Heres the thing about
luan... more then half the of product is left over product that is glued together. Only the top and bottom vanier layers are 1st run product. Yes,
luan does come from Asian forests. However, there is no alternative that is more echo friendly in the
theatre. You could what people in the mid 90's did after Andrew and start building flats out of 1" foam. You could also use
muslin. Foam is an oil product so that takes that out.
Muslin does not last as long and also requires a lot of manufacturing and harsh chemicals to make it what it is. Any way you cut it, your not going to be green. I would stick with
luan because it does have the smallest footprint for what you get.
Luan is not the primary product coming off those trees, its a secondary. You would be amazed how many sheets can come off one tree.
Bottom
line,
theatre is not green. One
theatre can use enough electricity over a year to light 10 average sized homes. It uses enough fuel for heating to heat those same homes.
If you want to be green in a
theatre, look at building things once,
build them right, and re-use them often. Turn the heat down when your not in the space. Get worklights that do not involve 16 500w scoops. As far as I am concerned, I am green if I am not filling up landfills with crap.
Now, where did I place those baby seal flats.....