THE WOOD USERS GUIDE by Pamela...

THE WOOD USERS GUIDE by Pamela Wellner & Eugene Dickey (Rainforest Action Network: $7.50). This concise book offers alternates to tropical woods for consumers genuinely concerned about the destruction of the planet’s rain forests. In the United States, the most commonly used tropical hardwoods are mahogany, lauan/meranti (“Philippine mahogany”) and teak, while redwood, Douglas fir and western cedar are taken from the old-growth rain forests of North America. Substitutes can be found for almost every project, and the authors provide lists of both temperate and tropical woods, noting their color, grain and strengths. Wellner and Dickey also offer a list of tropical-forest products that don’t involve logging but encourage the indigenous people to preserve the trees and the diversity of the forests. A useful guide for people who want to put their wood where their mouth is.