Conscious Choice: The Home Depot
The Home Depot is going green.
Five years ago, the company stopped
selling wood sourced from endangered regions of the world like the
tropical forests of the southern Pacific Islands. Now it uses responsibly
logged wood-certified by nonprofit groups such as the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC)-in products ranging from pencils and paintbrushes
to plywood and fencing. The Home Depot also gets 94 percent
of its wood from North American forests, which means less shipping
from long distances and fewer carbon emissions. For those who want
to avoid using wood altogether, the company has shelving, paneling,
and flooring made from straw, a surprisingly sturdy by-product of
wheat farming. To help shoppers find energy-efficient and environmentally
sensitive products throughout the store, Home Depot created
an "Eco Options" logo for labeling compact fluorescent bulbs, watersaving
showerheads, and the like.
