Business View Magazine | September 2020

23 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 a renewable and sustainable resource which absorbs and stores atmospheric CO2. When you look at some of the competing materials in the structural building system, they have high- embodied carbon due to an energy intensive manufacturing process. The more buildings that are constructed with wood, the lower the carbon emissions are to the atmosphere as a result of the products used to build that building. So, the architecture community is very excited about using low-embodied carbon building materials and that’s just a very strong proposition for wood products. And globally, there has been an increasing recognition that wood products offer a proven, safe, resilient, carbon sequestering alternative for improved sustainability and use. So, what we’re now focusing on is identifying the role for wood products in helping to mitigate climate change.” Heather Stegner, AWC’s Vice President for Communications, relates some of the recent events that her office has dealt with concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected AWC’s members: “In mid-March, AWC received word that the federal government was creating a list of industries to be classified as ‘Essential Infrastructure’ that would be recommended for continued operations. We made immediate contact with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that was putting together the list, which the federal government would recommend (but not mandate), be allowed to remain open. AWC submitted a letter to CISA outlining the reasons wood products manufacturers should be considered ‘essential critical infrastructure.’ The letter was timely, as the Department, shortly thereafter, released federal guidance that included ‘workers who support the manufacture and distribution of forest products, including, but not limited to, timber, paper, and other wood products,’ in its list of essential workers. THE AMER I CAN WOOD COUNC I L Vice President for Communications, Heather Stegner AWC Vice President of Government Affairs Andy Dodson, Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-AR), and AWC President & CEO Robert Glowinski.