2016

Wood - a safe material for environment and health

Wood is one of the most unique materials on earth - it is completely natural, and it breathes. Natural wood is a more pleasant and much healthier material than any synthetic solution. JSC "Latvia's State Forests" (LVM) and society "Zaļās mājas" have created an animated film that tells a story of wood as a reliable and renewable material.

Wood is acquired naturally when plants through photosynthesis, convert solar energy into hydrocarbon. Fossil resources will run out with time; in turn, with skilful management, trees on our planet will grow and produce wood eternally.

Today wood may be found anywhere

Thanks to its geographic origin and quality, the wood grown in Latvia is highly suitable for construction and manufacture of various wood products. Growing trees attract carbon dioxide and produce oxygen crucial for each living being. When trees are naturally ageing and dying off in the forest, carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere; but if wood is processed to create everyday products, carbon remains enclosed in it and cannot do any harm to the atmosphere.

Despite the fact that wood is a very resistant material, it is easy to be processed and worked with; therefore wood may be used in almost limitless ways. From simple spoons, modern furnishings and high-rise residential buildings to gas tankers and airplanes. To live in a wooden house is to live in a natural environment.

Currently forests cover more than a half of the territory of Latvia, while a century ago only a third part of the country was occupied by forest. Since the restoration of independence, the area of forestland in Latvia has been increasing, and now Latvia is the fourth most forested country in Europe. Only Finland, Sweden and Slovenia are ahead of us.