Why not Bamboo

Bamboo is a very environmentally friendly, renewable, plentiful and fast-growing material. It has the potential to replace plastics and other non-environmentally friendly materials. Consider the following.

1. BAMBOO GROWS FAST – LIKE REALLY FAST

According to Guinness World Records, some species of bamboo can grow up to 2.91 ft/day — or, 1.5 inches/hr! So if you sit long enough with a bamboo culm, it might just grow before your eyes!

This is where bamboo differs from most other flora, which put their energy into continued growth of the original stem. Once bamboo is established (usually after 3 years), the new shoots that emerge each spring will continue to get bigger and bigger. Pretty cool, right?

2. BAMBOO HAS REGENERATION SUPERPOWERS

No, really! Cutting bamboo actually stimulates growth. How does this work? Well, rather than directing energy towards regaining its lost height, a cut bamboo stalk will simply unfurl new leaves.

These leaves, in turn, create and send energy down to the root system to encourage the growth of new shoots. The more that gets harvested, the faster it grows. That makes bamboo an incredible renewable resource that can be harvested and will regrow naturally.

3. BAMBOO CAN SEQUESTER A LOT OF CARBON

Bamboo’s incredible growth rate is impressive, and some of the reasons are less obvious — including its powerful carbon sequestration potential. When properly managed and intensively harvested, bamboo can sequester up to 1.78 tonnes of CO2 per clump per year. This translates into a CO2 drawdown curve that’s up to 10X faster than that of woody trees. That’s HUGE! 

4. BAMBOO FILTERS AND SLOWS THE FLOW OF WATER

Dense bamboo roots form a water barrier, and are used by coastal villages to protect their crops from getting washed out by rising water tables. And thanks to this barrier, bamboo can effectively filter organic matter (including soil nitrogen), leading some scientists to explore it as a sustainable wastewater treatment option.

5. BAMBOO IS VIRTUALLY FIRE-PROOF

Because it contains large amounts of silicate acid, bamboo is abnormally flame resistant. This is good news in fire-prone regions of the world, where other tree and grass species are regularly devastated by wildfires. Incorporating clumping bamboo into tropical reforestation efforts, then, can protect the long-term viability of projects.

6. BAMBOO IS REALLY STRONG AND FLEXIBLE

Which makes it an incredible, environmentally friendly building material — especially in earthquake-prone regions. In this regard, bamboo has been prevalent since the beginning of humanity, and has been used in place of wood, bricks, steel, and more. In fact, in some countries, bamboo stalks are used to build scaffolding. If we used bamboo for more construction purposes, we would save many trees and primary forests from deforestation.

7. BAMBOO HELPS TO HOLD THE SOIL TOGETHER

Because bamboo is a grass, it has a very shallow root system — with rhizomes only populating the top 6 inches of the soil. The rest of the roots only spread around 14 inches deeper. But because the roots are so densely clumped, they do a great job at holding the top layer of the soil together, thus preventing soil erosion.

On a recent International flight we were provided disposable bamboo utensils for our meals. I decided to take a couple of sets home and have used one set more than a dozen times. They are much sturdier than plastic.

So, my question is when will more entrepreneurs take this on? It seems to have tremendous potential.