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The Outlook
December 2006
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W e l c o m e
This month we celebrate the end of another exciting and productive year
at
Dovetail. Over the course of the year, we have produced nearly 30 reports
and commentaries and have responded to hundreds of inquiries about forestry,
certification, eco-affordable housing, and responsible use of materials.
We also are nearing completion of our eco-affordable home in Aitkin, MN
with extensive use of local, FSC-certified products.
Our partnerships have continued to grow, both formally and informally,
with the full time efforts of Alison Lindburg directing our eco-affordable
housing program and the regular contributions of Dr. Jim Bowyer and Matthew
Wenban-Smith to our newsletter. We also currently have 8 interns contributing
to our programs, and are planning on adding a couple new partners for
2007.
We have been blessed by the generosity of our major supporters, especially
the Surdna Foundation, Blandin Foundation, Weyerhauser Family Foundation
and the US Dept of Agriculture! They have helped us make a real difference
this year.
Finally, this wouldn't be a good holiday letter without an appeal for
financial support. Like all nonprofits, our work is funded by those that
believe in what we do. For foundations, at least 90%, if not 100% of their
funding goes toward specific programmatic goals. The challenge is always
in having enough funds to pay for the lights, the rent, and Katie's chai
tea addiction. If you appreciate what we are trying to do please
consider a donation to Dovetail this year. It's really true that every
little bit helps, and we will do all we can to leverage those dollars
to benefit all. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit so your donation is tax deductible
and it is certainly worthwhile.
Thank you for all your great input this year - Happy Holidays and Best
Wishes for the New Year!
-
Jeff - Alison - Jim
- Katie - Matthew
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I n T h i s I s s u e:
Dovetail
Workshop - Presentations Now Available
Forest
Certification & Green Building Programs
Great
Opportunities or Great Big Headaches?
Dovetail
News:
Making
Sure Your Holidays are Green
Dovetail
Commentaries & Reports: Year in Review
A
listing of Dovetail Commentaries & Reports from 2006
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D o v e t a i l W o r k s h
o p
Forest
Certification & Green Building Programs
Great
Opportunities or Great Big Headaches?
Wednesday,
December 13th , 2006
Forest
Products Lab, Madison, WI
First
there was the alphabet soup of FSC and SFI and now there is LEED, GreenGlobes,
and something called “MR7”. This workshop will provide the latest information
about forest certification, the trends in green building programs, and
strategies for the wood and building industry to find opportunity within
the maze of programs and acronyms.
To
download the presentations, click here.
The
Forest Products Society Midwest Section and Dovetail Partners are hosting
this workshop. For more information, please contact Scott Bowe at 608-265-5849,
sbowe@wisc.edu or Dovetail Partners
at 612-333-0430, info@dovetailinc.org
The
work upon which this program is based was funded through a grant awarded
by the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry, USDA Forest Service.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
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D o v e t a i l N e w s
Making Sure Your Holidays are Green
Wreaths from FSC-Certified Forests Available
from Minnesota Cooperative
With the holidays here and your shopping list slowly-but-surely getting
crossed off, there is one thing some families were able to put on that list
and that might be on your list next year - environmentally friendly holiday
decorations.
“The holiday season is a perfect time to think about how our purchases
impact the environment,” says Kathryn Fernholz of Dovetail Partners,
a sustainable forestry non-profit based in Minneapolis.
According to the National Retail Federation, the average consumer plans
to spend about $35 on holiday decorations. In 2002, Americans spent $62
million dollars on artificial trees imported from China.
“There are trade-offs between purchasing real trees and wreaths and
buying ones made of plastic, wire and other manufactured materials,”
says Dr. Jim Bowyer, Director of the Responsible Materials Program at Dovetail
Partners. “There is a convenience factor to artificial decorations,
but there are also negative impacts from their manufacture and from their
eventual disposal.”
One option available to consumers is to buy locally grown decorations.
A group of landowners is Northern Minnesota is helping consumers make the
holidays a little greener with their wreaths made from boughs harvested
from well managed family forests.
“We don't cut trees down for this, we just trim a few bottom branches
and let the rest of the tree keep growing,….its all part of a ‘Firewise'
fuel reduction effort ” says Mark Adams of the Cook County Sustainable
Forestry Cooperative.
The Cook County Sustainable Forestry Cooperative (CCSFC) is a group of about
25 landowners near Grand Marais, Minnesota who have made a commitment to
forest stewardship. For the second year in a row, they have been
producing wreaths from boughs harvested from their forests.
To view photos & read the full article, click
here.
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D o v e t a i l C o m m e n t
a r i e s
All commentaries are available online at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/commentaries.html
Providing the New Congress with the Greatest Power
in the Universe!
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm1106.html
Simply impatient, or just an average customer?
Surviving the drive-thru mentality of consumption
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm1006.html
Seeing double, a tale of two visions
Getting past fears and enabling sustainable behaviors
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0806.html
Looking Controversy in the Eye
The Debate Over the Certification of National Forests
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0606.html
Market-based Certification Systems
Addressing the real interests of the market
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0506.html
Implementing Diversity; Avoiding 1 + 1 = .....1
Benefiting from Gender, Age and Personality Differences
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0306.html
Grieve; Get Over It, and Get Going
Facing Organizational Change
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0206.html
The Survey Results Are In
It's time for 10,000 voices to be heard!
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailComm0106.html
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D o v e t a i l R e p o r t
s
All reports are available online at: http://www.dovetailinc.org/reports.html
Three
Hundred Million and Counting - Questions that Need Discussion
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailPopulation1106.html
Positioning: Who Does Your Customer Think You Are?
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailPositioning1106.html
Combining Organic and FSC Certification of Non-Timber Forest Products:
Reducing Costs, Increasing Options
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailNTFPCert1006.html
What is a "Responsible Material" Anyway?
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailResMat1006.html
An Introduction to Social Marketing: Potential Applications for
Forestry
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailSocialMktg0906.html
Nanotechnology and the Forest Products Industry: Exciting New
Possibilities
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailNanoTech0906.html
Innovations in Design & Construction: Opportunities for the Wood Industry
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailInnov0806.html
FSC Pesticides Policy: Understanding the Intentions & Proposed
Changes
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailFSCPestPolicy0806.html
Have Tropical Woods in Your Product Line? – How to Know
if They Were Harvested Legally, Responsibly
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailTropWood0806.html
Designation of Environmentally Preferable Building Materials -
Fundamental Change Needed Within LEED
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailLEED0606.html
International Standards and Trade Barriers
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailTradeStandards0606.html
Innovations in Family Forest Certification: What's Happening &
What's Needed
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailFForest0506.html
Wood Science Research - Not Trendy, But Absolutely Necessary
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailResearch0506.html
Forest Certification Auditor Qualifications
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailAuditors0406.html
An Environmental Quiz That Can Open the Door to Inquiry and Learning
About Forests & Forestry
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailEnvQuiz0406.html
Biomass Energy - From Farms to Forests an Emerging Opportunity
for Rural America
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailBioenergy0306.html
Conservation Easements to Protect Working Forests
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailEasements0206.html
U.S. Forest Statistics Paint a Picture of Dynamic Growth and Renewal
as Well as Problems Ahead
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailTrends0106.html
Finding New Markets
http://www.dovetailinc.org/DovetailNewMkts0106.html
“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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