Recently, over 100 world leaders at the COP26 Summit harmonized in a pledge to halt global deforestation over the next decade. That message should resonate with anyone who cares about acoustic guitars or the future of this planet. It certainly resonates with us.
Global leaders have made lofty promises like this before. We heard a similar refrain from some of the same global interests in 2014, agreeing to halve the rate of deforestation by 2020 and end it by 2030. Instead, rates of deforestation have continued to rise.
Here at Breedlove, we consider global forest health central to the success and longevity of our business as well as our species. Building guitars requires wood. Wood actually does grow on trees, and trees make up forests. Guitar makers, like us, must harvest trees in order to build instruments, but we all make choices about how we choose to harvest and process that wood. Those choices have impacts on global deforestation.
We choose to only use selectively harvested wood in every guitar we build. What does that mean? It means every single new guitar that wears the Breedlove name on its headstock is crafted from wood that does not contribute to deforestation. As of this year, we do not use any wood from clear cut harvest in any instrument.
Businesses, like ours, that rely on natural resources need to recognize and contend with the implications our practices have on the health and longevity of our ecosystems. We applaud the COP26 pledge to halt deforestation, and hope that this time around more political and business leaders take the difficult but necessary steps to change their practices for the health our our shared forests and planet. We’ll continue to do our part.
Read the full article on the global pledge to halt deforestation here.
