This is an issue I wrestle with frequently and have yet to come up with a solution I feel completely comfortable with. So far, I've settled on a solution which is, I acknowledge, selfishly pragmatic. As long as I use the material conservatively and treat the wood with respect, it is good. The amount of wood used is small compared to the amount used to clapboard a house, make a deck, or fullfill our toilet paper needs.

I actually have less angst because I am using epoxy and fiberglass. Because the wood is encapsulated in glass, it will last a very long time. Traditionally built wooden boats rot without careful maintanence and even with care parts need to replacement eventually. The strip built method lets you efficiently use the wood and preserve it almost indefinitely. Traditional boat building is very wasteful of wood with sawn ribs and spiled planks. And traditional boat building requires the highest quality wood, where very poor quality, short strips will make as strong a kayak as straight-grained, full-length strips.

It does not concern me that the epoxy and fiberglass are not biodegradable, this just means the boat lasts longer so I don't need to replace it any time soon. And as far as polution is concerned I would much rather someone dumped a ton of fiberglass on top of my well than a ton of pure organic cow manure. The pile of fiberglass may never disappear, but I would still be able to drink my water. Fiberglass is just sand in another form. If I could recycle the glass I would be happier.

My worry with epoxy is not the fact that the finished product is not biodegradable, but that the empty jugs of hardener and resin may dump contaminants into ground water.

Currently I have switched over to 3/16" strips because I can get more strips out of a board, even though more cuts mean more sawdust. More strip/board means I don't need as many boards. I pay a small strength penalty in the finished boat, but it is also lighter. You can also get a little more coverage per strip if you don't cove-and-bead, but this just nickle and diming the issue.

If I were really interested in doing everything possible to reduce my impact on the environment, I supposed I could take up subsistance farming or hunting/gathering, but I'm not that dedicated and these bring up their own environmental issues. Instead I try to do as good a job building my boats as possible in the theory that they will thus last longer and maybe help increase the value of the wood itself so the trees are less likely to be sold off for pulp. It is not a great answer, but as a selfish rationalization it has worked well for me so far.