WOOD IS NATURE'S STROKE OF GENIUS
Let's talk trees - wood is the world’s most environmentally friendly material
Made of sun, air, soil and water, wood is a renewable resource that does not produce waste or pollution. Wood can be recycled and saves energy. Wood is what a fossil-free society needs to be built of. Wood is nature’s own recycling.
The scientific explanation is photosynthesis, which creates the carbon cycle where trees and other plants collect the sun’s energy and the CO2 of the air. Wood stores CO2 and saves fossil energy. Wood is a material we need more of to create a cleaner and more sustainable world. Wood used as a building material benefits the climate both by storing CO2 (0.9 tonnes/m3 of wood*) and by saving fossil energy (1.1 tonnes/ m3 of wood*) compared to other building materials. *source: trae.dk
træ.dk explains why wood is the world's most environmentally friendly raw material and why wood products are the sustainable way forward. Junckers is a proud sponsor of trae.dk. Source: https://www.trae.dk/artikel/wood-natures-stroke-of-genius/
USING WOOD IS GOOD FOR OUR CLIMATE
SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY IS PARAMOUNT
Arguably, wood is the most sustainable building material there is, as long as it comes from properly managed and accredited forests. Junckers only uses raw logs from sustainably managed forests, where the balance between planting and felling is preserved. Our supply of logs comes mainly from Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland, who all cultivate forests based on sustainable principles. The overwhelming majority of our suppliers are certified under PEFC and FSC®.
A sustainably managed forest includes a long-term vision which considers everything a forest provides, including ecological and social benefits. As well as sequestrate carbon, forests help ecosystems and biodiversity thrive, and improve the quality of drinking water in their vicinity. Social benefits include the pure beauty of the landscape forests provide, and any type of leisure activity within the forests, such as hiking. When trees are harvested in a sustainably managed forest, new trees are planted to start the cycle of growth anew. Sustainable forestry halts deforestation and ensures the long-term supply of wood.
THINNING IS WINNING
Wood you believe it? To grow a sustainably managed forest it must be thinned. This process is necessary to provide the space the trees need to continue growing to an adequate size and quality. Thinning happens at different times depending on the type of tree grown in the forest. While trees grow, they gradually take up more space and resources. Hence, some trees need to be removed for others to be able to grow - thinning. Almost all wood purchased by Junckers comes from trees that are removed during a thinning process. This has been the case since 1930 when the company was founded on a philosophy of resource optimisation by Flemming Juncker who looked for ways to use wasted wood in production.
WOOD ABSORBS CARBON
While a tree grows, it absorbs enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, storing it in the wood. In fact, 50% of the weight of dry wood consists of carbon taken from the atmosphere, making wood a key player in our fight to reduce the effects of climate change. The process of trees absorbing carbon dioxide is called photosynthesis. During this process a tree takes energy from the sun, carbon dioxide from the air and water from the ground and turns it into sugar and oxygen. In short, growing more trees will reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere, reducing the amount of greenhouse gases, halting global warming while at the same time giving us oxygen. More importantly, wood is the only building material that has the natural ability to take carbon from the air and store it.
MORE WORDS ON WOOD
Interested in learning more about the use of forests or wood to mitigate climate change?
Take a look at the following websites and join our forest friends at the National Hardwood Lumber Association
Forest Carbon Data Visualization National Hardwood Lumber Association