Timber Wise - Timber Still Breathing Life

Timber Still Breathing Life

There is more to timber than its majestic beauty and harmonious warmth that smiles upon us when observing this natural product with our eyes. We breathe in oxygen and when we exhale we release carbon dioxide (CO2). Trees are experts at creating balance thriving diligently on carbon dioxides from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis and releasing it out again as pure, fresh oxygen. Without this balance a tree would eventually suffocate and die and so would we. Over 50% of their dry weight of wood is carbon. Seasoned wood actively continues to store carbon dioxides even hundred of years after it has been felled. Trees can clean up sewage and animal waste, water runoff and roadside spills. Amazingly besides turning CO2 into oxygen again they also filter harmful substances and dangerous chemicals that have entered and been absorbed into the soil. Trees store the pollutants, changing the harmful pollutants and reduce them into a less harmful form. Trees also help in the process of creating rain as they expel moisture into the air. We can thank trees for giving us cleaner soil, cleaner water and cleaner air.

Incredulously, trees do not stop giving us life after they have been harvested into timber. Unlike concrete or steel; which only emits the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, mass timber continues to absorb and store carbon dioxide. A ten story wood building at 2590 square feet per story stores 1570 tons of carbon dioxide whereas a comparable concrete building will emit 2175 tons of carbons.