1. Wood and wood products in the context of sustainable development

We no longer see the forest for the trees today, as we did in 1980. It seems that a general awareness of environmental issues— –, latent but recently over-hyped by the media, and commensurate with the fears and expectations – —has altered our attitude toward wood, shifting us from a smiling, somewhat condescending affection for a traditional and familiar material, presumed to lie outside the realm of scientific and technical progress (computing, chemistry, medicine, aerospace, etc.), to an intimate rediscovery of a material that embodies ecological intelligence—and thus hope, economy, and balance—to the point of seeing it as a weapon against climate change. The strong message of the Kyoto Protocol (drafted in 1997, launched in 2005 after Russia’s signature) reinforced this attitude by calling on signatory countries to commit in the short term to sustainable development, which includes limiting...