Eco Friendly Green Flooring

Green flooring is a flooring product that is considered to environmental. Dubbing any good “environmental” can mean a wide variety of things. It can mean that something does not possess harmful chemicals, or was not made from organic compound. It may mean that a product is easily recyclable. It may entail that merchandise is not derived from participation in deforestation or the destruction of ecosystems. These are just to name a few of the most obvious and important environmental, or “green” considerations.

So then, what types of flooring are out on the market which passes at least some of these environmental tests? There are a few, and more are becoming available every year due to a transformation in popular perspectives on the individual’s role in inhibiting climate change (global warming is a misnomer because some parts of the planet actually are cooling).

One of the, if not the most popular type of green flooring is bamboo. Bamboo offers a particularly rivalsome alternative to hardwood flooring. It is able to do this because it offers significantly better environmental credentials without a noteworthy reduction in product quality.

How is bamboo environmental?

Bamboo is perhaps one of the best eco-friendly floor covering options because it grows so rapidly. In fact, some types of bamboo during their growing season can rise more than a foot per day! Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plant organisms on the planet. This is an environmental benefit because the faster something cultivates the swifter it can be replaced without causing major harm to local or global habitats. For comparison, it takes most trees that are hewed to make hardwood flooring, 20 years before they can be replaced. Bamboo can be replenished in as little as 3 years, and typically no more than 5. This is a remarkable contrast. It really gives bamboo an eco-edge over hardwood flooring and most other kinds of flooring for that matter.

In addition to its speedy growth rates, bamboo is one of the fastest CO2 converters on the planet. This is actually because it grows it such at remarkable pace. The quick anything develops the more CO2 it can convert into O2. In recognizing the biggest environmental challenge facing mankind in the 21^st century, climate change, and its main stimulant, a vast rise in CO2 present in the atmosphere, this comes as pleasant news. For, with every person who switches from bamboo to hardwood floors, forests can continue to serve their essential functions, eating up CO2, stabilizing and adding nutrients to the soil, preventing major flooding, etc., rather than just struggling to survive. This is not to mention the effect of massive bamboo fields becoming some of the most efficient and effective carbon converting systems along with sea algae.

Green Cork Flooring

What is likely the second most purchased green flooring is cork. So, what makes flooring comprised of cork ecologically valuable?

Cork trees are a truly unique and magnificent species. What makes them particular special is their bark. The bark of a cork tree is extraordinarily thick. This is the reason why insect infestation and devastation are not genuine threats to cork trees. Bugs simply find it extremely difficult to burrow into. As a result of their special bark and adaptability, cork trees are known to survive against the odds in a multitude of environments.

Furthermore, cork trees are basically free of eco-guilt because they do not have to be felled for their cork. That means those acquiring cork whether for use in flooring or to make wine stoppers, do not have to participate in deforestation. This alters the eco-footprint cork products have in a fundamental way. Imagine if other trees could be left alive while they were harvested for commercial applications?

Cork does not give up the features of a great flooring either. I can be stained just as wood an therefore offers a great assortment of shades, designs, and aesthetic accents to compliment a home or business. One simply comparison between cork and hardwood is all that is needed to realize the visual power of cork. Plus, cork lasts just as long as most hardwoods and can be refinished after years and years of use.

So, one really does not have to sacrifice good taste for good earth stewardship. Bamboo and cork offer the best possible flooring solutions.