Can you tell the difference between sustainable lumber and clear cut lumber?

The Greenwash Brigade

(numstead, via Flickr)

I didn’t think so.

A coalition of international environmental groups established the “Forest Stewardship Council” (FSC) in 1993 to help you tell the difference. Even though they’re criticized as not tough enough, the FSC’s third-party certification system has become the gold standard for sustainable forest products.

Following the old adage, “if you can’t beat them, join them,” the American Forest & Paper Association created its own certification system for labeling sustainably managed forests, requiring all members to ‘self-certify’ that they comply with their “Sustainable Forestry Initiative” (SFI) requirements. (SFI became an independent non-profit in 2007.) Buoyed by the support of behemoth members such as Weyerhaeuser the SFI has grown rapidly, with SFI operations now covering approximately 90% of the industrial forestland in the US.

Michael Brune, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network described the SFI efforts as “a new green coat of paint over the same tired practices” and environmental groups have lined up to fight the SFI certification program producing a sobering photo gallery of SFI Certified Logging.

The battle is heating up. The U.S. Green Building Council is now poised to recognize SFI certification in their LEED Rating System. Earlier this month, ForestEthics filed administrative complaints with the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS claiming that SFI’s “phony ‘green’ certification label misleads consumers and cheats taxpayers.” A certification system birthed by the industry it purports to regulate seems a bit like the fox guarding the henhouse.

September 24, 2009 by Jim Nicolow
5 comments

tags: sustainable forestry initiative

Comments (5)

Kathryn Fernholz | Respond
September 24, 2009 10:37 AM PT

For Google Maps of FSC and SFI certificate holders in the U.S and Canada, visit:

http://www.dovetailinc.org/content/forest-management-certification-us-and-canada

F.W.L. Hill | Respond
September 25, 2009 1:56 PM PT

Who's phony? Check out FSC-Watch (http://www.fsc-watch.org target="_blank">www.fsc-watch.org)

Jim | Respond
September 26, 2009 6:30 AM PT

Thanks, Kathryn. I did point out at the start of my post that FSC certification is "criticized as not tough enough." And kudos to those that are pushing for improvements. My point was that the SFI appears to be greenwash designed to supplant the more-stringent FSC system.

Your post made me think of Churchill's oft-cited quote about democracy's flaws, "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Norm | Respond
October 9, 2009 2:43 PM PT

The idea put forth here seems to be that clear cut and even-age silviculture is not sustainable.

Alston Chase’s 1995 book, In A Dark Wood, chronicles the clash over the last century between forest productionists and forest preservationists. He wrote about the strategy of removing decadent timber from timberlands, owned by timber companies or the government (though not from parks), to make way for young trees:

“[Private companies] sought to convert old, uneven-aged stands to younger, even-aged ones as rapidly as possible, thus accepting reductions in timber volume in return for increasing long-term productivity. … Once the virgin timber was gone, they intended to follow sustained yield strategies, harvesting no more timber than could be cut in perpetuity, and doing so by cutting stands when their biological or economic growth rates had reached their zenith.” Following these strategies, companies started to achieve their long-term objectives.

“Growth rates ballooned, by 1970 exceeding cuts by more than thirty percent nationally. … In the Douglas fir region net growth per acre (i.e. total growth less mortality) increased from under 50 cubic feet per year in 1952 to over 70 in 1970, and to 110 in 1987.”

Re-planting following clearcutting need not be only one species. Diversity of species can be used.

Jim | Respond
October 19, 2009 8:01 AM PT

Is LEED Breaking Up with FSC-Certified Wood? Article on TreeHugger:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/10/is-leed-breaking-up-with-fsc-wood.php?dcitc=weekly_nl

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Meet the Greenwash Brigade

Our hand-picked environmental professionals, each part of the Public Insight Network, are on the hunt for "greenwash" as they examine eco-friendly claims by companies, governments and other groups. They ask tough questions about the mainstreaming of green, from the perspectives of people in the trenches who are focused on these issues 24/7.

Jim Nicolow is a nationally recognized expert on sustainable design and leads the sustainability initiative for Lord, Aeck & Sargent, overseeing the incorporation of sustainable design strategies and features into the firm’s design projects. He is a LEED® Accredited Professional with extensive knowledge of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED rating system.

Janne K. Flisrand has worked as an affordable housing and urban planning research consultant for five years, primarily supporting local non-profits. Her focus is on transit, transit-oriented design, affordable housing, and sustainability. Currently, she’s the program coordinator for Minnesota Green Communities, a program promoting affordable, healthy, sustainably built housing throughout Minnesota.

Dennis Markatos-Soriano recently completed a Master's in Public Affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. He is now launching Sustainable Energy Transition (SET) to help individuals and institutions move from dependence on oil and gas to an efficient use of renewables. Previously, he co-founded SURGE (Students United for a Responsible Global Environment), which aims to bring young progressives together across issues of environmental and social justice throughout North Carolina and beyond. In the summer of 2006, he helped to start a small green company, Greenway Pedicabs, to provide a greenhouse gas-free transportation option for people in the Triangle of North Carolina.

Heidi Siegelbaum is a principal with Calyx Sustainable Tourism and works primarily on advancing sustainable tourism practices. She also specializes in science translation, cross-border indicators with Canada, cross-disciplinary planning and environmental technical assistance to businesses. Previously, she was in-house legal counsel for EPA for industrial chemicals and biotechnology and the senior performance measure analyst with the Washington State Department of Ecology. She is on the technical advisory committee of the Seattle Culinary Academy and a long standing member of the Chefs Collaborative.

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