More on Ukuleles and the Environment and salvaged woods....

A while back I posted a thread that got people talking about considering the impact of making ukuleles (and other instruments) on our world's forests. If you missed it, you can find it here:

http://www.ukuleleunderground.com/f...d-endangered-woods.....shouldn-t-we-care-more

If you are still interested in the topic, Al at ukulelehunt.com has posted a new interview with Evan from House and Mill Tonewoods on the subject here:

http://ukulelehunt.com/2011/03/23/ukulele-woods-house-and-mill-interview/#comments

Turns out that this group is salvaging wood that is too small for using to make guitars and providing them to luthiers who want to build ukes. Thanks Al, for this great interview, and for keeping the discussion alive.

pepamahina

Really glad Brian Griffin got this company going. I remember talking to him months ago and hadn't heard anything since. He kind of stumbled on the sawmill and was shocked at the fact that alot of good wood was being thrown out because of some minor blemish would make the piece unsuitable for a big guitar.

Mahalo nui for the nice read...Old growth is becoming rare if not already...we need to look in more substainable high quality tonewoods now.. It is a subject some of us don't want to hear, but it is
necessary to educate everyone of it's importantance to keep our natural resources at substainable levels for the future. I know it's a unpopular and controversial subject, but it needs discussed,
almost like fishing...controlling the industry may hurt many who in work in it whether directly or indirectly.. haves vs the have nots in the future.. thanks for continuing on the subject....it will
hopefully benefit us all in the future..

What old growth actually means

This discussion is continuing at ukulelehunt.com, and I just made a post there that I think is worth posting here as well:

I think there is a common misunderstanding out there about what “old growth” means and why it is so important. It is not that the trees are old and large and beautiful and nice to take an afternoon stroll under, it is that these old forests support equally old and intricate ecosystems teeming with thousands of species. When these old forest are destroyed, all of the life that they support is destroyed too. Forever. You can grow back the trees if you have the patience, but what you end up with is a giant tree farm. You cannot replicate the ecosystem that was destroyed. So if you’re making a value choice, it is not truly between “would I rather make pretty music or look at this pretty tree.” A more accurate description would be “should we destroy this ancient and irreplaceable ecosystems and all the life it contains forever so that I can have a fancy tone wood for my instrument?”

And there's the reasoning trees contribute to ecosystems and I think they provide the air we breathe too...what was that island that cut and used all the trees in the past...hmmmm lessons learned...