I'm trying to learn.  Follow me at @mxdwood

A strange and increasingly frustrating conflict is emerging within the FSC community in the US.  It concerns the implementation of some new "social elements" in the latest version of the Chain of Custody standard (FSC-STD-40-004 v.2-1).  This latest version of the standard became effective a year ago, but was make mandatory as of 1 October 2012.  It includes a new section 1.5 entitled "Commitment to FSC Values".  It looks like this: 1.5 Commitment to FSC Values 1.5.1 The organization shall...

The FSC international policy and standards unit (FSC PSU) issued a "PSU Advice" to Certification Bodies late yesterday.  It is meant to address a pending crisis among a number of large US companies who are objecting to the language a required self-declaration document now required of all CoC-certified companies.  The policy advice (FSC-PSU_Letter CBs_10.1.12) does what FSC does best:  it defers a decision to a later date.  But it doesn't defer it much. MixedWood has a couple of high-profile...

20 years? Katie Fernholtz and Jeff Howe just posted an interesting and worthwhile commentary on the Dovetail, Inc. website.  It's worth a read:  http://www.dovetailinc.org/content/beyond-certification I'm note quite sure which anniversary they are celebrating.  The FSC website designates 1993 as their founding year.  I distinctly remember the early days of the SFI program in 1994-95.  How ever you slice it, we've been at this a long time.  I expect that we'll be seeing more retrospectives like...

Here's something I happened upon while shopping for shoes the other day: Of course, I pay more attention to these things than most people do. My first impression wasn't very positive.  The concept behind "OUR FOOTPRINT" is a good one.  Timberland seems to be making an attempt at taking responsibility for their environmental impact.  But the details are a bit weak.  Use of renewable energy: 6.67%.  Is this good or bad?  And what on earth is an "Eco-conscious material"?  The opposite of an...