Bamboo Power by Blair LeMire
Sustainability and utilitarianism are becoming hot topics these days. There are new and inventive (as well as ancient) ways of creating a greener world. Alternative methods for society’s growth and repair are entering the focus of mainstream idealism. In this giant exchange, excellent sources to boost the realization of sustainable living are working their way into the collective awareness. One of the most awe-inspiring possibilities toward re-envisioning human life on every scale lies in the power of bamboo. It is right up there with free energy, hemp, and clean water.
Bamboo has the capability of significantly improving our world. Today, one billion people worldwide rely on bamboo as an energy source and raw material for either income or shelter. While on an artistic mission to share my passion for bamboo I have found it to be a very special plant in relation to the human equation.
Bamboo’s diversity guarantees a widespread nativity across the globe, as it thrives in a range of climates—from the warm, humid tropics to high alpine zones that get yearly snowfall. The dazzling variety of bamboo further accounts for the versatility of its uses as well as the wide aesthetic appeal. Its silica content makes bamboo a unique material, giving it the power to bend without breaking. It is as strong as steel yet far more malleable.
The structural quality of bamboo is comparable to that of reinforced concrete. In construction, bamboo and cement are a winning combination, as bamboo is often used as a replacement for rebar.
Bamboo has a rich history in the Eastern world. For pre-industrialized societies, the native grass provided food and shelter and was used to construct myriad essential tools for many aspects of day-to-day living. The earliest form of paper, discovered by archeologists, was made from the leaves that surround bamboo shoots and was used for simple record keeping. Bamboo’s most famous and descriptive nickname is “The Miracle Plant.” To the early Chinese, the trade of bamboo goods was an economic boon, earning the noble grass yet another nickname—“The Prosperity Plant.” Chairs, baskets, paper, mats and musical instruments were common merchandise in the paradigm of bamboo trade.
For hundreds of years, Chinese medicine has made use of the various parts of different species of bamboo. In Japan, it has served as an herbal cleanser for the liver, especially for heavy sake drinkers, while bamboo vinegar foot patches, which sponge toxins out of the body as people sleep, have gained widespread attention in recent years.
The bamboo shoot has been the staple of many Eastern cultures for centuries, and its nutritional benefits are impressive. Bamboo is low in calories but rich in protein, fiber, and germanium. Its branches and leaves are actually a healthy provision when fed to livestock. The extract of bamboo leaves, a powerful antioxidant by itself, can be added to foods for a truly natural preservative and also to brewed teas as a means of extending shelf life.
This ancient flora makes for a compelling alternative to paper, plastic, and metal; and it has been used as a supplier of electricity. It is an alternative to cotton (and even perhaps, hemp), since it can be broken down into a wondrous textile for all manner of stitchery. While bamboo pulp is processed differently than most other organic textiles, it is generally very cost efficient and environmentally friendly. Bamboo clothing has a softer feel than flax, acrylic, and cotton, and has been compared to silk or cashmere. Interestingly, the fibers contain an antimicrobial agent that inhibits body odor by preventing the cultivation of bacteria. With their regulating effect on body temperature, bamboo bed sheets are also valuable household items.
As a crop, bamboo is sustainable, fast growing, and annually renewable. The fact that it is the fastest growing plant on earth and can be harvested without killing it account for an outstanding efficiency when used in green farming. Not only does bamboo grow fast—it also regenerates quickly. After a full-grown plant has been harvested, it will attain maximum height again within a year. Growing 60 to 100 feet in a single growing season is impressive, but its strength and vitality make it a true super-plant. Some species are able to grow to their full height, season after season, for as long as they live. Given proper circumstances, a single specimen can produce nine miles of quality, usable poles throughout the duration of its lifetime. Continuous harvesting every several years actually improves the health of the plant.
Because of its fast growth, bamboo can consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen extremely efficiently. Two and a half acres of bamboo can consume 12 tons of carbon dioxide per year—almost three and a half times the amount that the typical growing tree forest consumes annually. Many people are unaware that bamboo has the power to create a cleaner, healthier environment. The impact it can have on the air we breathe offers a strong incentive for moving toward a pro-bamboo world.
All types of bamboo grow in grid-like, interlocking root systems. Because of this, the plant remains nearly impenetrable to outside disturbances. The patchwork of roots creates a very effective watershed-protective mechanism, threading the soil together in places prone to earthquakes and mudslides. This allows bamboo to withstand massive variations in weather, and it has great resiliency from other environmental assaults as well.
As it is literally a type of grass, bamboo may be heralded as an aesthetically pleasing and attractive aspect of gardens of every kind. A bamboo grove creates a natural sheltering from the ultraviolet rays of the sun, and lowers the visual intensity of sunlight. The plant usually grows without special soil needs, and there are some species that can grow well in the shade, though all bamboo require much more water than typical houseplants. Miniature varieties can be planted in pots on the rooftop of just about any home, apartment, or office building. It is possible that planting urban rooftops with evergreen dwarf varieties of bamboo would cut city pollution in half. Bamboo can also be planted in backyard gardens and as borders between homesteads or next to factory sludge pools where it will reduce water pollution as it soaks up heavy metals and liquid wastes, while also helping in the repair of the ecosystem. There are places in the world where bamboo is actually employed for the specific purpose of sponging sewage. As a peerless erosion control agent, its net-like integrated root system creates an effective mechanism for watershed protection by stitching the soil together along fragile riverbanks, sloping hillsides, deforested areas, and in places prone to mudslides and earthquakes. Throughout much of the U.S., cattle that graze along the edges of waterways trample fragile streamside ecology and pollute the water with urine and manure. If bamboo were planted along both sides of a stream, it would serve to hold the dirt banks in place during floods. The stalks would provide an effective barrier against foraging cattle and the grove itself would offer shade, while helping to purify manure runoff from pastures.
Bamboo’s interwoven root system, along with its ability to clump together in thickets, makes it a great alternative to expensive fencing. The plants can be situated along roads and freeways and they are great sound barriers. An established grove can also provide a thick crash barrier to slow cars down should they wander off the road, potentially saving lives. When damaged, such a barrier quickly repairs itself by growing new culms. And of course, bamboo’s ability to remove carbon dioxide from the air is extremely valuable for protection against smog and exhaust.
Bamboo is a superior source for bio-fuel and is an ideal biomass particularly due to its speedy rate of replenishment. More porous than wood, it contains certain minerals which render it a much more effective fuel material than coal or oil as well as an excellent charcoal too. Furthermore, bamboo contains considerably less atmosphere-damaging nitrogen and sulfur than either coal or oil, and when it is burned in pellet stoves or in briquettes, bamboo emits a significantly lower amount of polluting carbon into the air than does wood.
Bamboo is a logical alternative for 7/10ths of all the wood products made in the United States. Proper harvesting of bamboo does not kill the plant. It is in fact an audaciously prolific grass, as each of its stalks contains an independent DNA strand, so that even the tiniest slivers of bamboo can re-grow into new plants when placed in fertile ground. Another benefit of bamboo is that it doesn’t need to be uprooted when it is harvested and can, as it grows back again, continue to provide nutrients to the land and cohesion to the soil.
Bamboo poles allow virtually limitless uses because they are a versatile raw material for arts and crafts, as well as any number of household items that can be created from various parts of the plant as a whole. Technological developments have made it possible to convert raw bamboo culms into lumber and plywood, so that practically anything usually constructed with wood can also be made out of bamboo. Wide arrays of household items, many rivaling and surpassing their tree-dependent counterparts in beauty and utility, are available on a worldwide scale now. A fine example would be floorboards that are made out of bamboo and are surprisingly comfortable when exercising on or even lying down upon because they are softer than hardwoods and cheaper to produce. Yet another superior bamboo-constructed alternative to the standard normal material is the so-called “ply-boo,” which is two to three times the strength of plywood. Bamboo houses are known for their safety, as they tend to be highly resistant to earthquakes, thanks to the pliability and strength of bamboo poles. Building with bamboo is much different than building with wood, but architects and designers from every continent are coming together to share what they have learned about working with this amazing plant. Whether as a medicine, a source of nutrition, an ingredient of green homes, or an instrument or tool; whether it is pleasing to the eye, cleaning the air and water or a sustainable building block of a society, bamboo’s potential is truly endless. Bamboo is also a fun way to green your world! Now is the hour for Bamboo Power!
Blair LeMire, PhD is a musician, writer, and producer whose first cartoon aired on the Nickelodeon Network in 2002. LeMire founded the non-profit H.O.P.E. which intends to produce solution oriented environmental documentary films. www.HealOurPlanetEarth.org. An avid vegetarian and lover of the earth, LeMire is perhaps best known as the “Bamboo Brother” and has spent the past decade spreading the word about the amazing sustainability and power of the super grass “Bamboo.” Visit www.bamboopower.com for more information or email: contact@bamboopower.com.
