Thursday, December 19, 2013

See the value in local wood

Look around – Nearly every building has wood products in it that are regularly changed.  Nearly Every building is a customer for wood products.
Every person uses wood every day, in a variety of ways.  Nearly Every person is a customer for wood.

We are all wood customers, every day we use a variety of wood products.
The potential business boom from using local wood is a Billion $ per year in S Wisconsin, but is being blocked by Big Business.

Here is how we can change for the better.

When I look at houses and buildings, I see markets for my flooring and wood furnishings – I see thousands of dollars per job.

This week we installed a floor in a family room earning us about $2,700 for what is normally called firewood or mulch or landfill fodder.  Total income from this one home floor remodeling job in Madison will be over $10,000.   There are about a million buildings in S Wisconsin.

When I look at people, I see customers for my wood products, I see tens of dollars for a Christmas gift, hundreds of dollars for a piece of furniture, thousands of dollars for a new hardwood floor, and if I make them happy, they will return over and over for more, and tell their friends.

Katie Green has supported us with over $20,000 dollars in floors, countertops and referrals – a dozen+ projects and counting!
There are about two million shoppers in S Wisconsin who buy wood products regularly.

When I look at a tree, I see hundreds and thousands of dollars in wood products that I could make for the people and buildings….

One 24" diameter tree is our average growth per acre each year – about $4,000 in flooring and much more for our dead and dying trees, if you are creative and industrious.   There are millions of acres of forest in S Wisconsin and millions of trees along our streets and in our yards.

(Tonight my home is heated by scrap wood – even the waste wood is excellent biofuel that is carbon neutral, not adding tanker loads of carbon to our atmosphere as do gas, oil, and coal.)

Most of the wood and paper products now bought in Madison/Dane Co stores and online are imported from a different country.  When we buy imported products we export our money and our local jobs.
Most every tree you look at could be used to make high value wood products –  that would provide many quality benefits if used right here.
AND…   Using natural wood products uses about 20% of the energy used for glass, steel, or concrete stuff….
Most every tree you see in our communities today is basically wasted – neglected, undervalued, seen as a nuisance in the way that actually costs lots of money to be disposed of.

When I look at all the houses/buildings, trees, and people in Dane County – I see a potential balance and potential harmony.
How you choose to see trees, buildings, people…   determines your future and your community’s destiny.

As a newly inducted “senior citizen” I have many decades of experience in life and no fear of speaking/writing what I believe.
Today in Wisconsin, We are all dominated/controlled by the big corporations that dominate the markets, the news media, and our government.
Big Dairy, Big Manufacturing, Big Mining, Big Energy, Big Timber, Big Box Stores,…    A big confusing downward spiraling mess for our future we have succumbed to and accept as normal and OK.

If we simply connected our local resources to our local needs of the people, the big global monster corporations would all just fade away –
It is our choice on how we see things and how we choose to use and buy local things.

The American Dream seems to have changed from “if you work hard and don’t give up, you can become successful in your dream and change the world”  to …
“if you live on welfare and use food stamps and eat at the local free food pantry, you can keep your money to buy booze and drugs and lottery tickets in the dream that you win the big jackpot and live happily forever after”.   I still choose and believe in the former

I See Nearly Every building, Every person, Every tree as thousands of dollars – if we connect them in the local community and not just throw them away.

Birky