makezine.com: Most finishes, even the “green” ones, contain VOCs, or volatile organic compounds, which they emit as fumes or gases. Many VOCs are known to be bad for the atmosphere and for your personal health. An easy VOC test: If it smells bad, it is bad. Never mind the short-term side effects like headaches and nausea, VOCs have been linked to liver, kidney, and nervous system damage as well as an increase in smog and tropospheric ozone. (It’s bad. You can look it up.) So our goal is to find a finish with little to no VOCs that still gets the job done.
2 comments:
It is actually really interesting to think about all the little things that are ingrained in our work that might be damaging to the environment somehow. Maybe it's my lack of experience in the shop, but I truly never considered that wood finishes could be a cause of significant harm. It immediately makes me wonder what other things I’ve brown dependent on that are doing more harm than good. I have said it in comments before, but I used to believe that the arts had an exception when it came to sustainability because we are in pursuit of a more “noble” goal. But once I actually addressed these assumptions I made I came to realize that they were absolutely unfounded. I am very grateful for people like the author of this article for raising the alarm on products like these and hopefully inspiring people to make some small changes in favor of the earth.
This article intrigued my interest because of how I have never thought that much about eco friendly wood finishes. In my years of experience working in wood shops, i had always heard about how bad certain wood finishes were, particularly those which were really old and came in metal cans or tins. Whenever I would stain wood or finishes it, most of the time I would use a water soluble wood stain because of how much safer it is. the worst thing about certain types of wood stain and finishes is that some really unsafe wood stains can really irritate your skin and leave a mark for a long time. Now that we are facing an undeniable climate emergency, it is imperative for us to be aware about how our artistic practices are contributing to the problem of harm to our planet and climate change.
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