Every day, each of Earth's 5.4 billion inhabitants, on the average, use the equivalent of a four-pound slab of wood. But the average American uses 3.5 times this much wood.

Should American's be using less wood? Steel, aluminum, plastic, and concrete are often mentioned as substitutes for wood, but these resources are not renewable. Wood is the only natural resource on Earth that is renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. The only energy required to grow a tree is the sun. As trees grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the air and give off oxygen.

By weight, total U.S. wood consumption exceeds combined consumption of steel and concrete. Wood manufacturing processes consume only 4% of the energy used by all primary industrial raw material manufacturers. Steel and concrete manufacturers consume 56% of the energy used by all primary industrial raw material manufacturers. If the energy required to manufacture a 4-pound slab of wood had been used to make aluminum, the resulting piece would weigh one ounce.

Global demand for wood will increase 50% by the year 2020, but governments around the world are establishing more new forest preserves where harvesting is prohibited. Left unanswered is this critical question; where will we get our daily wood?

We should be using more wood, not less, because no other natural resource on Earth can match its environmental advantages. But first, we must make a major commitment to using and growing our daily wood, just as we do our daily bread.

OurWood