Solid Wood
As you all well know, Rade has been busily indocrinating me with his Agrarian propaganda (mainly the writings of Wendell Berry)...I realize of course that I am an easy convert, for the most part.
Anyway check this out...something I'd never thought about:
...if we want our forests to last, then we must make wood products that last, for our forests are more threatened by shoddy workmanship than by clear-cutting or by fire.
It makes me think about how many piece of crap articles of wood furniture I have gone through already in my life? Think about it.
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harrumph!
sf
My beef wasn't with the general tenor of the message. As I said, I largly agree. Merely w/ the tritness of the delivery. The problem of the elegant (in the mathmatical sense) life is far more complex than don't clear cut and build for the next generation. As Wendell appears to put it, as you and J have spoken of it, Wendell's solutions to the the problem of the moral decay of our society are falling into the category of 'the city on the hill' A distant paradise (albeit philosophical in nature) that would solve all problems if only persons would believe and go there. I think we as a global population are where we are because of WHO we are as a collective, not what we as a collective believe. Agrarianism can solve the problem for the small family but their efforts don't ammount to much in the face of the habits & preferences of the other 5 billion people on the earthIf there is to be a global solution for consumerism, it'll have to be a world revolution of conciousness, an embracing of self restraint. Now, try selling that to the poor and those who WANT what we in the US take for granted.
rambling, unfocused, better over brandy, please forgive- gotta get back to work.
sf
I have little doubt that he is right that cheap and fast consumerism we in America have particularly mastered has created a mindless economy that is indeed clear cutting more forest than it would need if, for instance, I had furniture like my grandparents.
It's merely an example of an over arching problem...and a good one. I've mentally counted up the number of dressers/entertainment centers/ desks that I have bought and then not too long afterwards seen hauled to the dump.
Count up the cash I have spent over that time and you wanna bet I could have bought replacements for all that furniture that my grankids could have inherited?
I'm not an Agrarian evangelist...I have no hope that it is going to save the world. But I find it as a whole, to be particularly Christian. - whether all Agrarians know it or not.
I expect not a fun experience. Indeed there are city folk...I have to admit to marveling at people coming out of apartment buildings in dowtown Seattle on their way to work. I just don't know how they suffer it. On the flipside I look at remote homes in - say for instance - Quilcene and am driven to the sin of jealousy. No dobut the city dwellers ignorantly marvel at how bored such folk must be.
BTW Luz, I thought after the advent of feminism that ladies no longer got the vapours, glad to see I was wrong...
Luz, I once had a priest tell me that not only would I as a person be judged, but I would also be judged as a member of a community for that communities actions. The word in Mat. 13 is ethnoi (tribes or nations). I took this to mean that my personal responsibility was couched in a context of communal responsibility.
There's a reason that forests are being clearcut in Asia for example. It's not that the world needs more ikea furniture. It's that there are billions who need the fuel and shelter trees can provide. To say 'I will not cut trees willy-nilly, I'll build things to last' is great, but dosn't solve the larger problem of rampant de-forestation.
We have the luxury, in our nation, of support systems that make R & J's pending relocation to a simpler lifestyle possible. Believe me, I wish it were practical for me to go to the country too (I hope they're planning for room for visitors). Wendell's quote was something else though. It indicated that the problem with deforestation was that people weren't acting with self restraint in the use of wood products and that this lack of regard for forests was indicative of a larger trends in consumer psychology/economics. He's right on a micro scale and within robust economies. He's full of it though if he thinks a peasant in China is going to worry about deforestation when his family is cold and he needs to fix his roof. (note: deforestation is a HUGE issue in China, one which the government is tackling is the approved socialist fashion)
so, with regards to deforestation, is it fair to say to the world, 'I've got mine, but you can't have your's. too bad for you?'
Do we really KNOW where our forests are going? Is it predominantly into consumer goods sold in the wealthiest nations?
Is it NOT our duty as believers to care for the whole of God's creation as best we can?
I hope my impressions are wrong.
I think you hit the nail on the head when you ask if any of us know for sure where most forestry products end up...and by default you are asking if Wendell Berry is right in suggesting that discontinuing the construction of what are essentially disposable wood products would have the greatest impact.
I cannot say and I am guessing it would take a good deal of research to ascertain the reality of it - especially if we wish to involve China. However, I do know that MOST trees used for paper products are fast growing and are planted and grown for that express purpose. BIG trees are required for building materials. These two facts tend to turn on its head the notion of "saving trees" by using less paper (e.g. people who bring plastic dinner wear wherever they go).
I would suspect that Mr. Berry would have no qualms with ANYONE harvesting trees in order to build their home. I imagine his only interjection would be to insert some quality into that effort such that that home need not be rebuilt in 50 years. But can we say for sure that the problems in China result from a housing shortage?
Taking paper out of the equation leaves me with wood products like this in my home: This computer cabinet, the entertainment center, three book shelve units, an aquarium stand, two CD cabinets, etc etc etc. Fact is I have a lot of wood here none of which will last very long and will "have" to be replaced. Assuming I am not unsual (big assumption, I know) then I am going to guess that American's burn through ALOT of cheap disposable wood products.
Yesterday Basil showed me a wooden tool chest that his grandfather made as a kid - still wholly functional. Besides quality workmanship, there is something else special about the chest: the person who made it.
By that I do not mean the simple fact that Basil's Grandfather made it, which is itself cool, but the fact that somewhat put their heart into the process to turn out a quality and longlasting product. I'll quote Berry :
Good workmanship - that is, careful, considerate, and loving work - requires us to think considerately of the whole process, natural and cultural, involved in the making of wooden artifacts, because the good worker does not share the industrial contempt for "raw material." The good worker loves the board before it becomes a table, loves the tree before it yields the board, loves the forest before it gives up the tree. The good worker understands that a badly made artifact is both an insult to its user and a danger to its source.
I'm not sure this notion would solve the world's deforestation problems and I think you'd be hard pressed to find much of this love being very "practical" today. Does it make a difference that the wood worker has this love and respect for the "raw material" and their sources? I think so...because it will spill over into their craft.
Of course, I cannot afford quality workmanship...at least not new quality workmanship. There are garage sales and estate sales at which one can indeed find furniture that will last - even if it needs refinishing. From a practical standpoint, I think what I have been encouraged to reconsider where my next wood product comes from when these around me fall apart.
As a side, much related to this relocation will be decidedly impractical. But right now, our decision is about balancing practicality with what we desire (balancing that itself with whether we believe that desire to be wholesome) and what we think best for us and the kids.