Greenpeace to Architects - Help Us Save Old Growth Forests

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GREENPEACE TO ARCHITECTS: HELP US SAVE OLD-GROWTH FORESTS!

New Information Can Help Identify Ecologically Sound
Alternatives

SAN FRANCISCO, January 29, 1998 (GP) -- In a move to empower
American architects to help protect one of the most important
ancient forests remaining in North America while decreasing
toxic chemicals in our environment, Greenpeace today reached out
to thousands of design professionals urging them eliminate the
use of old-growth temperate rainforest wood and PVC building
materials.

Greenpeace wrote to members and staff of the American Institute
of Architects and the National Association of Landscape
Architects, asking them to state in their contract
specifications and in resolutions from their professional
societies that they will not use ancient forest wood or PVC. The
mailing included a resource guide on where to source
alternatives to these products, and provided information on how
to recognize lumber from temperate ancient forests simply by its
visual characteristics (these materials are also currently
available from Greenpeace's website at
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org).

"Architects, designers and other building professionals have
challenged the environmental community to help them identify the
concrete steps they can take to design and develop
environmentally conscious communities," said Marc Evans of
Greenpeace's Ancient Forest Campaign. "Greenpeace has responded
today by offering architects clear, practical steps that they
can take to eliminate the two worst building products currently
on the market."

"Three-quarters of the world's ancient forests have already been
destroyed and the United States is now driving the deforestation
of the largest unprotected coastal temperate rainforest left in
the world - British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest," Evans
explained. Over 95 percent of the logging on B.C.'s coast is
through clearcuts of primary old-growth conifers - species
imperiled by American architects' demand for softwood lumber
with a tight-grained and knot-free appearance.

Greenpeace strongly recommends, therefore, that no lumber from
Doman (a.k.a. Western Forest Products or WFP) or Interfor be
purchased, as virtually all of both of these companies' lumber
is sourced from clearcut ancient forests, and they both threaten
the Great Bear Rainforest.  The trees most commonly logged on
B.C.'s coast are ancient Western red cedars, Western hemlocks,
Pacific Silver firs and Sitka spruces - all woods for which
there are currently cost-competitive and less ecologically-
damaging alternatives.

"Many architects may not know they can specify lumber that has
been certified as sustainably logged," Evans said. "We show them
how to find it. Another great option is reclaimed lumber that's
been saved from the scrap heap." 

As for PVC, although construction materials are the fastest
growing use for this plastic, human health concerns demand a
change.  "Throughout its life cycle, PVC releases hazardous
chemicals," noted Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner Charlie Cray.
"The most toxic of these is dioxin, a known carcinogen that is
also linked to hormone disruption, and immune system disorders."


PVC's toxicity is especially acute when it burns in building
fires, making it a particular hazard for firefighters and
building inhabitants. And while superficially cheap, PVC
materials have hidden, long-range costs such as taxpayer-funded
clean-up of dioxin residues.  For reasons such as these, the
Sydney 2000 Olympics is being developed as a virtually PVC-free,
and some European countries have enacted restrictions on the use
of PVC.

ends

Greenpeace on the Internet at http://www.greenpeace.org