6 Minute English / Building a better world with wood?

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I m Neil.

And I m Beth.

Being in nature has benefits for our physical and mental health, so wouldn t it be good if instead of giving you a bottle of pills, your doctor recommended spending time in nature?

That s an interesting idea, Neil. Being outdoors always makes me feel better, and in Japan there s even a word for it - shinrin-yoku translated into English as forest bathing. Forest bathing is a type of relaxation that involves being calm and quiet amongst the trees and using all your senses to observe nature around you, whilst breathing deeply.

It sounds wonderful, Beth! In this programme, we ll be hearing how one of the world s oldest building materials, wood, is being used in new ways to build a greener future. And, as usual, we ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

Great, but first I have a question for you, Neil. Like many other countries, Britain used to be covered in trees. In Roman times, it s estimated that as much as 40% of the land was forest. Trees provided wood, the building material needed for many things including buildings, furniture, and ships. So how many trees do you think were needed to build the HMS Victory, Nelson s famous ship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805? Was it:

a) 4,000 trees?b) 5,000 trees? or,c) 6,000 trees?

Well, I have no idea. But I ll guess it was 5,000 trees.

OK, Neil, I ll reveal the correct answer at the end of the programme. Throughout history, buildings in Britain have been made of timber, trees that are grown so their wood can be used as a building material. But in modern times, this has mostly been done by man-made materials - brick, concrete and steel. One of those arguing for a return to wood is architect, Michael Ramage, talking here to BBC Radio 4 programme, Rare Earth: