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The Outlook
September 2006
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W e l c o m e
Dovetail's
New Digs!
'tis the season to be moving! As teachers and students moved back to school,
Dovetail moved downtown! Our new address and contact information is: 528
Hennepin Ave, Suite 202, Minneapolis, MN 55403, Tel: 612-333-0430, Fax:
612-333-0432
With greatly improved access to public transportation, we are happily
leaving our cars parked and taking advantage of the buses and trains that
arrive outside our new front step. As best as we can figure, our new move
is helping us eliminate the release of 70 pounds of carbon
dioxide each day.
Compared with private vehicles, public transportation produces, on average,
per passenger mile, 45 percent less carbon dioxide, 95 percent less carbon
monoxide, 92 percent fewer volatile organic compounds, and 48 percent
less nitrogen oxide. And if that doesn’t get you excited, consider
this: According to National Safety Council data, riding the bus is 170
times safer than automobile travel.
Hopefully this move can help us all breathe a little easier!
Please make a note of our new address and contact information and stop
by if you’re in the neighborhood. Oh yes - and enjoy this
month's newsletter!
- Jeff
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I n T h i s I s s u e:
Dovetail News: Local Woods Build Local Homes
An Introduction to Social Marketing: Potential Applications for Forestry
Nanotechnology and the Forest Products Industry: Exciting New Possibilities
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D o v e t a i l N e w s
Local Woods Build Local Homes
Project demonstrates diverse and abundant resources
Minneapolis, Minn. Sept. 18, 2006 – Flooring, siding, cabinets, and
even the bathroom vanities in the Aitkin FSC Home are all coming from local
companies using local woods. “If we could make the kitchen sink out
of wood – we'd probably do that too!,” says Jeff Howe, President
of Dovetail Partners.
“This project really illustrates how many products are available from
local companies and how many of those are made with local resources,”
says Alison Lindburg, Director of Dovetail Partner's Eco-Affordable Housing
Program.
Wood used in the house being built in the City of Aitkin is coming from
trees grown, managed and harvested in Aitkin County. The county-managed
and state-managed lands in Aitkin County are certified by the Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) as well managed. Some private forestlands in the county are
also FSC-certified.
“The forests of Aitkin County are like a do-it-yourselfer's dream,”
according to Ross Wagner, head of Aitkin County Economic Development. “If
it can be made from wood, it can probably be made from wood from our forests.”
The cabinets for the home are being made by Custom Creations in Tamarack,
Minnesota. The owner of Custom Creations, Neil Stecker has been making cabinets
from the local forests for many years. “I like working with the wood
from this part of the world,” says Stecker. “From pine to birch
and everything in between, it is good wood to work with and makes a nice
finished product.”
To read the full article, http://www.dovetailinc.org/News.html#Local
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D o v e t a i l R e p o r t s
All publications are available online at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/publications.html
An
Introduction to Social Marketing
Potential
Applications for Forestry
Kathryn Fernholz
Human behavior underlies a number of problems, including
a number of those related to the environment. From isolated issues such
as littering and low rates of recycling to large scale problems involving
energy consumption and resource depletion, it is human behavior that must
be changed in order to bring about positive change. One of the tools utilized
to influence behavior and encourage more responsible behavior is social
marketing.
Broadly defined, social marketing is the practice of applying traditional,
commercial marketing techniques with the goal of influencing the behavior
of the target audience. Most commonly, the intent is to achieve a positive
social impact.
This report provides an introduction to the concept and practices of social
marketing and the tools of community-based social marketing. To
date, there has been scant use of social marketing for the purpose of
influencing forestry-related behaviors, although potential benefits from
broader use of this approach are now recognized. Perhaps the greatest
opportunity for successfully applying social marketing techniques to forestry
may be related to engaging family forest owners in behaviors that support
improved forest management. Given that there are a variety of human behaviors
impacting the success of sustainable forestry initiatives, social marketing
may be an important tool for influencing these behaviors to achieve positive
change.
To
read the introduction and download the report, click
here.
Nanotechnology
and the Forest Products Industry
Exciting
New Possibilities
Jim Bowyer
Nanotechnology – it's the hottest field of science these days, with
roots dating back to the 1950s. Basically, nanotechnology involves
manipulation of molecular building blocks to create or modify materials
or devices.
The relatively recent development of scientific tools, such as atomic
force and scanning tunneling microscopes that allow measurement and imaging
of extremely small structures, have laid the foundation for this new field
of scientific inquiry and opportunity. Most early work in this
area has focused on carbon and the use of carbon nanotubes (perfectly
straight tubules with diameters of nanometer size, and properties close
to that of an ideal graphite fiber) for applications ranging from microelectrodes
in electrochemical reactions to mechanical reinforcement of a range of
products. Now, efforts to apply nanotechnology to the forest products
field are underway, with the possibilities limited only by the imagination.
To read the introduction and download the report, click
here.
“The Outlook” is the monthly e-newsletter
of Dovetail Partners Inc, a 501c3 non profit corporation.
Dovetail Partners is a highly skilled team that collaborates to develop
unique concepts, systems, programs and models to foster sustainable forestry
and catalyze responsible trade and consumption.
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