September 2007: Page 22 Contents
www.fresnomag.comwww.fresnomag.com "In the real world, we have to rely on the public asking for it, insisting on it, demanding it, agitating for it, and hoping that the architects specify it in their drawings..." 22 FALL 2007 | HOME wood products off the assembly line -and the rest of the industry is left shaking its head. (Let's hope Li got a nice Christmas turkey from the Oregon State University, which stands to make a bundle from the licensing.) The story of Columbia Forest Products illustrates the carrot and the stick when it comes to our glacially slow movement toward green products: The company embraced the new process partly because it wanted to distinguish its products from the non-green products and make more money (the carrot), but also because they see that it's only a matter of time before formaldehyde emissions will be regulated by the most ecologically progressive of states, California (the stick). California, by the way, is the ecologically trendsetting Big Dog. If it regulates formaldehyde -which it will -look for other states to follow. But Columbia Forest Products is not typical. They're ahead of the curve. The introduction of safer glue wasn't embraced and showered with kisses elsewhere because much of the wood industry, like most American industries, is old-line, inflexible and resistant to change. There are even stories of representatives of certain wood companies arguing in public forums for the SAFETY of formaldehyde -and if you're doing that, you're a long, long way from seeking the new, the better, the greener. In a perfect world, manufacturers would opt for cleaner, better, friendlier products because of their own onboard public responsibility. They wouldn't hesitate to invest in the health and welfare of humanity and acknowledge their stewardship of the Earth. In the real world, we have to rely on the public asking for it, insisting on it, demanding it, agitating for it, and hoping that the architects specify it in their drawings, the designers put it in their sketches, and the contractors opt for it in their materials orders. Failing that (which is largely what has happened) we have to resort to a stick -one that is only obtained by traveling a tortuous pathway through Washington and/or the statehouse. And that is a very long route indeed. Yes, it's been a long time coming, but there is no doubt that the Green Wave is coming, so let us celebrate the arrival of a new generation of products that tread more lightly on our health and on Mother Earth. Let us celebrate as well the possibility that the corporate environment within which these products were created has cast off a few old assumptions, a few old ways, and grown closer to an understanding that we are all in this crazy thing together.< For more information: http://formaldehyde-free.org SEPT_2007_Mag_104.indd 22 8/23/07 10:55:55 AM
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