What are plants? Plants are the wide range of living organisms on earth that are most known for their ability to make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. Another characteristic that they have is that they have rigid cell walls and this makes them excellent for using as building materials (1).
Which trees do we use for building? We can use softwood and hardwood trees. Softwood trees are wood milled from conifer trees. Conifer trees are any trees that have needles and produce cones. Examples of softwood trees used in construction are cedar, cypress, larch and pine. Wood is one of the most popular building materials and has been used for construction for a lot of years. It is also recyclable and renewable can be fabricated in different shapes and sizes. It also has many advantages compared to other materials because it is also strong. It is used in making things like chairs, tables, chairs, roof, floor etc (2).
Hardwood trees are types of wood that come from deciduous trees, these are trees where leaves fall every autumn. Hardwood trees are also used for construction of walls, ceilings and floors. Why hardwood trees are important is because they take much more time to mature than other types making them very important in the environment.Types of hardwood trees are oak, maple, beach and ash(3).
In some places people are starting to add living plants to the exterior of their buildings. Living plants reflect 30% of the sunlight received and absorb 50%. This reduces the high temperature in houses. When we add plants to the roof, it can last for a very long time and these plants can also serve as fire resistors. Living plants can also reduce energy usage.(4)
1: https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1102-what-is-a-plant
2:https://builderology.com/woodworking-business-opportunities/
3:https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Hardwood
Dear Mary,
I enjoy how in your research post, you not only talked about which plants exist, but also sub-categories and career opportunities for those interested as well.
Here in Canada, I know government sources might be good for helping you with forestry-related research, so I have some resources that may help you out!
Natural Resources Canada – Forests and Forestry: https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/our-natural-resources/forests/13497
Forestry Management Education at the University of British-Columbia: https://forestry.ubc.ca/programs/undergraduate/forestry/forest-resources-management-major/
And if you’re interested in some activities for forestry and your research, I suggest this resource here:
Fun Activities & Resources | Council of Forest Industries: https://www.cofi.org/forest-education/fun-activities-resources/
Hope these help you Mary!
Warmest regards,
Galicia.
Mary,
I really enjoyed your round of research! It was great learning about the different types of soft wood and hard wood! Overall, great job on your round of research! I am looking forward to your future posts!
Here are a few websites that you may find helpful:
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/surviving-in-the-wild-19-common-edible-plants/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7154930/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3315223/
Best of luck!
Hi Mary, it was super interesting reading your post! In this day and age, I believe plants have become such an afterthought in many people’s heads, which really saddens me. Even though most of us know of the positive and integral products that plants provide to us, such as oxygen, we treat them horribly. If, like you mentioned in your post, we used plants intelligently (ex. placing them on the exterior of their buildings to reduce the high temperature in houses), I believe that we could effectively re-integrate plants back into our lives and have them strive once more. Great job with your post!
Some resources you may find useful are:
https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/how-smart-are-plants
https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-01-09/new-research-plant-intelligence-may-forever-change-how-you-think-about-plants
https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/4H/4H35900.pdf
I find this very interesting because I didn’t know that a certain tree should be used for a particular part of building and I think that it is important to know which trees are which and how they should be used.