ntelligent Consumption Project

Report of the 

A Collaborative Project of the

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory

May 2001

Edited by:

Michael Strigel

Curt Meine

I
Intelligent Consumption Project

Report of the 

A Collaborative Project of the

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

and the

USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory

Madison, Wisconsin

Edited by:

Michael Strigel

Curt Meine

May 2001
Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi

About the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters

and the Forest Products Laboratory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

II. Consumption and Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Consumption and Conservation in Historical Context

Consumption: Patterns, Connections, and Choices

III. Toward Intelligent Consumption: Components of a Strategy . . . . . . . . . 8

Ethics and Moral Authority

Technical and Scientific Information

Research and Development

Public Education

Institutional Incentives and Barriers

IV. Conclusion and Priority Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

V. Literature Cited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Appendix A Intelligent Consumption Project

Working Group Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Appendix B Intelligent Consumption Project 

Workshop Agendas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

REPORT OF THE INTELLIGENT CONSUMPTION PROJECT

Table of 

Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The long and short of the matter is that forest conservation depends in part 

on intelligent consumption, as well as intelligent production of lumber.

Aldo Leopold, “The Home Builder Conserves” (1928)

The Intelligent Consumption Project (ICP), a joint effort of the Wisconsin Academy of

Sciences, Arts and Letters and the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service, 

has sought to explore the role that informed consumer choices can play in shaping conservation

policy and practice, and ultimately in shaping our landscape. Intelligent consumption is viewed

as a critical part of our society’s continuing effort to develop a viable conservation ethic. 

The expected increase in the world’s population within this century will present society with

challenges unprecedented in our history as a species. Not the least of these will be the challenge

of providing food, energy, shelter, clothing, and other goods for an expanding population that 

is increasingly affluent and able to consume. The ICP has examined how intelligent choices,

guided by a consumption ethic, can and should contribute to conservation efforts domestically

and globally.

The ICP has focused on the consumption of wood and wood products, while recognizing 

connections to the effects of consumption more generally. Given trends in human population

growth and the amount of forestland, it is apparent that forest ecosystems will continue to 

be subjected to enormous pressures even in the absence of increased consumption. Sharp reductions in forestland per capita virtually ensure escalating conflict over forest uses. With this

increased pressure we will face difficult challenges in our efforts to maintain the environmental

services and amenity values of forests as we seek to sustain them as a source of needed wood 

and fiber products.

Per capita consumption of wood in the United States is twice the average for other developed

countries and roughly three times the average for the world as a whole (Brooks 1993 and

Solberg 1996). Supporting the expanding world population at anything approaching current

U.S. per capita consumption rates will impose a substantially increased burden on the world’s

ecological systems. Reduced consumption of wood and wood products is an important response

to this state of affairs. However, reduction of wood consumption alone is an inadequate

response. For when we examine wood consumption in a broader context, we find that reduced

wood consumption, if pursued in the absence of reductions of consumption in general, may result in

adverse environmental impacts both within and outside of the United States. These impacts

include likely increases in energy use, the “transfer” of environmental burdens, and the substitution for wood of raw materials that carry their own social and environmental costs. The

environmental impacts of consumption thus involve not only the quantity but also the type of

iii • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
materials being consumed, as well as the type of environmental costs incurred. To ensure that 

consumers have opportunities to make intelligent choices involving wood products, we must

recognize, seek to understand, and communicate these connections.

Any strategy to encourage more intelligent resource consumption will need to be comprehensive, and involve a variety of organizations and interests. Such a strategy should logically include

at least five components: a foundation in ethics and moral authority; access to technical and 

scientific information; research and development on resource efficiencies; public education; 

and institutional incentives to encourage responsible consumer choices. The Intelligent

Consumption Project has examined these components of an “intelligent consumption strategy”

and offers the following recommendations.

Ethics and Moral Authority

To strengthen the ethical foundation for intelligent consumption, the ICP recommends: explicit

recognition of the connections between consumption and environmental quality by opinion

leaders and institutions in various sectors; examination of current approaches to environmental

ethics for their value in illuminating issues related to consumption; greater scrutiny of the consumption messages delivered through advertising and product promotion practices, and the

potential for these practices to be altered to support more informed choices; evocation of a sense

of place, and the commitment to environmental quality it entails, through literature and other

modes of expression; encouragement of study groups and other means of supporting those who

seek to make intelligent consumption choices; and avoidance of the language of shame and guilt

that often accompanies messages regarding ethics.

Technical and Scientific Information

To improve the reliability and availability of technical and scientific information, the ICP 

recommends: establishment of a National Materials Commission; support for a comprehensive

study of the impacts of material use and consumption; updating prior reports on the energy

implications of alternative building materials; establishment of a credible and independent 

clearinghouse for information on the environmental effects of materials use; and development 

of an easily understood rating system to provide consumer information related to the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture, use, and disposal of materials.

Research and Development

To encourage development of new knowledge in support of more intelligent consumption, the

ICP recommends: continued strong support for basic research and development, both within

and beyond the USDA/Forest Service, on efficient use of wood, and on materials use and efficiency in general; preparation of a summary report on recent advances in life cycle analysis and

“environmental footprint” analysis; establishment of broadly agreed-upon protocols for testing

materials as part of life cycle analysis; and support for research in the social sciences on the connections between economic and environmental health and consumption.

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • iv
Public Education

To enhance educational efforts in support of responsible consumption, the ICP recommends:

preparation of basic educational materials related to the production, use, and consumption of

forest products and other materials; promoting exploration of the environmental consequences

of consumption at all educational levels; support for interdisciplinary approaches to consumption-related topics and for critical approaches to “consumer literacy”; tailoring of educational

materials to varied audiences; and encouragement of partnerships to promote ecological literacy

and responsible consumption outside formal educational settings.

Institutional Incentives and Barriers

To improve the institutional and policy context for intelligent consumption, the ICP recommends: immediate consideration of a national materials policy; development of a national

environmental accounting system to trace the impact of material extraction, manufacture, use,

and disposal (refer to life cycle analysis above); fostering a national dialogue on desired future

population and immigration policy and on the efficacy of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a

measure of well being; and evaluation of and, where appropriate, promotion of producer “take

back” laws and economic incentives (e.g. tax credits) designed to create more environmentally

sound consumer products.

Together these recommended actions could help make intelligent consumption a core 

component of conservation in the century ahead.

v • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and the USDA/Forest Service Forest

Products Laboratory gratefully acknowledge all those who have contributed to the Intelligent

Consumption Project. The conference, “Building on Leopold’s Legacy: Conservation for a 

New Century” held by the Wisconsin Academy in October, 1999, provided the seedbed for this

project; we thank the organizing committees of that conference for providing the opportunity.

Chief Michael Dombeck and the USDA/Forest Service provided a grant, as well as institutional

and logistical support, to carry out the project. We thank the Wisconsin Academy’s Council and

Executive Director Robert Lange for their endorsement and support of the project. The diverse

members of the Intelligent Consumption Project Working Group (see Appendix A) brought to

this effort their expertise, open-mindedness, and willingness to work together. Finally, we thank

all those who contributed and reviewed text for this report, especially Janet Abramovitz, Jim

Bowyer, Robb Freda-Cowie, Tom Hamilton, Sue LeVan, Doug MacCleery, Michael Schuler,

and David Tilford.

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • vi
ABOUT THE WISCONSIN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ARTS AND LETTERS

The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters is an independent, nonprofit membership

organization. It was chartered by the Wisconsin state legislature in 1870 with the mission of

gathering, sharing, and acting upon knowledge in the sciences, arts and letters for the benefit 

of the people of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Academy is independently funded by grants, private

endowments, and our members. In keeping with that mission, the Wisconsin Academy conducts

various programs and projects in the sciences and humanities. Its four core programs are:

The Wisconsin Idea at the Academy

This program addresses issues of public concern by convening groups with differing viewpoints,

a role that the Wisconsin Academy, because of its independent status, is uniquely suited to play.

The resulting workshops, meetings, and conferences are designed to gather and share information and, where possible, discover common ground. Under the Wisconsin Idea program, the

Academy is now beginning a review of the sustainability of Wisconsin’s waters. The Intelligent

Consumption Project served as a pilot for this program.

Fall Forums

The Wisconsin Academy’s Fall Forums and other conferences use the same “all players to the

table” model to educate and encourage a thoughtful citizenry to better evaluate controversial

topics and to promote communication among participants and the general public. The forums

address topics that call for timely, multidisciplinary examination — issues that are at a “tipping

point.” Fall Forum 2001 will examine the Bill of Rights in our lives.

Wisconsin Academy Gallery

The Wisconsin Academy’s gallery, which opened in 1974, is the only noncommercial gallery in

the state to feature a different Wisconsin artist every month, with a special themed exhibit once

a year. The juried exhibits showcase both established and emerging artists working in a wide

variety of media. The Wisconsin Academy Gallery will move into the Overture Center, a 

cultural arts center in downtown Madison, in 2004.

Wisconsin Academy Review

The Wisconsin Academy’s quarterly magazine features articles, essays, fiction, and art by many

of our state’s leading artists and thinkers, reflecting our interdisciplinary mission. It is the only

magazine in the state to highlight contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture.

For more information: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, 1922 University

Avenue, Madison, WI 53705-4099. Phone: (608) 263-1692 or visit the Wisconsin Academy 

website at www.wisconsinacademy.org/

vii • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
ABOUT THE FOREST PRODUCTS LABORATORY

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service established the Forest Products Laboratory

(FPL) in 1910 to serve as a centralized wood research laboratory. Since its inception, the FPL

has sought to improve the use of wood through science and technology, thereby contributing to

the conservation and management of the forest resource. Through its research program, the

FPL seeks to expand and understand all aspects of conservation and use of the timber resource.

The programs are accomplished through coordinated partnerships involving industry, university,

and government. The current research program is conducted in five broad areas:

Wood Products

Pulp, Paper, and Composites

Wood Protection

Timber Demand and Technology Assessment

Microbial and Biochemical Technology

To bring research to potential users, the FPL publishes research findings for a variety of groups

including industry, the general public, regulatory agencies, state and private foresters, educators,

and other government agencies and organizations. FPL has published thousands of technical

reports and several major USDA handbooks. More than 100 scholarly journals publish FPL

research results.

For more information: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products

Laboratory, One Gifford Pinchot Drive, Madison, WI, 53705-2398. Phone: (608) 231-9200 

or visit the FPL website at www.fpl.fs.fed.us/

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • viii

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 1

I. INTRODUCTION

The Intelligent Consumption Project (ICP)

has sought to explore an often-neglected

dimension of conservation: the role that ethical consumer choices can and should play in

shaping conservation policy and practice, and

ultimately in shaping our landscape. The 

participants in the ICP consider intelligent 

consumption a critical part of our society’s 

continuing efforts to develop a viable conservation ethic. Our goal has been to consider

how intelligent consumer choices can help

sustain the natural resource base upon 

which all life and any acceptable standard 

of living depend.

The ICP grew out of the October 1999 

conference, “Building on Leopold’s Legacy:

Conservation for a New Century,” hosted by

the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and

Letters and sponsored, in part, by the

USDA/Forest Service. The conference was

held in Madison, Wisconsin, on the occasion

of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication

of Aldo Leopold’s conservation classic A Sand

County Almanac. At the conference, the Forest

Service’s Assistant Director of Forest

Management Doug MacCleery delivered an

address titled, “Is Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic

Only Half a Loaf Unless a Consumption

Ethic Accompanies It?” (MacCleery 1999).

That address provided a conceptual foundation for the project. The ICP has focused

primarily on wood and wood products. This

focus, however, provides the means to understand the patterns and effects of consumption

more generally.

In the decades since the publication of A Sand

County Almanac, both professionals and the

American public have increasingly acknowledged and accepted the proposition that

ethical considerations are woven into the

fabric of our land management philosophies

and practices. The land ethic — as outlined 

by Leopold in 1949 and elaborated since by

ethicists, historians, resource managers, and

conservationists — has become a vital part of

our discussions about human-environment

relationships (e.g. Williams et al. 1997;

Leopold 1999). It has focused attention on the

responsibility that individuals and institutions

have for maintaining and restoring the

“integrity, stability, and beauty” of the land.

Less attention has been given to the question

of how a personal environmental ethic can and

should be expressed in today’s increasingly

urbanized world, where few people have any

direct role or responsibility in managing land.

Although few of us directly manage natural

resources, we all remain resource consumers.

However, recognition of the ethical aspects 

of resource consumption has been limited 

at best. The United States consumes more

resources per capita than any other nation,

and the level of consumption is not 

diminishing (Bowyer 1997). Given these facts,

one of the consequences of working toward

DEFINING INTELLIGENT CONSUMPTION

he Intelligent Consumption Project is based on the premise that we all must take responsibility 

for the choices we make as consumers. To appropriately assume that responsibility we must have

accurate and useful information. The Intelligent Consumption Project has convened a group of leaders

and experts at the interface of conservation and consumption of forest resources to identify needed 

information and to explore methods for imparting and using that information. 

T
2 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

ecological health and sustainability on both

public and private lands in the U.S. has been

to shift the impact of our consumption choices

to ecosystems elsewhere, both within the U.S.

and beyond. This raises two fundamental

questions. First, is it ethical and acceptable to

transfer the impacts of our consumption to

“someone else’s” ecosystems? Second, do our

ever-growing resource demands limit the

capacity of developing nations to meet their

own expanding resource needs? Thus, a key

challenge before us is to address the demand

and consumption side of the resource conservation equation, and not just the supply or

land management side.

As a growing percentage of the world’s 

population industrializes, the U.S. is often

looked upon as a model for behavior.

Supporting growing numbers of people at

anything approaching current U.S. per capita

consumption rates will impose a substantially

increased burden on the world’s ecological

systems. The U.S. has an opportunity — and

an obligation — to lead the way in intelligent

consumption if it is truly serious in its 

commitment to environmental stewardship.

We can and must demonstrate, through our

actions, how a reasonable standard of living

can be supported without excessive and growing per capita consumption.

The Intelligent Consumption Project was

organized to explore further these premises

and their consequences. The ICP has sought,

as one of its primary objectives, to provide

opportunities for cross-sector exchange of

information and ideas on consumption and its

impacts. This objective was met through a

series of three daylong forums to enhance

awareness of issues related to forest product

consumption, obstacles to progress, and

opportunities to overcome those obstacles.

The first forum was held on June 12, 2000, 

in conjunction with the annual meeting of the

Society for Conservation Biology in Missoula,

Montana. The second forum took place in

Madison, Wisconsin, on July 19-20, 2000.

The third forum convened on October 2,

2000, in Washington, D.C., at the U.S.

Department of Agriculture. Appendix B

includes agendas from the three forums. 

This report summarizes findings and recommendations produced during the three forums

and other meetings of ICP participants.

ALDO LEOPOLD AND INTELLIGENT CONSUMPTION

ldo Leopold was trained as a forester at the Yale Forest School and received an appointment with

the U.S. Forest Service in 1909. He worked in the Forest Service for nineteen years, and served

from 1924 to 1928 as assistant director of the Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin.

Leopold’s varied career as a forester, wildlife ecologist, conservationist, environmental philosopher, 

educator, and writer had a lasting impact on the course of twentieth century conservation science, policy,

and practice. He published prolifically, and his book A Sand County Almanac, published in 1949, is

widely regarded as a conservation classic. The Intelligent Consumption Project draws its title and spirit

from a 1928 essay “The Home Builder Conserves,” in which Leopold writes, “The long and short of 

the matter is that forest conservation depends in part on intelligent consumption, as well as intelligent

production of lumber.”

A
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 3

II. CONSUMPTION AND

CONSERVATION

Human consumption of natural resources is 

a given; the level and type of consumption —

and the excessive degradation of natural

resources as a result of human consumption —

are not. These, at least, are the premises on

which the conservation movement and, more

recently, the concept of sustainability have

rested. The Intelligent Consumption Project

has explored questions that challenge all who

are concerned with the health of forest ecosystems and the impact of human demands upon

them. In asking these questions, the ICP has

provided an opportunity to explore new

ground in conservation.

Consumption and Conservation in

Historical Context

In North America, the forest conservation

movement arose largely out of the experience

of unchecked forest exploitation in the eastern

part of the continent during the latter half 

of the 1800s and the early 1900s (Williams

1989). The waste and ruin associated with that

experience gave rise in the first decade of the

twentieth century to the Progressive Era 

conservation movement that emphasized 

the efficient use and scientific management 

of forests. Others in the early decades of the

conservation movement emphasized the protection of unexploited forestlands (Fox 1981).

This historic split between utilitarian and

preservationist approaches shaped debates

about the course of conservation throughout

the twentieth century. During that time, however, events continually altered the context of

forest conservation. Scientific understanding

of forest systems evolved. The social and 

economic demands upon forests changed. 

The philosophical and cultural foundations 

of conservation shifted. By the late 1930s,

conservationists had begun to explore how 

the emerging science of ecology challenged

the assumptions of both the utilitarian and

preservationist “schools” of conservation.

“Conservation is our attempt to put human

ecology on a permanent footing,” Aldo

Leopold wrote in 1942. Part of the strategy

for doing so, he suggested, involved “hitching

conservation directly to the producer-consumer relation” (Leopold 1942).

Aldo Leopold and others of his generation

began to define a new approach to conservation, one that sought to overcome the

traditional utilitarian/preservationist split in

the conservation movement by emphasizing

the need to protect the diversity and function

of healthy ecosystems even while meeting

multiple human needs (Meine 1995). This delicate synthesis, however, was soon to feel the

pressure of growing social and economic pressures in a post-World War II society that was

striving for higher standards of living.

The emergence of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s again changed

the context of forest conservation.

Environmentalism brought to the forefront a

broad range of issues associated with land, air,

and water pollution, pesticide use, and population growth, as well as increasingly intensified

and specialized approaches to resource management. At the same time, the environmental

movement itself often intensified divisions in

society between urban and rural dwellers,

recreationists and other resource users, 

consumers and producers, and resource 

management professionals and citizens.

Recently, new fields have emerged to overcome these divisions and provide more

integrated approaches to conservation:

restoration ecology, conservation biology,

landscape ecology, and sustainable agriculture

and forestry, among others. In the land 
4 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

management professions and agencies, ecosystem management and community-based

conservation have sought to define new

approaches to managing for ecosystem health

at both broader and more local scales (Knight

and Bates 1994; Bernard and Young 1997).

In the forestry arena, we have also become

more keenly aware of the overall values forests

provide aside from the traditional timber crop.

The top 150 non-wood forest products traded

internationally are worth over $11 billion per

year (not counting the even greater local value

of these products) and employ millions of

people (Abramovitz 1998). Forests shelter

countless species and provide habitat for other

useful organisms that pollinate crops and control disease-carrying pests. Forest ecosystems

provide services whose worth we have only

begun to assess. These include protection of

soil and water resources, moderation of flooding cycles, provision of recreational and

aesthetic benefits, and sequestration of carbon.

TRENDS IN CONSUMPTION — THE BASICS

er capita consumption of wood in the United States is twice the average for other developed

countries and roughly three times that of the world as a whole (Brooks 1993). After dropping

substantially between 1900 and 1970, annual per capita consumption of wood in the United States

increased by 16 percent between 1970 and 1997, from 63.7 to 74.0 cubic feet (Howard 1999). This

was driven largely by increased use of wood fuels used in industrial processes after the oil embargoes of

the 1970s. When the growing U.S. population is combined with this 16 percent per capita consumption

increase, we see a substantial expansion of total wood consumption. Since the 1960s, the total increase

in wood consumption in the United States has been about 50 percent, growing from 12.1 billion cubic

feet in 1965 to 18.1 billion cubic feet in 1997 (Howard 1999).

The dominance of wood as an industrial raw material in the U.S. is clear. In 1998, wood comprised

about 45 percent of the weight of all basic construction materials consumed in the United States in that

year (Bowyer 2000). Today, the United States consumes almost as much wood, on a tonnage basis 

as the total for most other raw materials combined, including cement, steel, aluminum, plastics, and

copper (Koch 1991).

Indeed, it is important to note that residents of the United States consume far more of almost everything

than other nations. In 1998, for example, the U.S. per capita consumption of steel, aluminum, Portland

and masonry cement, and plastics was 3.2, 6.9, 1.5, and 6.4 times higher, respectively, than global per

capita consumption of these materials (Bowyer 1997). Thus, if the level of U.S. consumption is a legitimate concern, then the issue extends well beyond the consumption of wood alone.

In contrast to growing per capita consumption of wood in the United States, global per capita wood 

consumption has actually declined slightly in recent decades, from 28.2 cubic feet in 1960 to 26.5 cubic

feet in 1995 (Solberg 1996). During that same period however, overall world consumption of wood —

including wood fuel and industrial wood — has grown by 60 percent to over 116.5 billion cubic feet.

This is due to the fact that, since 1960, the world’s population has grown by 90 percent and the global

economy has more than tripled in size (Brooks 1997; FAO 1997). Globally, the weight of wood consumed exceeds the weight of all metals and plastics consumed combined (Bowyer 1997).

P
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 5

Our efforts to define intelligent consumption

can be seen as part of our effort to re-integrate

conservation upon a broader foundation of

values. It grows out of the basic realization

that people use wood and wood products and

will continue to do so. However, it is based 

on the conviction that people may think 

more critically about the effects of their 

consumption, and make more intelligent

choices, if provided with the necessary tools

and knowledge.

Consumption: Patterns, Connections, 

and Choices

Concern about the degradation of soil and

water, the loss of biodiversity, climate change,

and other known and suspected consequences

of forest exploitation have brought increased

attention to forest product consumption

habits around the world (Gardner-Outlaw and

Engelman 1999). These concerns have stimulated conservationists to explore appropriate

responses. With the United States consuming

a disproportionate share of forest resources

and other materials, it is clear that any comprehensive strategy for forest conservation

must address reduced consumption. Reduced

consumption of wood and wood products can

relieve some of the current pressures on U.S.

and global forests and help ensure that the

growing world population will have adequate

forest resources in the future. However, the

nature of these reductions must involve a 

variety of strategies, encompassing both

increased producer efficiency and alternative

consumer choices. 

Even apart from the question of per capita

consumption levels, the general trend in

human population growth has, and will continue to, place enormous pressure on

forestlands in the U.S. and around the world.

In less than four decades, per capita forest area

has fallen by more than 50 percent from a

global average of 3.0 acres (1.2 hectares) in

1960 to 1.5 acres (0.6 hectares) in 1995

(Gardner-Outlaw and Engelman 1999). Given

a projected world population of roughly 11

billion by the end of this century, the amount

of forestland for each person in the world will

shrink to between 0.7 and 0.8 acres (0.3

hectares) by the year 2100, even assuming

zero loss of forests over the next 100 years

(Bowyer 2000). 

In the United States the story is much the

same. The area of U.S. forestland has

remained relatively stable between 1920 and

1998 after declining by one third during the

1800s. Yet the more than doubling of the population during that same period had the effect

of reducing forest area per capita from 9.5

acres (3.8 hectares) to 2.7 acres (1.1 hectares).

If projected increases in human population hold

true, the area of forest per capita in the United

States will be more than halved by the end of the

century, to about 1.3 acres (0.4 hectares) (Bowyer

and Stockmann 2001). Sharp reductions in

forestland per capita virtually ensure escalating conflict over forest uses. We will face

difficult challenges in our efforts to maintain

the environmental services and amenity values

of forests even as we seek to sustain forests as

a source of needed wood and fiber products.

The predicted increases in the world’s population within this century will present society

with challenges unprecedented in human history. Not the least of these will be the

challenge of providing food, fuel, shelter,

clothing, and durable and non-durable goods

of all kinds for a large and expanding population that is increasingly affluent and able to

consume. As many as one billion new dwelling

units globally will likely be needed within just

the next fifty years (Bowyer 2000). Providing

for this increasing world population in an

equitable fashion is the challenge for leaders

in conservation and beyond.
6 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

Citizens in the U.S. and other industrialized

nations enjoy high standards of living, in part

due to imports of energy and industrial raw

materials from developing nations. While

developed nations are substantially reliant on

imported raw materials to support high

domestic consumption levels, growing numbers of citizens in developing nations are

economically able to consume at levels well

beyond those of even the recent past.

Consequently, global consumption of energy

and material resources is increasing rapidly, in

some cases more rapidly than population. Per

capita consumption of a number of basic

materials and products (i.e. aluminum,

Portland cement, plastics, paper, and paperboard) continues to increase even in the

United States (Bowyer 2000).

The Intelligent Consumption Project has

been concerned primarily with the consumption of wood and wood products. However,

wood consumption cannot be considered in

isolation from the consumption of materials

more generally. Forest products are only one

possible focal point for a much broader consideration of the impacts of consumption.

Consumption of all materials is an issue of

concern for the United States for several 

reasons, including: (1) its implications for the

nation’s balance of payments; (2) the reality 

of growing global competition for industrial

raw materials; (3) the domestic and global

environmental impacts of U.S. materials 

consumption; and (4) the equity issues that

consumption necessarily entails. But what

results might we anticipate if the consumption

of wood alone were to be reduced? Contrary to

expectations, the result could be highly adverse

to the environment in the U.S. and globally.

Reduction of wood consumption, without

accompanying success in reducing consumption in

general, would likely lead to a number of 

undesirable consequences, including:

• the substitution of other, often less environmentally benign, raw materials for wood; 

• a substantial increase in metallic and 

non-metallic mineral extraction globally,

with the associated social and environmental

impacts of mining, minerals reduction, and

metals production; 

• a substantial increase in energy use, with

associated environmental impacts; and 

• a substantial increase in U.S. net imports,

accompanied by transfers to other countries

of environmental impacts associated with

basic raw materials extraction and processing.

Emerging life cycle inventory (LCI) data and

life cycle analyses (LCA) from research groups

around the world indicate that some environmental impacts traceable to forest harvest and

wood use are significantly lower than impacts

associated with potential substitutes for wood.

This is the case even when high rates of recycling of the potential substitutes are factored

in (Bowyer 2000).

Thus, to focus on the reduction of wood 

consumption alone may be ineffective or even

counter-productive from an environmental

perspective if the result is merely to substitute

for wood the consumption of other raw 

materials. The environmental impacts of 

consumption involve not only the quantity but

also the type of materials being consumed, as

well as the type of environmental costs incurred.

To allow consumers to make more intelligent

choices as consumers of wood products, we

must recognize, research, and communicate

information about these complex connections.

In sum, if the objective of intelligent consumption is to encourage changes in

consumption choices to provide environmental benefits:
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 7

• Efforts cannot focus exclusively on one

material, unless such efforts are dedicated

solely to increased efficiency of its production and use.

• A “one-material-at-a-time” approach is

likely to lead to negative and possibly 

substantial unintended consequences, 

again unless efforts are strictly dedicated 

to increased efficiency of material production and use. 

• Consideration must be given to the reduction of consumption generally. 

• Macro-issues must be recognized and

addressed. These include global trade, 

population and consumption patterns; 

environmental trade-offs (in both the

domestic and international arenas); and 

the capacity of economics to account for

benefits derived from shifting consumption

patterns.
8 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

III. TOWARD INTELLIGENT

CONSUMPTION: COMPONENTS

OF A STRATEGY

Any strategy to encourage intelligent resource

consumption must be comprehensive. It

would necessarily encompass a wide variety 

of organizations and interests. Such a strategy

should logically include at least five 

components: a foundation in ethics and/or

moral authority; technical and scientific 

information to guide consumption choices;

research and development of more efficient

resource utilization technologies; public 

education; and institutional incentives to

encourage desirable administrative, economic,

and structural behavior.

Ethics and Moral Authority

The ICP working group explored this component of a strategy by first asking a series of

basic questions. Is there, in fact, an ethical

(as opposed to purely scientific and expedient)

dimension to the consumption question? Is 

it desirable to formulate ethical positions and

make a moral/ethical case for altering our 

patterns of consumption? ICP participants

gave a unanimous “yes” to these questions.

The group achieved a general consensus on

the following points:

• American values with respect to the 

environment are in the “right place” but

occupy a relatively low position in the

American moral/ethical hierarchy. Access 

to information is part of the problem, 

but getting people to take the environment,

in particular the issue of consumption, more

seriously is a more significant challenge.

• Compartmentalized thinking in America is

common and may lead to the embrace of

contradictory beliefs and values, including 

consumption patterns that may damage

valued natural resources.

• Advertising and marketing interests 

are remarkably effective at promoting 

consumption. For an ethic of intelligent

consumption to take hold, the power 

of the mass media must be taken into 

consideration.

• Faith communities and other small 

mediating institutions can play a role in

emphasizing the importance of environmental quality and the link between stewardship

and consumption. This may be achieved 

for the faith communities by drawing upon

traditional religious teachings, which 

include the ethics of “moderation” and 

“just enough.”

Establishment and communication of ethical

and moral guidelines as a basis for limiting

consumption is, then, clearly a fundamental

component of any strategy for changing the

habits of American consumers. However, this

is an especially difficult undertaking given the

“culture of consumption” that currently exists

in the United States. The ethical and moral

authority for such a thrust can, and has, come

from a variety of possible sources: opinion

leaders in government agencies and academia,

conservation groups, and religious institutions, as well as the resource-producing

industries. To be truly effective, this message

should ideally come from a wide variety of

credible sources and opinion leaders. This

broad authority would help strengthen the

ethical foundation for addressing consumption

issues, just as Leopold’s writings provided an

ethical foundation for land use and resourcemanagement issues.

While the Forest Service could be a catalyst

for and supporter of the consumption ethic

message, that message should properly be
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 9

coming primarily from other sources and

opinion leaders. In recent years, faith-based

organizations have increasingly taken up the

cause of conservation. They are logical and

appropriate candidates for raising awareness 

of the issue of consumption. The

Unitarian/Universalist Church, for example,

has adopted a position in favor of an ethical

foundation for consumption choices

(Davidson 2000). Other individuals and

organizations with public credibility and key

leaders in the natural resource management

professions are logical candidates for carrying

the message of responsible consumption to 

the public, media, and others.

There is no question that developing the

moral authority for a consumption ethic will

be a formidable task. Organizations representing both environmental and commodityproduction interests have found reasons to be

leery of the consumption issue. Some environmental groups are suspicious that those raising

the issue of environmental transfer effects are

simply seeking justification for increased commodity production on public lands. Moreover,

some of the major financial supporters of

environmental causes would, under scrutiny,

have to acknowledge their own high per capita

consumption rates and their own stake in 

continued consumption patterns. At the same

time, some commodity groups are also understandably leery of taking on this issue. Most of

these groups have traditionally assumed that

increased consumption — especially of “their”

commodities — is an unquestioned good.

Regarding high rates of consumption as

morally questionable plainly places them in 

an uncomfortable position. 

The moral challenge is complicated by other

factors as well. Our economic system is poorly

equipped to encourage or reward producers

who strive toward social and environmental

accountability. Divisiveness within the conservation/natural resources “community” in the

U.S. can be a significant barrier to cooperation in addressing consumption issues. Finally,

the international trade, equity, and population

questions raised by the issue of consumption

are difficult, complex, and often controversial.

To advance the ethical and moral component

of an ‘‘intelligent consumption” strategy, the

ICP group recommends the following strategies and actions: 

Investigate and make explicit the connections between over-consumption and

environmental degradation. As we have

seen, these connections can often be complex

and simple answers elusive. However, the

process of exploring such connections and

exploring alternatives is itself valuable in 

promoting a stronger moral foundation for

intelligent consumption.

Compare and evaluate current approaches

in environmental ethics for their value in

illuminating issues related to consumption.

The strengths and weaknesses of existing

“schools” of environmental ethics (e.g., the

“stewardship” ideal or the “deep ecology”

approach) should be compared and evaluated.

One ethic that provides a potential bridge

between science and ethics is the “consequentialist” approach to ethics, which focuses on

the outcomes, rather than the motivations, of

behavior. A focus on this approach may help

resolve the apparent disconnect between the

environmental values people espouse and the

behaviors in which they engage.

Undertake a thorough moral and practical

critique of advertising and product promotion. These parts of the modern economic

“engine” have long been subject to critical

analysis and commentary (e.g. Stauber and

Rampton 1995). Progress in promoting more

intelligent consumption hinges not only 
10 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

on criticizing those promotion techniques 

that encourage unwise consumption, but recognizing how promotion may contribute to

wiser choices.

Promote and use literature that encourages a sense of place. We have separated

consumption from its impacts in both our

landscapes and our imaginations. In recent

years a body of literature has emerged that

serves to reconnect people to the places where

they live, work, and play (e.g. the works of

Wallace Stegner, Wendell Berry, Scott Russell

Sanders, and Terry Tempest Williams).

Opinion leaders from various sectors can draw

upon such writings to help people develop a

sense of place and sensitize adults and children

to the effect their choices have not only on

their own backyards, but the “backyards” of

others. This seems to be a necessary step

toward the closer integration of a land ethic

and a consumption ethic.

Explore and develop models for study

groups that could support individuals in

making more intelligent consumption

choices. Faith communities, neighborhoods,

service clubs, and consumer cooperatives have

sponsored such study groups on other issues.

Reviewing the efforts of groups that have

already addressed consumption as a theme

would certainly yield useful insights.

Avoid the language of shame and guilt that

often accompanies messages regarding

ethics. As a general theme, intelligent 

consumption is positive both ethically and in

terms of human happiness. The Dalai Lama

has remarked that the goal of religion and

ethics ought to be the advancement of human

happiness and compassionate care for the 

sentient universe. This is the positive spirit 

we should seek to promote in conveying the

need for more intelligent consumption.

Technical and Scientific Information

Even if the moral foundations for a consumption ethic were to be strengthened and

broadly accepted, important information

would still be needed to put that ethic into

practice. Information on many aspects of the

consumption issue is still lacking or difficult to

access. To move toward more responsible 

consumption, readily available information 

on several dimensions of the issue would be

needed: 1) information comparing the energy

and other environmental implications of alternative consumption choices; 2) information 

on the environmental, economic, and other

implications of U.S. consumption domestically

and internationally; 3) exploration of whether

economic growth and expansion can occur at

the same time resource consumption rates are

declining; and 4) information as to how rising

human populations and per capita consumption in the rapidly industrializing world are

likely to affect the natural environment

around the world.

The first of these dimensions involves the

consumers’ need for reliable information on

the full costs, benefits, and tradeoffs associated

with raw material production and transport,

product manufacturing, product use, and final

disposal. The situation demands broadly

accepted, standardized procedures and protocols under which such information can be

gathered and disseminated. It requires, as well,

opportunities for independent verification of

claims. Labeling and certification programs

have begun to fill this need, but these programs must continue to evolve as scientific

understanding advances.

The USDA/Forest Service research community has an important role to play in this

arena. In the 1970s the Forest Service cooperated in a major study titled Renewable Resources

for Industrial Materials, better known as the
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 11

CORRIM Report (National Research

Council, 1976). The report, named for the

Committee on Renewable Resources for

Industrial Materials (CORRIM) that created

it, examined the energy implications of several

alternative building materials including wood,

brick, steel, aluminum, concrete, and others. 

A CORRIM II initiative is currently underway, involving a consortium of U.S.

universities, the USDA Forest Service Forest

Products Laboratory, the National Forest

Products Laboratory of Canada (FORINTEK), and the Athena Sustainable Materials

Institute. This group, known as the

Consortium for Research on Renewable

Industrial Materials, is making progress on

updating and expanding CORRIM I data, 

and through the Athena Sustainable Materials

Institute is working to link its efforts to development of a U.S. national database. However,

significant additional funding is needed in the

near term to provide timely baseline information for consumer decision-making.

“Life cycle analysis,” or LCA, in which all of

the energy and other environmental implications of the manufacture, use, and disposal of

various materials are systematically evaluated,

has been proposed as a significant emerging

approach for intelligent decision-making. 

This work is expensive and complicated and

requires new approaches to collaboration,

often among competing interests and industries. Its promise has yet to be fully realized.

The Forest Service and others could play a

leadership role in this area as well.

The second key information need is to identify the “environmental transfer” implications

of U.S. resource consumption. This includes

information on how U.S. consumption patterns are affecting ecosystems in both the U.S.

and other nations. As an example, it is important to know the extent to which U.S. wood

demand is affecting primary and/or oldgrowth forests in other countries, and how

these impacts may be mitigated through establishment of environmentally sound high-yield

plantations both in the U.S. and on existing

degraded tropical sites. Given the current lack

of comprehensive information on this topic,

interest groups inevitably offer varying claims.

Reliable information is needed to help inform

public debate on this and other issues.

The other information needs noted above 

are self-explanatory. As noted elsewhere in

this report, it is important to note that 

consumption cannot be fully addressed apart

from the interrelated issues of the human

economy, human population growth, equity,

and environmental impacts. Intelligent 

consumption requires a conceptual framework

that can more thoroughly integrate economics

and ecology.

The ICP working group sought to assess the

existing state of affairs on the quality, usefulness, and availability of technical and scientific

information to support intelligent consumption choices. The group agreed on a proposed

mission statement for this component of an

intelligent consumption strategy: Make available nationally authoritative information that

motivates people to make informed intelligent consumption choices.

The group felt strongly that, to be effective,

information and the audiences for that 

information must be carefully considered 

and targeted. For example, groups such as

American Association of Retired Persons and

the Consumers Union provide opportunities

to reach large numbers of people, but messages must be refined to address the issues of

concern to these groups. It is also clear that

consumers need to know specifically what they

can do to reduce the adverse environmental

effects of their consumption choices.
12 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

To support the scientific and technical 

information needs of an intelligent consumption strategy, the ICP group recommends 

the following:

Establish a National Materials

Commission. Recognizing the importance of

gathering and synthesizing available technical

and scientific information on the environmental and other implications of materials

manufacture, use, and disposal, the ICP group

sees the need for a National Materials

Commission. The principal functions of this

commission would be to develop a national

materials policy and to provide guidance for

authoritative research in support of more

intelligent consumption. (See further discussion below.)

Support an authoritative study of the

impacts of material use and consumption.

A more fully developed national study is

needed to consider how the use of materials 

in the U.S affects energy consumption, 

climate change, trade, the quality of the 

environment in the U.S. and other nations,

and related topics. Such a study might be 

carried out by the National Research Council

in cooperation with the President’s Council 

of Economic Advisors, the Council on

Environmental Quality, the Department of

Energy, the Environmental Protection

Agency, and the USDA/Forest Service, among

other relevant agencies.

Find mechanisms for substantially 

increasing funding of the CORRIM II 

initiative and development of a national

database for life cycle inventory and 

analysis information. As noted above, the

CORRIM Report is outdated due to changes

in manufacturing and construction practices,

the availability of alternative construction

materials, and methods of analysis.

Establish a credible independent 

clearinghouse for information on the 

environmental effects of materials use. 

The ICP recognizes such a clearinghouse as

an important need, but came to no single conclusion as to the most appropriate forum or

forums for doing so. Suggestions included: 

the National Research Council (NRC), 

the National Science Foundation (NSF), 

the American National Standards Institute

(ANSI), the American Society for Testing and

Materials (ASTM), and the National Institute

of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Develop an easily understood rating

system to provide consumer information

related to environmental impacts.

Appliances now carry energy efficiency labels

and food products carry dietary labels.

Consumers would similarly benefit from a

product rating system that provides a broad

spectrum of information related to the environmental effects of the manufacture,

packaging, use, and disposal of the product.

We do not yet have the metrics to develop 

an easily understood “ecolabeling” and rating

system, but this should not prevent deliberate

movement toward that objective. The proposed commission, as part of its efforts, may

take this a step further by reviewing current

labeling and rating protocols.

Research and Development

Research and development plays an essential

role in the effort to achieve more intelligent

consumption and is closely related to the

available technical and scientific information

discussed in the previous section. Assessing

fully the quality and quantity of existing

research and development efforts was a task

beyond the scope of the ICP. The ICP 

working group did attempt, however, to 

frame this component of an intelligent 

consumption strategy. 
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 13

In so doing, it was building upon a strong

existing foundation of research and within the

USDA/Forest Service. The Forest Products

Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, has been a

world leader in the development of technologies for more efficient use of wood since it was

established in 1910. As the Lab continues to

evolve, opportunities to contribute to the

overall goal of more intelligent consumption

will continue to make it a center for advanced

research and development. 

In support of the research and development

needs of an intelligent consumption strategy,

the ICP working group recommends:

Support continued research and development, both within and beyond the

USDA/Forest Service, in support of more

efficient production processes involving

forest products. The Forest Service should

continue and expand existing efforts to

advance new technologies that provide products from currently unused, poorly used, and

reused material. Additional support may be

needed to encourage public acceptance of

these products in lieu of products that are currently used.

Support research and development in

materials use and efficiency. Beyond

research and development on forest products

per se, we need to restore our capacity for

improving efficiencies in material use, 

recovery, reuse, and recycling generally. 

Such a renewed focus is key to the objective 

of intelligent consumption. Seeking and cultivating broader constituencies that will support

such investments is seen as essential. It is also

important to undertake research that explores

the connections between use and reuse of

forest products and other materials.

Summarize the state of life cycle analysis

and “ecological footprint” analysis. These

techniques for understanding the environmental impacts of material use have emerged and

evolved rapidly in recent years. As discussed in

the “Technical and Scientific Information”

section, life cycle analysis (LCA) refers to the

examination of the total environmental impact

of a product through every step of its life —

from obtaining raw materials all the way

through production, distribution, use, and 

disposal (Goldberg 1992). The “ecological

footprint” is the measure of how much 

ecologically productive land and water a

defined population unit needs to support its

current consumption and to take care of its

wastes (Rees and Wackernagel 1996). A 

summary of these and other emerging analytic

tools would be very helpful at this stage. 

This summary should be accessible to a broad

audience. It should identify needs and gaps

and provide recommendations for addressing

them. Their application to real world situations should be emphasized.

Support interdisciplinary research in the

social sciences that examines critical 

connections between economic and 

environmental health and consumption.

Research related to the consumption of traditional forest products and other materials is

generally undertaken in isolation from social

and economic dimensions of consumption 

patterns. More extensive interdisciplinary

research (coordinated perhaps through the

Forests Products Laboratory or the National

Research Council) is needed on such questions. In particular, research should examine

assumptions about the connections between

economic growth and materials consumption;

between economic health and economic

growth; and between quality of life and 

materials consumption.
14 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

Public Education

To complement the ethical, informational, 

and research efforts described above, a major

educational effort is needed to allow the 

general public to make more intelligent 

consumption choices. However, it must 

be recognized that there is no single 

“general public” that we need to reach.

Rather, there are many different audiences

within society, each with different values, 

consumption patterns, and ways of receiving

and acting upon information.

The Forest Service is in an especially favorable position to stimulate broad educational

efforts. Through its rejuvenated efforts in

conservation education, the Forest Service 

can disseminate important information on the

environmental implications of personal consumption choices. The Forest Service can also

focus attention on consumption by encouraging and working actively with a wide variety of

other public and private sector organizations

involved in conservation education.

In its discussion of educational needs, the 

ICP working group considered past models of

social change (from the civil rights movement

to environmentally related campaigns such as

Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl), and concluded that public education is a key element

in bringing about large-scale behavior changes

in the public. The group developed and

agreed to a general mission statement: Provide

information to assist individuals and organizations

in making the best choices to sustain the natural

resource base upon which all life depends and from

which any acceptable standard of living is derived. 

The group agreed on the following 

general points:

• Educational institutions need to do more to

teach students and inform the general public

about natural processes and resources, the

production processes that convert natural

resources into consumable goods, and the

ramifications of our consumer choices. 

• Educators are often inundated with curricula

(many of which promote the agendas of

those who produce them) and need some

way of assessing the accuracy and objectivity

of a particular curriculum. 

• There is difficulty in addressing issues of

human population growth as they relate to

consumption, but both “sides” of this equation will benefit from more open discussion

of the relationship.

• Values are an important component of 

successful social change efforts (as seen, 

for example, in anti-smoking campaigns).

The values that most people respond to 

and motivate them to act are health (selfinterest) and providing for children and

future generations (stewardship). 

• It is counter-productive to blame consumers

or demand that people simply accept

reduced standards of living. Effective public

education campaigns must emphasize positive values (such as fulfillment, as opposed 

to simple materialism) and informed choices

(knowing the consequences of our actions —

the essence of intelligent consumption).

Given these educational challenges and opportunities, the ICP working group recommends

the following:

Develop basic educational materials

related to the production, use, and consumption of forest products. Educators have

already requested that informational materials

developed in the course of the ICP be provided for classroom use. As an immediate next

step, the ICP working group recommends
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 15

preparation of a standard package of educational materials to fulfill this need in a more

formal way. In the long run, a generally

respected clearinghouse of information 

is needed to help develop and disseminate 

reliable information.

Promote exploration of the environmental

consequences of consumption at all educational levels. Exploration of the connections

between consumption and environmental

impacts should be encouraged throughout 

the full continuum of educational settings,

from K–12 through college, graduate, and

professional schools, and including adult 

education and other formal and informal

learning environments. As an initial step, educators, working with others, should develop a

“thought piece” on how the educational

system (K–12 and institutions of higher learning) can address issues related to consumption.

Support interdisciplinary approaches to

consumption-related topics. Intelligent 

consumption is, by its nature, a complex topic.

This complexity requires interdisciplinary

approaches that address the issue from the

perspective of the natural and social sciences,

as well as the arts and humanities.

Ensure critical approaches to 

“consumer literacy.” Environmental education messages must provide accurate,

science-based information. These messages

must, however, inevitably address the role of

values, since values provide the framework

through which information is received, interpreted, and decisions are made. Government

agencies, foundations, and other educational

funders can and should support development

of environmental education curricula in a way

that integrates diverse perspectives.

Tailor educational materials to reach

varied audiences. Informational materials

need to be tailored to their intended audiences, especially nontraditional conservation

constituencies. At the same time, traditional

audiences need to be reached in new ways. For

example, outreach and educational materials

aimed at landowners (developed in conjunction with extension services) need to promote

greater stewardship in forestry practices, and

stress connections to consumption. Materials

aimed at the business community (the largest

consumer of wood products) need to promote

greater efficiency in the use of wood products.

Identify and enlist the support of other

organizations to promote ecological literacy and responsible consumption outside

formal educational settings. Much of the

educational effort needed to make intelligent

consumption a meaningful reality can take

place only outside of formal institutional settings. Large-scale public education and

outreach efforts have precedent within the

natural resource conservation professions and

agencies. One can imagine, for example,

bringing Woodsy Owl or perhaps even

Smokey Bear on board to convey the message,

in essence, that “Only You Can Prevent

Wasteful Consumption.”

Institutional Incentives and Barriers 

To allow a consumption ethic to express itself

more effectively, and to better understand the

impact of American and global resource 

consumption patterns, we must address factors

affecting consumption that are embedded in

our institutions, our public policies, and our

economic and social systems. If we are to

avoid inefficient and excessive resource 

production, poorly informed consumption,

and consequent environmental effects, we

need to understand how public institutions

and policies foster a fragmented approach 

to resource management and conservation. 

This component of an intelligent consump-
16 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

tion strategy seeks to identify and address

these institutional and policy factors.

This category encompasses a wide range of

relevant forces and topic areas. A partial list

would include such items as: efforts to understand the mix of incentives that encourage 

use of environmentally friendly products and

manufacturing processes; identification of

government regulations and subsidies that

may encourage inefficient manufacturing 

and use and/or inappropriately consumptive

behavior; economic incentives for recycling;

evaluation of the effects of externalized costs;

mechanisms that might gradually incorporate

product disposal costs into the prices charged

for products; and elimination of counterproductive incentives. 

A fair amount of academic and private analysis

is already taking place in this arena, especially

in considering the policies that drive national

and international forest management practices. The consumption side of the equation

has received relatively little attention. It is

unlikely that the Forest Service itself could 

or would take the lead in such efforts, but it

could provide appropriate information, technical assistance, and institutional support.

The ICP working group focused on the identification of the key institutional and policy

barriers to more intelligent consumption. One

barrier, discussed above in the “Technical and

Scientific Information” section, is a lack of

reliable and available information. In a different category are the subsidies, taxes, and other

public policies commonly used to encourage

activities considered socially desirable and discourage those considered otherwise. Many of

these incentives and disincentives remain in

effect long after the original objectives have

been achieved (or have become irrelevant).

We can break these policy considerations

down into several subcategories:

Externalized costs. Sometimes mitigation 

or restoration efforts are conducted by the

resource producer and their costs are passed

on to the consumer. These efforts, although

desirable, rarely account for the full ecological

costs incurred by society. This lack of

accounting for the true cost of products 

prevents consumers from deciding whether 

a given product is worth the full cost of its

production. 

Hidden subsidies occur when the environmental

costs of production and consumption are

spread over society as a whole rather than paid

for by the user of the product. For example,

through taxes, health costs, and other mechanisms, the general public pays much of the

environmental and social cost associated with

ecologically damaging products. Other examples of hidden subsidies are those that in

essence reward the emission of climate-altering greenhouse gases, mining and smelting

operations that acidify and pollute water and

degrade landscapes, and the clearing of forests

in ways that erode topsoil and degrade downstream water systems.

Direct subsidies. Sometimes more direct subsidies are involved. Historically, these subsidies

have been used to encourage development or

production of a given resource in a given area,

often with inadequate consideration of environmental costs. Many areas and governments

(both countries and state and local governments in the U.S.) continue to attract

industries to certain areas via such means. 

But even when such subsidies are no longer

needed or may be adverse to the broader

public interest, they endure due to a reluctance to alter the status quo or to address 

their real or perceived usefulness to particular

interest groups. Direct subsidies for resource

production relevant to the ICP’s work include:
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 17

• Resource depletion allowances, which

permit resource producers to write off some

of the taxes they would otherwise attach to

profits from the sale of the resource. As a

result, resource consumers pay less than they

would for alternative products.

• Laws that encourage “development” of

public lands, allowing resources to be

removed for less than fair market value.

• Mortgage deductions designed to encourage

home ownership, but which also substantially reduce the cost of building larger

houses and second homes.

• Infrastructure (roads, water, and sewer) costs

not covered by land developers that encourage land conversion, sprawl, and urban

decay by making it less costly to build away

from the urban core.

Although efforts have been made in recent

years to reduce some of these direct and 

indirect subsidies, many continue to exert a

strong influence on consumption choices. 

The ICP working group recognizes a critical

need to evaluate the mix of subsidies, taxes,

and other public policies to determine their

effect on resource production and consumption patterns. 

To address this component of an intelligent

consumption strategy, the ICP working group

recommends the following:

Encourage development of a national

materials policy. As noted elsewhere in this

report, a National Materials Commission

could be charged with development of this

policy. Such an initiative could be modeled on

earlier efforts to shape a national materials

policy that focused on national security needs.

This effort, by contrast, would focus as well

on environmental impacts. A national materials policy should seek to promote more efficient and environmentally sound management

of our natural resources, and should encourage a more holistic approach to materials —

especially by taking into account comparative

impacts across materials and ecosystems, both

domestically and abroad.

Develop a national environmental accounting system to trace the impact of policy on

material extraction and use. Developed in

conjunction with life cycle analyses and other

emerging analytic tools, this accounting

system would require comprehensive research

on the impacts of policy decisions, including

taxes and subsidies, on cradle-to-grave impacts

and costs.

Foster a national dialogue on desired

future population and immigration policy.

Although politically awkward, it is critical that

such a dialogue take place alongside the dialogue on materials use. Talking about

population or immigration in a vacuum — 

like talking about reduced consumption of

wood products in a vacuum — leads to unproductive, politicized discussions and stop-gap

solutions that do little to advance understanding or to reduce adverse impacts. The impacts

of policy on consumption cannot be fully

addressed without leadership on this issue. 

Foster discussion about the efficacy of the

Gross Domestic Product as a measure of

well being. As currently conceived, the Gross

Domestic Product is an arbitrary measure of

economic and social health. In effect, it totals

spending on activities that can be classified as

social and environmental costs as well as benefits. To help recognize and develop policies

that promote intelligent production and consumption, a more honest and comprehensive

measure of well being is needed.
18 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

Promote producer “take back” laws. Take

back laws make the producer (and therefore

the consumer through the product price)

responsible for the cost of product disposal

and/or recycling once the consumer discards

the product. Such laws, which are gaining

ground in Europe, discourage excess consumption and encourage design of durable,

easily recyclable goods. They have the effect

of incorporating costs earlier in the life cycle

of a given product.

Promote tax credits/subsidies for more

environmentally sound consumer choices.

Such credits can provide incentives for smaller

homes, homes closer to the urban core, 

multi-family dwellings, and use of more 

efficient modes of transportation. In effect

such credits help to offset those incentives 

that have historically encouraged wasteful

resource use.
Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 19

IV. CONCLUSION AND 

PRIORITY ACTIONS

In the year that it was given to achieve its

goals, the Intelligent Consumption Project

could only begin to address the complex issues

and challenges associated with the need to

develop a viable consumption ethic. By 

bringing together voices representing varied

perspectives and interests, the ICP has sought

to stimulate a conversation, and to encourage

concrete actions, that will help meet that need.

Those organizations and individuals participating in the project face important challenges

in moving ahead. We need to define further

the specific actions that can be taken to meet

research, policy, and practical needs. Many of

the recommendations in this report provide

guidance for this. We need to communicate

our findings and recommendations in a clear

and compelling manner to a broader circle of

potential collaborators, and to engage new

groups from various sectors as we expand the

Intelligent Consumption "network." We need

to identify the work that others are doing in

order to avoid unnecessary overlap. We need

to understand how the unique partners

involved in the ICP can serve to integrate

varied knowledge and experience, and build

bridges with new partners.

The ICP has sought to meet a difficult, 

sensitive, and potentially controversial 

challenge. We need to anticipate and respond

to those who may misconstrue or object to 

the very notion of “intelligent consumption.”

We need to look for new opportunities for

honest conversations about consumption and

its impacts, and to build upon the connections

we have already made.

Of the recommendations offered in this

report, the members of the ICP working

group recognize several that are of 

overarching importance and that are realistically achievable in the near-term. As priority

actions, the ICP recommends continued

efforts to achieve the following: 

• Establishment of a National Materials

Commission and development of a national

materials policy.

• Development of a package of educational

materials related to consumption and its

environmental impacts, including materials

used in the course of the ICP’s work.

• Collaboration on establishment of a clearinghouse for information on consumption

and its impacts.

• Support for an authoritative and comprehensive study of the impacts of various

material use and consumption scenarios.

• Continued support for research on efficient

use of forest products and other materials,

and on new methods (such as life history

analysis) for understanding environmental

impacts. 

• Further steps toward an easily understood

rating system to provide consumer information related to environmental impacts.

• Encouragement of continued cross-sector

discussions on the topic of consumption 

and the need for a consumption ethic.

Participants in the ICP share the hope that we

have reached a time when we can openly

address the real dilemmas and real opportunities involved in “putting human ecology on a

permanent footing.” The ICP represents one

small step in addressing this large task. It is an

opportunity to contribute to our conservation

legacy, even as we reshape that legacy to meet

new needs in new ways.
20 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

V. LITERATURE CITED

Abramovitz, J.N. 1998. Taking a Stand:

Cultivating a New Relationship with the World's

Forests. Worldwatch Paper 140, Worldwatch

Institute, Washington, D.C.

Bernard, T. and J. Young. 1997. The Ecology 

of Hope: Communities Collaborate for

Sustainability. New Society Publishers,

Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada

and East Haven, CT. 

Bowyer, J.L. 1995. “A World without Wood:

Alternatives to Harvesting Trees.” Based in

part, on an article accepted for publication in

the Forest Products Journal. “Wood and other

Raw Materials for the 21st Century: Where

will they come from?”

Bowyer, J.L. 1997. “Global Trends in

Industrial Raw Materials Demand and

Implications for the World’s Forests.” 

Rocky Mountain Institute, Systems Group 

on Forests, Special Report to Mitsubishi, Inc.

and the Rainforest Action Network. [Data

Updated to 2000].

Bowyer, J.L. 2000. “U.S. Wood Products

Consumption: How a Singular Focus on

Reducing Consumption of Wood, Versus

Consumption in General, Could be

Devastating to the U.S. and Global

Environment.” Presented at the Madison, WI,

and Washington, D.C., forums of the

Intelligent Consumption Project.

Bowyer, J.L. and V. Stockmann. 2001.

“Agricultural Residues — An Exciting 

Bio-Based Raw Material for the Global Panels

Industry.” Forest Products Journal 51(1): 10-21.

Brooks, D.J. 1993. “U.S. Forests in a Global

Context.” Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-228. U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.

Rocky Mountain Forest and Range

Experiment Station, Ft. Collins, CO.

Brooks, D.J. 1997. “Demand for Wood and

Forest Products: Macroeconomic and

Management Issues.” Proceedings of the XI

World Forestry Congress. FAO, Antalya, Turkey.

Davidson, S. 2000. “Responsible

Consumption as a Moral Imperative:

Monitoring Progress.” Commission on Social

Witness Workshop. 2000 Unitarian

Universalist Association, General Assembly,

June 22-26, 2000. Nashville, TN.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the

United Nations (FAO) 1997. State of the

World’s Forests. FAO, Rome.

Fox, S. 1981. John Muir and His Legacy: The

American Conservation Movement. Little,

Brown, and Company, Boston, MA.

Gardner-Outlaw, T. and R. Engelman. 1999.

Forest Futures: Population, Consumption and

Wood Resources. Population Action

International, Washington, D.C.

Goldberg, R. 1992. “The Big Picture: 

Life Cycle Analysis.” Academy of Natural

Sciences, website article,

www.acnatsci.org/erd/ea/big_picture.

Philadelphia, PA.

Howard, J.L. 1999. “U.S. Timber Production,

Trade, Consumption, and Price Statistics

1965-1997.” Gen. Tech. Rep. FPL-GTR-116.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest

Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 

Madison, WI.
Knight, R.L. and S. Bates, eds. 1995. A New

Century for Natural Resources Management.

Island Press, Washington, D.C., and 

Covelo, CA.

Koch, P. 1991. “Wood vs. Non-Wood

Materials in U.S. Residential Construction:

Some Energy-Related International

Implications.” Working Paper 36. Center for

International Trade in Forest Products.

University of Washington, Seattle, WA.

Leopold, A. 1928. “The Home Owner

Conserves.” American Forests and Forest Life

34:413 (May 1928), 276-278, 297.

Leopold, A. 1942. “Land Use and

Democracy.” Audubon Magazine 44:5

(September-October 1942), 259-265.

Leopold, A. 1999. “For the Health of the Land:

Previously Unpublished Essays and Other

Writings. Callicott, J.B. and Freyfogle, E.T.

eds. Island Press, Washington, D.C., and

Covelo, CA.

MacCleery, D.W. 1992. American Forests: A

History of Resiliency and Recovery. Forest

History Society Issues Series. Forest History

Society, Durham, NC.

MacCleery, D.W. 1999. “Is Aldo Leopold’s

Land Ethic Only Half a Loaf Unless a

Consumption Ethic Accompanies It?”

Presented at Wisconsin Academy of Sciences,

Arts and Letters conference, “Building on

Leopold’s Legacy: Conservation for a New

Century,” Madison, WI, October 4-7, 1999.

Meine, C. 1995. “The Oldest Task in Human

History.” pp. 7-35 in Knight and Bates eds., 

A New Century for Natural Resources

Management. Island Press, Washington, D.C.,

and Covelo, CA.

National Research Council. 1976. Renewable

Resources for Industrial Materials. Committee

on Renewable Resources for Industrial

Materials, Board on Agriculture and

Renewable Resources. National Academy 

of Sciences, Washington, D.C.

Rees, W. and Wackernagel, M. 1996. Our

Ecological Footprint — Measuring Human Impact

on Earth. New Society Publishers, Gabriola

Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Solberg, B., ed. 1996. “Long-Term Trends and

Prospects.” in World Supply and Demand for

Wood and Implications for Sustainable Forest

Management. European Forest Institute

Research Report 6, European Forest Institute,

Joensuu, Finland.

Stauber, J.C. and Rampton, S. 1995. Toxic

Sludge is Good for You!: Lies, Damn Lies and the

Public Relations Industry. Common Courage

Press, Monroe, ME.

Williams, J.E., C.E. Wood, and M.P.

Dombeck, eds. 1997. Watershed Restoration:

Principles and Practices. American Fisheries

Society, Bethseda, MD.

Williams, M. 1989. Americans and Their

Forests: A Historical Geography. Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge, England.

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 21
APPENDIX A

Intelligent Consumption Project 

Working Group Members

Project Director

Michael Strigel

Director of Programs 

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 

Arts and Letters

1922 University Avenue

Madison, WI 53705

Phone: (608) 263-1692

Fax: (608) 265-3039

mstrigel@facstaff.wisc.edu

Project Advisor

Curt Meine

Director of Conservation Programs

Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, 

Arts and Letters

1922 University Avenue

Madison, WI 53705

Phone: (608) 263-1692

curt@savingcranes.org

Janet Abramovitz

Senior Researcher

Worldwatch Institue

1776 Massachusettes Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20036-1904

Phone: (202) 452-1999

Fax: (202) 296-7365

jabramovitz@worldwatch.org

Adela Backiel

Director of Sustainable Development

U.S. Department of Agriculture

J.L. Whitten Building, Room 112A

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20250-3810

Phone: (202) 720-2456 

adela.backiel@usda.gov

James Bowyer

Professor

Department of Wood and Paper Science

University of Minnesota

2004 Folwell Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55108

Phone: (612) 624-4292

jbowyer@cnr.umn.edu

Art Brauner

Executive Vice President

Forest Products Society

2801 Marshall Court

Madison, WI 53705

Phone: (608) 231-1361 ext. 213

Fax: (608) 231-2152

art@forestprod.org

Mary Coulombe

Director, Timber Access and Supply

American Forest & Paper Association

1111 Nineteenth Street, NW, Suite 800

Washington, D.C. 20036

Phone: (202) 463-2752

Fax: (202) 463-2708

marycoulombe@afandpa.org

Paul DeLong

Deputy Director, Bureau of Forestry

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

PO Box 7921

Madison, WI 53707

Phone: (608) 264-9224

Fax: (608) 266-8576

delonp@dnr.state.wi.us

22 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
Jane Elder

Project Director

The Biodiversity Project

214 N. Henry Street Suite 203

Madison, WI 53703

Phone: (608) 250-9876

Fax: (608) 257-3513

jelder@biodiverse.org

Robb Freda-Cowie

Deputy Director

The Biodiversity Project

214 N. Henry Street Suite 203

Madison, WI 53703

Phone: (608) 250-9876

Fax: (608) 257-3513

rcowie@biodiverse.org

Martin Goebel

President

Sustainable Northwest

620 SW Main, Suite 112

Portland, OR 97205

Phone: (503) 221-6911

Fax: (503) 221-4495

mgoebel@sustainablenorthwest.org

Tom Hamilton

Director

USDA Forest Service-Forest 

Products Laboratory

One Gifford Pinchot Drive

Madison, WI 53705-2398

Phone: (608) 231-9318

Fax: (608) 231-9567

tehamilton@fs.fed.us

Gigi La Budde

Sustainable Woods Coop

S11793 Hazelnut Road

Spring Green, WI 53588

Phone: (608) 588-2048

bbf@mhtc.net

Susan LeVan

Assistant Director

USDA Forest Service-Forest 

Products Laboratory

One Gifford Pinchot Drive

Madison, WI 53705-2398

Phone: (608) 231-9493

Fax: (608) 231-9567

slevan@fs.fed.us

Doug MacCleery

Assistant Director of Forest Management

USDA Forest Service

201 14th Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20250

Phone: (202) 205-1745

Fax: (202) 205-1045

dmaccleery@fs.fed.us

Spencer Phillips

The Wilderness Society

PO Box 25

Craftsbury Common, VT 05827

Phone: (802) 586-9910

srp@sover.net

Hal Salwasser

Dean College of Forestry and Director Forest

Research Laboratory

Oregon State University

154 Peavy Hall

Corvallis, OR 97331

Phone: (541) 737-1585

hal.salwasser@orst.edu

Michael Schuler

Parish Minister

First Unitarian Society-Unitarian Universalist

900 University Bay Drive

Madison, WI 53705-2298

Phone: (608) 233-9774 ext. 13

Fax: (608) 233-6079

michaels@fusmadison.org

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 23
24 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project

Viviane Simon-Brown

Leadership Educator

The Sustainable Living Project at OSU

Oregon State University Forestry Extension

OSU/COCC, Grandview 202

2600 NW College Way

Bend, OR 97701-5998

Phone: (541) 388-8361

Fax: (541) 383-8002

viviane.simon-brown@orst.edu

David Tilford

Senior Writer

Center for a New American Dream

6930 Carroll Avenue

Takoma Park, MD 20912

Phone: (301) 891-3683

Fax: (301) 891-3684

dave@newdream.org

Donald Waller

Professor

Department of Botany

Room 432 Birge Hall

430 Lincoln Drive

Madison, WI 53706

Phone: (608) 263-2042

dmwaller@facstaff.wisc.edu
APPENDIX B

Intelligent Consumption Project Workshop Agendas

FORUM 1

Missoula, Montana, June 12, 2000. Davidson Honors College on the University of

Montana, Missoula Campus. Held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the 

Society for Conservation Biology. 

8:00 to 8:30

Refreshments/reception and registration for attendees

8:30 to 9:00

Welcome and Introductions Michael Strigel and Curt Meine will describe the ICP 

and the goals of the day’s meeting.

9:00 to 10:00

Presentations:

Doug MacCleery — Framing the Issue

Janet Abramovitz — The International State of Affairs

Jack Ward Thomas — Perspective of a Former Chief

Michael Nelson — Ethics and Consumption

10:00 to 10:15 Break

10:15 to noon

Focused Discussion Period

Attendees offer perspectives on the issue and ask questions of the panel

Noon to 1:00

Lunch (on your own)

Goal of the Missoula Forum: Due to the coincidence of the SCB meeting, there will likely be

many from the conservation community in the audience. Therefore, this meeting will serve to

bring some new voices to the discussion and help to refine the outline for the final report and

further refine the definition of the key issues. In some ways, this first forum will be an expanded

working group meeting. In an effort to share the ICP with more than the 25 attendees, Curt and

Michael will attend the SCB conference and be holding informal information sessions with

attendees to spread the word of the project before the June 12 meeting. We will also bring the

project summaries for distribution. 

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 25
FORUM 2

Madison, Wisconsin, July 19-20, 2000. Friedrick Center, 

University of Wisconsin — Madison Campus.

July 19

10:00 to noon

Registration and tour of the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) — Meet at the Lab. Led by

Forest Products staff, the tour will provide background on the history and role of the lab.

Noon to 12:45

Catered Lunch at FPL

12:45 to 1:00

Walk (10 minutes) or coordinated rides to Friedrick Center

12:30 to 1:00

Registration and reception for those not on the FPL tour

1:00 to 1:30

Welcome and Introductions Michael Strigel, director of programs at the Wisconsin

Academy, will describe the project and the goals of the forum.

1:30 to 2:00

Keynote address by Chief Michael Dombeck of the USDA Forest Service

2:00 to 3:15

Presentations:

Doug MacCleery, assistant director of forest management, USDA Forest Service.

Doug MacCleery has written extensively on the issue of the need for a consumption ethic 

as a companion to Aldo Leopold’s Land Ethic. One of Mr. MacCleery’s essays is available

on the Intelligent Consumption website. He will discuss the perceived “paradigm shift” 

in National Forest management policy and its implications given human consumption 

patterns.

Paul DeLong, director, Bureau of Forestry, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Paul DeLong will discuss the implications of consumption patterns from the perspective 

of a state forester. There will be time for questions after each presentation.

3:15 to 3:30 Break

26 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
3:30 to 5:45

Presentations:

Nadine Bailey, president, Timber Producers Association of Michigan and Wisconsin.

Nadine Bailey will discuss forest management in the context of small resource dependent

communities and her experiences growing up as the daughter of a logger. Nadine now

works for a trade association representing all aspects of the timber production industry

including loggers, millowners, landowners, and manufacturers in the lake states of

Michigan and Wisconsin. 

Gigi La Budde, ecologist, Sustainable Woods Coop and Phil Guillery, director of forestry, 

Inst. for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Community Forest Resource Center.

Gigi La Budde is a Smartwood certified resource manager and she will discuss the interface

of consumption and conservation from the perspective of a small timber-producing cooperative. She has served as ecologist to SWC since its inception in 1998 where she has most

recently focused on landowner education and stewardship. Phil Guillery is a forester whose

work focuses on coordinating Forest Stewardship Council certification activities and 

supporting forestry cooperatives and associations in the lake states.

Jim Bowyer, professor, Department of Wood and Paper Science, University of Minnesota. 

Jim Bowyer has conducted research and written extensively on the subject of raw material

usage and material flows worldwide. He will discuss the connection between consumption

patterns and environmental impacts with a focus on forest ecosystems.

6:30 to 8:00

Reception and Poster Session at the University of Wisconsin’s Pyle Center

Scientists from the UW — Madison and the Forest Products Laboratory will present

posters and the project will provide refreshments on the UW campus.

July 20

8:00 to 8:30

Continental Breakfast at the Friedrick Center

8:30 to 9:00

Welcome and Explanation of Breakout sessions

9:00 to 11:00

Breakout sessions — These sessions are designed to draw out several facets of the issue.

Those identified so far include: Ethical and moral content of consumption; Availability and

quality of technical and scientific information; Quantity and quality of research and development; Role of public education; and Institutional incentives and barriers to intelligent

consumption. 

11:00 to 11:15 Break

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 27
11:15 to 12:30

Reconvene and Report Out from Groups

Identify key topic areas and proposed actions to address from each Breakout.

Look for overlap among the issues and synthesize. 

12:30

Adjourn Open Forum

1:30-5:00 

Working Group Meeting (for Working Group members) to synthesize information gained

at the Missoula and Madison forums into major salient points. This will form the basis of

the final report and the D.C. forum. 

5:30 

Adjourn Working Group Meeting

Goal of the Madison Forum: The Madison Forum is the best opportunity to get the

Intelligent Consumption Working Group together face to face. There will likely be some 

travel assistance for those working group members who require it. The goal of the forum will 

be to set the agenda and priorities for the remaining months of the project by identifying the

key issues/obstacles/opportunities to be laid out in the final report and the D.C. forum. We 

will also look for potential actions to address these issues. Projected attendance is approximately

50 people so this forum will offer an opportunity to both spread the word of the project and

invite input. 

FORUM 3

Washington, D.C., October 2, 2000. U. S. Department of Agriculture, J.L. Whitten

Building Room, 107A.

8:00 

Refreshments and Registration

8:30 

Welcome and Background of the Intelligent Consumption Project

Michael Strigel, project director, Wisconsin Academy

Tom Hamilton, director, USDA Forest Products Laboratory

9:00 

Welcome Presentation

Chief Michael Dombeck, USDA Forest Service 

9:15 

“Ecological Sustainability, Consumption, and NIMBYism”

Doug MacCleery, assistant director of forest management, USDA Forest Service

28 • Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project
10:15 

“U.S. Wood Products Consumption”

Jim L. Bowyer, professor, Department of Wood and Paper Science, University of Minnesota

11:15 

“An International Perspecitve”

Adela Backiel, director of sustainable development, USDA

12:15 

Lunch on your own (USDA cafeteria or other)

1:30 

Explanation of Break-out Sessions

The break-outs will involve a review of the draft report with recommendations 

of the Intelligent Consumption Project. A copy of the report is available on-line at

www.wisconsinacademy.org/programs (look for the Intelligent Consumption Project link).

1:45 

Break-out Sessions

• Ethical and moral content of consumption 

• Availability and quality of technical and scientific information 

• Quantity and quality of research and development 

• Role of public education 

• Institutional incentives and barriers to intelligent consumption.

3:30 Break

4:00 

Results of Break-outs, Forum Synthesis, and Next Steps for ICP

Curt Meine, Wisconsin Academy, leads group discussion

4:45

Adjourn

Report of the Intelligent Consumption Project • 29