Keep Our Rainforest From Turning into Boardwalks

 This is the article i read today in the newspaper. It deviates me that people can be so ignorant to destroy our earth in the name of living large, and being entertained. The article states that Wildwood, NJ is going to use Ipe trees to repair boardwalks, instead of using planks made from recycled plastic like others have done on the Jersey shore. If your see how ridiculous this is please protest this to the end. We dont need to make boardwalks out of wood anymore, recycled plastic planks, last longer, gets rid of our growing garbage dump of an earth, and no splinters!I'm no expert, but nobody's going to care what the boardwalk is made of the only thing they're worried about is partying at the Shore. The only thing people see is money, clubs, rides, and food. I've lived 5 miles from the beach for 22 years and i see all the garbage first hand.  PLEASE HELP! AND PLEASE DONT SUPPORT THE LOGGING OF OUR RAINFORESTS!

the article.....

Wildwood opting for rainforest wood to fix its boardwalk
Sunday, January 11, 2009
BY WAYNE PARRY
NorthJersey.com
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WILDWOOD %u2014 New Jersey's most popular beach town is about to make a decision that has been unpopular with environmentalists around the world %u2014 using wood from the Amazon rainforests to repair a section of its boardwalk.

Wildwood, voted the state's best beach last summer, will become the latest New Jersey community opting for the more durable rainforest wood to build or fix boardwalks. Environmental groups contend tropical rainforests are being wiped out by logging to satisfy demand for this kind of wood.

Mayor Ernest Troiano Jr. said Wildwood reluctantly turned to Brazilian ipe wood only after a shipment of domestically grown black locust wood arrived in unusable condition.

"I'm not advocating tearing down the Brazilian rainforests," he said. "We wanted to use black locust, to do the right thing and the environmentally responsible thing. But the wood we ordered is not the wood that was delivered."

Unless a last-minute alternative can be found, Wildwood will start using ipe within weeks to replace planks in front of the skee-ball arcades, body-piercing stands and fortune teller booths that line its boardwalk.

"We have the boardwalk torn open and it needs to be fixed and ready to go by Easter," Troiano said.

The move comes a year after Ocean City was criticized by environmentalists for using Brazilian ipe to replace part of its own boardwalk. Thousands of protest e-mails from as far away as Australia, the Philippines, South Africa and New Zealand flooded the mayor's computer.

Ipe (pronounced "EE'-pay") is a flowering tree that towers over others in the forest canopy. It can grow to 100 feet. It is Brazil's largest timber export, 50 percent of which is sold to the United States.

The wood looks good, lasts for decades and can support the weight of a police car or fire engine. It also can withstand moisture and the corrosive effects of salt better than other species of wood, making it popular for use in boardwalks.

But environmentalists have been trying for years to promote the use of abundant, domestically grown species like black locust. Wildwood agreed to use black locust for its boardwalk project %u2014 a decision that was hailed by Tim Keating, executive director of Rainforest Relief, a New York volunteer group.

However, a shipment of black locust from a New York supplier showed up with pieces of bark in it, large knots and some cracks.

Environmental groups then suggested Wildwood consider using lumber made from recycled plastic. Belmar and Spring Lake are among Shore towns using it.

But Troiano said the current project has to be done with the same type of wood as ipe or black locust. He also raised aesthetic questions about plastic lumber.

"When people go to a boardwalk, they want to walk on a boardwalk; they don't want a plastic walk," Troiano said. "It's a traditionalist thing. They want wood under their feet."

Keating said he is trying to identify other suppliers of black locust that could be used for the rest of Wildwood's boardwalk project, even if the current three-block section is done with ipe.