So what is Eco or Ethical Furniture?
Do you know if you own any eco friendly furniture? The majority of consumers in North America don’t know, and many of them are not even familiar with the concept. So what is eco friendly furniture, or furniture bought from an ethical source or ethical retailer and why should you care?
Increasingly we face problems like global warming and feel it is someone else’s problem because we think ‘what can I do’. But you can do something. When it comes to buying furniture you can shop in an Ethical way. Put simply, this is buying things that are made ethically by companies that act ethically. Buying ethically means buying a brand or from a company which doesn’t exploit labour, animals or the environment.
Eco friendly furniture is defined as furniture made with nontoxic, sustainable, renewable materials. An example of this is garden furniture made from wood from responsibly managed forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international network to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC brings people together to find solutions to the problems created by bad forestry practices and to reward good forest management. Side Note: FSC is the only timber certification system to consistently audit certified companies and to suspend certificates where companies are found to have breached their agreed FSC responsibilities. This gives us confidence that FSC has integrity rather than being used to rubberstamp questionable forestry practice.
So why buy ethically?
Due to a world population of 6 billion and the demand for wood products, forests have been clear-cut throughout the equatorial regions of the world. From Indonesia to Africa to the Americas, deforestation has robbed the world of nearly half of the original tropical forests. Often this deforestation has been fueled by multinational Lumber companies who come in, cut everything in sight, and moved on. Although we are hearing the term Carbon neutral more today, which means that in terms of timber, for every tree they cut down another is planted in either the same place or a different place. That way they remain neutral.
Everyone needs to go shopping in one way or another. As an ethical consumer, every time you buy something you can make a difference by choosing an ethical furniture product or by buying from an ethical business.
For example, when you buy from a company that doesn’t exploit its workers and provides them with decent working conditions, you are giving the company the funds to continue its ethical behaviour. At the same time, you are no longer buying from a company that exploits its labour with poor pay and often a dangerous working environment. That company then loses business, which may encourage it to change its ways and to look after its workers.
In these ways people are contributing in their own way to the noble cause of going green. The idea of eco friendly furniture seems to be growing at about the same rate as the trend of saving the green earth. If you are planning to opt for eco friendly furniture, here’s some information. Shopping for ethical and eco furniture has never been easier.
You can find relevant companies at:
- Guide Me Green where they list 100s of companies.
- Or companies with valid FSC certificates from the FSC database.
- The Green Providers Directory is the UK’s leading resource for finding green, organic and fair trade products and services.
As our awareness of ethical issues has grown, we have begun to demand more ethical products. Manufactures are increasingly responding to this demand by signing up to ethical initiatives which they are more than happy to tell us about. The more of us who value ethical manufacture the more it will be provided. So in your search for new outdoor furniture, be sure to have a thought for where it came from.
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Dixy posted on January 25, 2010:
This article on eco furniture is really good. I had no idea there was such a thing. I certainly will be looking closer the next time I’m out looking for furniture.
Baris posted on January 26, 2010:
This is a very good article and I will make sure I come back and read some more.