HAND in HAND is an online marketplace that sells only wood products made from thinned wood from Japan. Due to the influence of SDGs , the use of timber obtained by logging may be rather reluctant while environmental conservation is being promoted worldwide.
However, did you know that the use of Japanese timber actually leads to the conservation of Japanese forests? This time I will talk about that.
Untouched forests are increasing in Japan
Thinning and logging forests into timber and environmental destruction are not really equal. Especially in Japan. The reason is that much of Japan's forests are left untouched.
Due to the postwar national policy, a large amount of cedar and cypress, which is a high-class material, have been planted. 1950
Around, the domestic self-sufficiency rate of timber was about 90%. However, cheap imported timber, which was lifted from around 1960 , did not utilize much of our environmentally friendly domestic timber with high quality, resulting in abandoned forests 6 <. It is more than t2>%.
And it is said that the current self-sufficiency rate of timber in Japan is 2 ～ 3 %. In other words, Japan is not being used well even though 7 % of its land area is forest.
Using domestic timber will return funds to the mountains
Many people know that Japanese forestry is declining. Forestry is not only the work of turning forests into timber, but also the work of growing and managing forests. Forestry is a business, not a charity. If forestry declines more than ever, forests will be left unattended.
You may hear the sound well when you say "untouched forest", but if it is not thinned properly, trees and branches will be densely packed and photosynthesis will not be possible, and the forest will not grow. Furthermore, shrubs are not exposed to sunlight, so younger trees that need sunlight are less nutritious.
Photosynthesis is carried out using carbon dioxide as a raw material for the growth of plants. In other words, no matter how big the tree is, if it is an old tree, photosynthesis will not be active. On the other hand, trees breathe like humans, so they breathe oxygen and emit carbon dioxide. In general, the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed in photosynthesis exceeds the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by respiration in growing trees. In other words, for the global environment, it is actually more important to grow young trees than to leave the existing grown trees.
Half of the trees planted by the large-scale tree planting under the post-war policy are now at the time of harvest, and the forest resources are more abundant than ever.
Please take this opportunity to consider picking up a product made from Japanese wood.
