Is CAD safe, my thoughts while cleaning the bathroom.

I am taking a CAD class this semester and I love it. As artists we are always pushing the envelope for the new and innovative. I think CAD is a great medium in this era that everyone should know how to use. While I will always prefer the tactile CAD forces you to think in a different way. One of the great parts about CAD is the rapid prototyping and the ability to print in 3D. We just learned about it today so I know if I tried to throw around all the acronyms for the different printing systems I would butcher it, so I am not even going to try. CAD designs can be printed/created in metal, nylon, and other plastics based materials and they are so cool!! But the social designer in me says wait a minute, what is the environmental impact of heading in this direction. I know its a little late now considering all that we already do in plastics. Yet I am still wondering that in this great technology is there a better way? For the first time ever man has the ability to manipulate the environment to create things that do not naturally occur on this earth, what effect is that going to have? I got to thinking about trees. Trees start from a seed and grow through a biological process into what we know as a tree. When the trees lifespan is over the hard wood can be broken down and used by the earth in all sorts of ways. If we have the ability to create plastics, why can we not create a material that imitates the characteristics of wood? Wouldn't be cool to be able to print my CAD design in a material that I knew wouldn't harm the earth if it got tossed into a dumpster. My hope would be that nobody would toss my design into a dumpster, but hey, things happen. Obviously I am new to CAD and printing so I have no idea what could even work. Yet I stand strong in my idea. We have all this wonderful technology why does the thought of sustainability take a back seat to innovation. In this world I think they should go hand in hand.