Is Palm Oil Bad or Good for the Environment?

June 23, 2021July 12, 2021 Alexandra Thompson

Last updated on July 12th, 2021 at 03:14 pm

The palm oil controversy asks why it is bad but is there any good from it either? We take a look at how palm oil affects the environment and communities.

An important distinction to make is that the crop itself is not inherently bad for the environment, but rather the way plantations operate. We believe it is important to make that distinction because of our own commitment to sustainable practices. Only reporting that palm oil is bad is a “black and white” mindset that leaves little nuance for the communities trying to change its production.

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This blog is written by your friends at Vermont Woods Studios. Check out our Vermont made furniture and home decor online and visit our showroom and art gallery at Stonehurst, the newly restored 1800s farmhouse nestled in the foothills of the Green Mountains.

Delivery Update as Covid Delays Persist

June 1, 2021June 1, 2021 Peggy Farabaugh

Thank You for Your Patience

It has been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic started causing chaos and it has been tough going for everyone. We deeply appreciate and cherish all our past, present, and future customers. We apologize for the delays that Covid-19 is causing. Like all of us here at VWS, our Customer Service Representative, Brian Doherty, feels your pain. He asked me to post some common Q&A about how things are going.

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Go Paperless: 10 Zero Waste Hacks to Save Paper (and Trees!)

May 24, 2021June 8, 2021 Alexandra Thompson

Last updated on June 8th, 2021 at 09:21 am

In 2018, people in the US threw away 18.35 million tons of paper and paperboard. Paper products made up about 12 percent of landfill waste (EPA). But it doesn’t have to be this way… adopt these zero waste hacks to go paperless and reduce your impact!

1) Reuse whatever paper you already have

First things first, reuse before recycling! Those junk mail envelopes you’re planning to toss? Use them for your grocery list. Other paper items you can reuse are shipping mailers and cardboard boxes, paper bags, and documents with printing errors. Make sure you’ve used them until they’re no longer functional before recycling them!

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Common Wood Finishes for Furniture & Flooring

May 14, 2021May 14, 2021 Riley Farabaugh

Beyond their capabilities to create biodiverse ecosystems and turn greenhouse gases into clean oxygen, trees also provide one of the most versatile materials on the planet- wood. In addition to being used by carpenters and builders for framing houses, wood is perhaps most commonly used for furniture and flooring, here in the US and around the world.

When properly maintained, wood lasts a long time- generations. But part of maintaining wood means adding a finish. Using a finish on wood furniture and flooring helps modulate the humidity content of the wood. When wood dries out too much, it is prone to cracking and splitting, so it’s important to seal in the appropriate moisture content.

There are lots of options for finishing wood, but when it comes to furniture and flooring, most products fall into one of these categories: oils, varnishes, polyurethanes, lacquers, and waxes.

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How is Furniture Made in the USA Actually Sustainable?

April 22, 2021April 26, 2021 Alexandra Thompson

Last updated on April 26th, 2021 at 11:40 am

How Overseas Furniture Production is Problematic

Fast Fashion Furniture

A lot of the wood furniture you see in stores today is manufactured overseas. Fast fashion furniture is designed to be made as cheap and quickly as possible by cutting corners in the production process. Often the wood is harvested illegally from one of the world’s rapidly disappearing rainforests.

Not only is fast fashion furniture contributing to deforestation, but some brands are abandoning solid wood altogether. Brands like Ikea use particleboard and vinyl designed to look like wood in order to reduce overseas shipping costs. All of our furniture, except for our recycled plastic outdoor chairs, is made out of solid wood because of its long-lasting durability. Our furniture is meant to be enjoyed for a lifetime, not end up in a landfill like 80% of furniture.

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Green Team Profile: Alex Chisholm

April 21, 2021July 8, 2021 Riley Farabaugh

Last updated on July 8th, 2021 at 03:47 pm

Alex joined our sales and operations team in early 2021, and she’s been busy taking orders and soaking up as much training as she can from the rest of the team. We are growing quickly, so Alex is being pushed into the deep end and learning how to swim as she goes. Luckily, she comes to us with some great prior experience, including an interest in furniture and experience in marketing and sales.

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10 Quotes About Deforestation That Will Inspire You To Create Change

April 18, 2021April 21, 2021 Marina McCoy

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 03:59 pm

Logs lay on the forest floor. Image from Unsplash

Forests, rich in biodiversity, thick in oxygen, and natural filters of greenhouse gases (GHG) like carbon dioxide. In one year, one single tree sequesters 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and turns it into oxygen. The amount of oxygen that is released through this process every year, is roughly 260 pounds per tree.

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10 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Support Fast Furniture

April 10, 2021April 22, 2021 Marina McCoy

Last updated on April 22nd, 2021 at 06:04 pm

Furniture: we all come in contact with it every single day. Whether at our home, out in the park, on the sidewalks, or your place of work, chances are you probably saw a table, bench, desk, chair, and other furnishings throughout your day. But have you ever thought about where all of these items go once we are ‘done’ with them?

Well, let’s start off by saying it is the classic tale of the fast fashion industry: mass-produced items that are cheaply made and built to break, but this time it’s about furniture.

Why Fast Furniture is a Problem

Although furniture gives off the perception that it is made to last, most furniture today is made with cheap material, like particleboard, that isn’t durable and is incredibly toxic with chemical resin and plastic coating.

For instance, let’s look at a standard office cubicle. Alone that cubical represents anywhere from 300 to 700 pounds of waste, with the majority of it being complex products – meaning it is non-recyclable – due to the fact it is made up of different materials like metal, wood, particleboard, and plastic.

So if that is just one cubicle, what about all the furniture we have in our homes? How can we support a more sustainable system for furniture?

First things first, we can educate ourselves about the negative effects the fast furniture industry has on the environment. This way, we feel empowered to make more mindful purchasing decisions.

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The Economic Impact of Sustainable Furniture

March 29, 2021April 21, 2021 Alexandra Thompson

Last updated on April 21st, 2021 at 09:56 am

Sustainably managing forests is nothing new in Vermont. According to the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, 75% of the landmass in our state is forest land. Over 2,000 businesses in the state rely on those forests to generate ~$1.5B in annual revenue.

“Vermont’s forest products industry generates an annual economic output of $1.5 billion and supports 10,000 jobs in forestry, logging, processing, specialty woodworking, construction, and wood heating. In addition, Vermont’s forest recreation economy (skiing, etc) generates another $1.9 billion in economic output, and supports 10,000 additional jobs.” – VSJF

Despite all the economic activity dependent on our forests, they’re still growing in size and density.

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2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report

March 16, 2021March 12, 2021 Peggy Farabaugh

Monarchs are in Danger of Extinction

Monarch Butterfly Report 2020-2021 | The News Isn't Good — At Vermont Woods Studios we were founded on an environmental mission: forest and wildlife conservation. We all grew up learning about monarchs in school. Now as adults we work to conserve their habitat here in Vermont and in Mexico where the butterflies over-winter (see above). The 2020-2021 Monarch Butterfly Report shows we have a lot of work to do.

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