[unknowns]

As a wood worker, the answer on the post does agreat job. I will add only one more point. Wood working in 99% of cases does not lead to deforestation. In most countries it is hard to buy illegal wood. In South Africa we buy mostly pine where 2 trees are planted for every one sold. These forestries are heavily regulated and protected. They are businesses. The deforestation you usually hear about is in third world countries and not for wood sales but rather for land gain or things like palm oil.

If you are buying wood from a hardware outlet you can pretty much be guaranteed that it is safe wood. Many trees are protected by law nowadays.

In most cases, buying wood products actually increases tree mass globally and decreases pollution.

Buy wood products when you can. You will be planting more trees and decreasing pollution.

[blacksmith_tb]

In terms of product lifecycle, there's no doubt that wood (or bamboo) is a good choice of material, plants are pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and as long as what's built is maintained, that CO2 will remain sequestered. Contrast that with metals (which have to mined and processed, using huge amounts of energy) or plastics (from fossil fuels, also a headache to dispose of). Not to mention wood has grain, making it pleasant to look at.