Going Green with Wooden Houses?

Green is no longer just a colour is a symbol for peace and care for our planet. As I have said it over and over, when most Africans think of Europe and US, they always think of countries of justice, equal rights, care for environment and the first liners for planet green. But when you land your foot on these countries you realize that things are completely different.

My big question is in this current movement of going green and saving the mother earth is, why are houses in the US still built from wood? Even here in Belize. In fact when I got here first I was surprised to see wooden houses.

We don’t have new wooden houses in Kenya, only the old ones built during colonialism are still standing. I don’t even think the government allows building of wooden houses. Even if they would,
who builds a wooden house? In the US as up to now people are still building big beautiful houses from wood and furnish them with everything you could imagine. If you can build and furnish such a fabulous wooden house, why don’t you just build a stone house?

There is too much use of wood, wooden houses all the cabinets built in the house, the flooring…what kind of green environment are we talking about. Isn’t protecting the trees the greenest thing you can do than buying green products from the supermarket? It is so ironic when I see a green wooden house because to build such a house you first have cut a tree to get the wood.

Sometimes I even wonder if the green movement is for real or just a way of businessmen marketing and selling their products. I almost believe the skeptics who say that the global warming is not as a result of pollution on earth but as a result of the heat produced by the sun and we have no control over that.