Choosing to Go Green
Some people might call me an old hippy, but the fact that I do care about the environment and what folks are doing to it, does concern me. Not that I'd ever chain myself to a tree or actually do anything radical, it's just more a personal thing...how little harm can I, me, myself do to create a better place.
When Kevin and I first started restoring our little piece of the forest, our goals were simple...accomplish what we could to make our side of the mountain once again a sustainable forest. And inside that forest, make a home as sustainable for ourselves as possible. Every year, in fact every day, we come a bit closer to achieving both goals.
When we decided to start making furniture, we began by doing a lot of research. While we are not wholly organic by any means, we do attempt to reduce and/or limit the amount of toxins that we are exposed to daily. My number one surprise was the number of toxins that are in manufactured furniture. It seemed like everything from the glues used to the finishes were loaded with toxins that could easily off-gas into our home. We knew there had to be a better way.
The non-toxic glues were out there on the market, as were finishes that were toxin free and had FDA approval for use near food. We decided then and there, that was what we would build. Furniture that had did not have formaldehyde to off-gas and would be safe enough to set your sandwich on. After all, it would be the criteria we would look for in a piece of furniture so why shouldn't it be the criteria we used for our customers.
Our search was on and all I can say is that I am thankful for the Internet and online shopping. Non-toxic products are hard to find in our neck of the woods, but with a little searching online, we found everything we needed. Often, it was much more expensive than the products found locally, but it wasn't what we wanted.
Why go green? Because we expect it in the products we buy. And if we wouldn't buy our own products because they didn't meet our expectations, then how could we in good conscience sell them to our customers? In a few words, we couldn't. It just wouldn't be the right thing to do.
