There's never been a better time to go "green"—that is, to put the planet at the top of your priority list. The momentum of this fast-growing movement lends us familiarity with words like "recycle" and "sustainable." Most of us already know that we are capable of doing basic but important things that benefit the planet, such as recycling our garbage and re-purposing old items for new uses. But it's hard to go from the mindset of wanting to be eco-friendly to a place of actually being eco-friendly. Our multi-part blog series on going green will advise you on ways to make lifestyle changes—from where you shop to what you buy.

In outfitting your home, you picture yourself shopping for something that's shiny and new, which you will take home in its attractive and secure package. If you were to ask key questions about the production of this product, you might be surprised by some of the answers you get. Where did the parts come from? What was the manufacturing process like? Is the packaging recyclable? Without too much pressure or demand from consumers—yet—for environmentally friendly dining room furniture, the burden is currently on producers to keep the planet in mind.

Facing Deforestation

A select few businesses out there—including Dinette.com—are progressively leading their industries in environmentally friendly practices. Since it is the key to their livelihood, dining room furniture manufacturers understand the importance of buying wood that is sustainable.

Like-minded thinking about sustainability can't come quickly enough: Deforestation is happening at lightning rates. Forests still cover about 30% of the earth's land area, but swaths the size of Panama are lost each year. That equates to an area the size of a football field being chopped down every two seconds. At this current rate of deforestation, it is predicted that the world's rain forests could completely vanish in a hundred years.

Using Renewable Resources

So what do we do? One answer is to make products from resources that are renewable and easily replenished. All of Dinette.com's solid wood dining room furniture is manufactured with 100% plantation-grown, sustainable rubberwood from Malaysia. Malaysian rubberwood is abundant and should stay plentiful, thanks to the strict logging and harvesting policies the national government has put in place. It is also an ideal renewable resource—rubberwood matures in just 20 years and can be replanted as soon as it's harvested, whereas most trees require 50-70 years to mature.

Come back soon for another visit! In Part 2 of our eco-friendly dining room furniture series we'll talk about packaging and manufacturing without waste.