In Pursuit of Carbon Negative

“Too many products today profess to be carbon neutral. The challenge I set myself is to expend less CO2 between the ‘felling to the selling’ of the furniture than would otherwise be absorbed during the tree’s lifecycle.”

In the Winter of 2012, two Ash trees were felled in woodland in Herefordshire. Between the 19th and 29th of August, a group of students and Gareth cycled to the woodland from London, living a low-impact Carbon lifestyle by eating local produce, sleeping outdoors, and not using any electricity. The goal of Carbon Negativity may be an unobtainable dream but whatever carbon was used during this 10-day experiment was recorded and a lifecycle analysis on the products was performed. We attempted to demonstrate the potential for Carbon Negative furniture production in the 21st century by:

Manufacturing a product in the same location as the materials are grown, using only manpower, horsepower, and a drop or two of diesel. Questioning whether a product can remove more Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere than released in its construction; through assessing the Carbon emissions of equipment, lifestyle and transport. Promoting the notion of locality and sustainable production through exhibitions and distribution