a few times and throw it away in a couple of years because it falls apart. Go back to Wai-Mart and buy another set of shelves; now, thats the wrong thing to do.


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## Purrmaster (Sep 1, 2012)

I can't imagine anyone getting peeved over cutting down a dead or dying tree to get lumber. I would think a dead tree would become a forest fire hazard.

Besides, isn't the vast majority of timber harvested softwoods like pine? And don't those re-grow pretty fast?


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## alohafromberkeley (Oct 26, 2011)

You know, in the last century, mid 70's, I lived in Humboldt Co. Ca. Most of the land was open either State Forests or BLM land, and the State would send teams of minimum security prisoners to cut fire breaks and clear brush every spring and summer. The cut wood was hauled to the side of the road and stacked so that the inhabitants could haul it off as free firewood. Without good forest management, we'd have more major fires than we did.(Sorta funny that tree huggers moved to the country and build wood cabins and heat them with wood!) We'd get Redwood for kindling and path steps from our local shingle mills.I had 3ft long bolts of curly old growth Redwood that were shake rejects. Gosh, the wood I burned! Manzanita burls, Madrone logs 2ft across, Oak, Bay Laurel (aka Oregon Myrtlewood) and the occasional Big Leaf Maple. It was when I split out a Oak round and saw the figure gleaming in the sun when I realized just how beautiful a quartered surface was. It wasn't all idyllic- the reason theses hardwoods were culled was to allow the Doug Fir to grow to a harvestable size faster. 
Joe, just keep on what you're doing….I know how rough (and backstabbing) the scramble for wood is in Hawai'i- looks like you're doing good by the wood….Malama Aina & Malamo Pono


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