How Much Wood Could A WoodChuck Chuck If A WoodChuck Could Chuck Wood

 “How Much Wood Could A WoodChuck Chuck If A WoodChuck Could Chuck Wood?”

One of the most important renewable resources on this planet is wood. Wood and trees do a lot for the environment such as making oxygen and sequestration of carbon as well as providing structure to our houses and being the foundation of many day-to-day products. But a lot goes into determining what woods we use, how we use them, and their sustainability. 

First, we can talk about the most important wood product, paper, and how sustainable it is. Since wood comes from trees this raises a lot of questions about deforestation as well as the removal of our natural air filters. According to The World Counts, “It takes between 2 and 13 liters of water to produce a single A4-sheet of paper” which is disproportionate for the amount of paper it ultimately produces raising concerns about water use as well. In the process of making paper two things take place called pulping and bleaching which both have toxic runoff that can pollute water. Many mills might choose to have their runoff flow into natural water sources which can chemically alter the properties of the water creating a toxic environment for the wildlife that depends on it. Air pollution is another issue as wood is often burned during the papermaking process as well from these same methods and it can release many pollutants such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds (Lesson 16). The following table illustrates what chemicals in the process of bleaching and pulping contribute to the GHG Emission Factor which is the total amount of emissions resulting from a certain action that specifically refers to carbon dioxide emission. This is just an example of the many ways that wood and paper affect the environment. In the digital era, how can we stop or help in this situation? Well, it's to reduce the amount of paper you consume or waste, make sure to recycle and use available resources such as laptops and Ipads as substitutes. Of course, this should all be done at your discretion. 

Have you ever been to Home Depot? Well, I have with my father and it feels like I can walk down isles of plyboard for hours and still not come to an end. My memories of engineered wood products have never been fond as it has usually resulted in me getting a painful splinter. But all in all engineered wood products do a lot for the wood industry such as creating value and jobs as we need someone to grow the wood. The most well-known product would be plywood which is many layers of thin wood glued together. It’s very versatile and can be made from many different materials and types of trees. Oriented strand boards (OSB) are an example of smaller pieces of wood being glued together. Another unique thing about OSB is that they tend to be more resistant to moisture as well as have many textures in the look of the wood. Lastly, a type of wood that is lumber glued together is called glulam which can be used in very flexible and unique ways when it comes to architecture. (Lesson 15). It is very clear that wood is very diverse and has many uses in our lives. But now it's important to evaluate whether the wood is good or bad or neutral. There are so many things to consider as we have already gone over its sustainability earlier. The answer is never very clear-cut. It takes a lot of learning and research and even then the conclusion can be varied. 

Züblin-Timber in Germany

We know that wood comes from trees and it's important to note what trees exactly do for the environment. The most obvious is photosynthesis through the leaves, creating oxygen from carbon dioxide and making it so that we can all breathe. A big part of this involved carbon sequestration which can be when carbon dioxide gets stored in liquid and solid forms (Lesson 17). Pertaining to this topic, carbon can be sequestered in wood which then gets turned into previously mentioned products that we use in our day-to-day lives. This seems great right, perhaps even incredibly productive thinking back to the sustainability of making paper products and processing wood. The carbon that is produced can get stored in wood and removed from the atmosphere. This is epic! But that isn't how simple it is and there is a lot more to this topic than that. Everything also has its downsides. So how much gets taken out of the atmosphere? “It is estimated that the amount of carbon sequestered annually by terrestrial ecosystems is approximately 2.6 gigatons” (Selin) while that is a lot of carbon we need to also weigh how much gets put into the atmosphere from strictly wood processing. For example, we can think about what happens when trees die, where does all that previously sequestered carbon go? It's believed that roughly 10.9 billion tons (9.8 gigatons) get released from deadwood every year. There is a large discrepancy about 7.2 gigatons worth of uncontained carbon in the atmosphere. 

So to conclude wood is a very vital part of our lives but it is important to where it comes from as well as the process involved with how it takes a part in our lives. What can I learn from all these topics covered? Well, there is a lot that was discussed but the main point was understanding how not every environmental function that sounds good is as great as it seems. This was also in the hopes to help people make better choices as consumers. Don't waste wood! Don't do gender reveals near forests! And lastly, make sure to turn your burners off! 

Resources

California, State of. “Carbon Sequestration.” CalRecycle Home Page, https://calrecycle.ca.gov/organics/compostmulch/toolbox/carbonsequest/. 

“Carbon Sequestration.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/technology/carbon-sequestration. 

Editors, Author: Architizer. “An Architect's Guide to: Glulam - Architizer Journal.” Journal, 3 Aug. 2021, https://architizer.com/blog/product-guides/product-guide/glulam/. 

“Life Cycle Carbon Footprint Analysis of Pulp and Paper Grades in the United States Using Production-Line-Based Data and Integration.” NC State, https://bioresources.cnr.ncsu.edu/resources/life-cycle-carbon-footprint-analysis-of-pulp-and-paper-grades-in-the-united-states-using-production-line-based-data-and-integration/#:~:text=Three%20types%20of%20GHG%20were,paper%20industry%20(Nabinger%20et%20al.

Lesson 15 Engineered Wood Products, BBE 1002, UMN 

Lesson 17 Is Wood Good?, BBE 1002, UMN 

Lesson 16 Paper Products, BBE 1002, UMN 

“This Unassuming Item Releases 10.9 Billion Tonnes of Carbon Every Year.” World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/09/decaying-forest-wood-carbon-climate-change-co2/. 

The World Counts, https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/consumption/other-products/environmental-impact-of-paper.