These orange tree-protecting fences always herald an impending demolition. Vancouverites have started to call them the “orange fences of doom.” It is a sad irony that many of the houses being demolished are old 1900s character homes which were built with old-growth wood. The replacement houses are usually Craftsman-ish boxy constructions of MDF and engineered wood products. Meanwhile, the floors and planks and walls from the old house – beautiful old-growth pine and fir – often gets separated and ground up into chipped wood called hog fuel. Hog fuel is used to power industrial boilers in factories that make plywood and MDF.

It’s an ouroboros of consumption.

Acrylic on canvas, 10″x 10″
Located at: Private Collection (SOLD)