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If you burn firewood to warm your house then you should follow a few tips to make sure you are doing it properly.

The right wood

This should be properly seasoned. Check it is by knocking on it and listening for a hollow sound. Wood that isn’t dry enough creates unnecessary smoke.

Small fire

A small fire that burns with a lot of heat is much better than a big fire. It also helps preserve your wood supply.

Shut the windows

When your windows and doors are open, the heat generated by the fire goes straight up the chimney. Keep them closed and your fire’s warmth will radiate around the house.

A report from the Wood Resource Quarterly has revealed that the price of wood from Brazil is currently falling.

The pine sawlog wood is experiencing a dip in price due to reduced demand. Prices had been steadily on the rise up until 2008 at which point they experienced a sharp rise which is likely to have triggered the latest little drop.

According to the report, in spite of falling 11% in relation to its price in 2008, the price of the Brazilian sawlog wood is still significantly greater than its Russian and North American counterparts. The three nations are amongst the leading exporters of sawlog wood.

An American chain saw artist has spent ten years carving a sculpture out of a huge oak tree log. The sculpture he has made is of two dolphins swimming amongst corals and it stands at ten feet tall.

The sculpture is valued at $25,000 and the chain saw artist, Charlie Knight, is now looking for an art and wood lover to stump up the cash for his precious piece.

It remains to be seen whether Knight will find a buyer for the log, but people have been known to splash out much more on far stranger things. The sculpture took so long because he had to do it all in his own time.

A charity that helps mentally ill people to gain vital work experience has benefitted from the extra work brought in by the recent freezing weather. Blyth Star Enterprise’s Woodfuel Centre has seen its operations increase by 400% and moved to thank customers who had chosen wood fuel to fulfil their heating needs.

The charity was delighted that they had the opportunity to provide for the community in more ways than one by giving those it helps the opportunity to give something back in the form of a little warmth over the biting winter period.

Wood burning stoves have seen something of a resurgence in UK homes of late.

The ancient Peruvian Nazca civilisation has long been thought to have been wiped out by a flood as the result of the climatic phenomenon El Nino. However, new research suggests that the people’s attitude to logging left them exposed.

The Nazca had access to a tree known as the huarango tree which has the deepest root system on Earth. Unfortunately, the Nazca found the huarango too useful a resource and they cut the trees down for timber and fuel.

The extensive logging projects meant that the civilisation crossed a so-called tipping point in their ecosystem leaving them exposed to the devastating effects of the El Nino flood.

The news may come as a timely reminder of the duty people have towards the planet and the consequences of an ignorant environmental outlook.