Slow Wood, Greener Building, and Local Forests: A Conversation with Brian Donahue About His New Book

Join us for a conversation with Brian Donahue, scholar, farmer, forester, and author of the new book Slow Wood: Green Building from Local Forests, published by Yale University Press. 

Donahue documents his experiences building a timber frame home from the wood growing on his family farm, practicing “worst first” forestry. Through the stories of the trees he used (sugar maple, black cherry, black birch, and hemlock), and some he didn’t (white pine and red oak), the book also explores the history of Americans’ relationship with their forests. His book provides a blueprint and a stewardship plan for how to live more responsibly with the woods, offering a sustainable approach to both forestry and building centered on tightly connected ecological and social values. 

Co-Sponsored by The New Perennials Project, Environmental Affairs, and Environmental Studies.