Our planet desperately needs the attention and action of us all, if we want a habitable earth for generations to come. This means that we must change our behaviour. This is not an easy task and drastic changes must happen soon. But incredibly, there is one natural resource that will aid our efforts; the simple bamboo plant can make a dramatic positive impact in many areas.
Benefits of Bamboo:
• It is the fastest growing plant on earth
• It’s a critical element in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
• Viable replacement for wood
• An enduring natural resource
• Versatile with a short growth cycle
• A critical element of the economy
• An essential structural material in architecture
• A renewable resource for forestry production
• It plays and important role in arts and culture and has medicinal uses
Bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant on this planet. It grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree. Some species can grow up to 1 meter per day and sizes range from miniatures to towering hollow stems of 60 metres high.
There are over 1000 species of bamboo on the earth. The diversity makes bamboo adaptable to many environments and this enduring natural resource has a short growth cycle. Bamboo can be selectively harvested annually and takes 3-5 years to fully grow compared to 10-20 years for most other softwood species. Bamboo tolerates extremes of precipitation, from 12-100 cm of annual rainfall.
This remarkable plant is the fastest growing canopy for the re-greening of degraded areas and generates more oxygen than the equivalent stand of trees. It lowers light intensity and protects against ultraviolet rays and is an atmospheric and soil purifier.
As one of the strongest building materials, bamboo's tensile strength is 28,000 per m² versus 23,000 m² for steel, which makes it an essential structural material in earthquake architecture. It is possible, in the tropics, to plant and grow your own bamboo home.
Bamboo is a high-yield renewable natural resource and not only is it strong, it looks good too, that’s why it is used for wall panelling, floor tiles, bamboo pulp for paper making, briquettes for fuel, raw material for housing construction and as reinforcement in concrete beams.
Bamboo is exquisite component in landscape design. Its anti-erosion properties create an effective watershed, stitching the soil together along fragile river banks, deforested areas and in places prone to earthquakes and mud slides. The sum of stem flow rate and canopy intercept of bamboo is 25% which means that bamboo greatly reduces rain run-off, preventing massive soil erosion.
This mystical plant is a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, endurance and compromise. For centuries bamboo has been revered as a valuable ingredient in ancient medicine. Current research points to bamboo's effectiveness in a number of modern medicines. Throughout Asia, bamboo has for centuries been integral to religions ceremonies, art, music and daily life.
Bamboo shoots provide nutrition for millions of people worldwide. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of pulverised bamboo bark prevents bacterial growth and it is used as a natural food preservative.
Bamboo provides shade, wind break, acoustical barriers and aesthetic beauty, making it an all rounder and a valuable resource. So, definitely consider bamboo as the green alternative when deciding on elements for your home.
Interesting Facts:
- Bamboo provided the first re-greening in Hiroshima after the atomic blast in 1945.
- Thomas Edison successfully used a carbonised bamboo filament in his first experiment with the light bulb.
- As early as 200 BC, green bamboo strips were strung together with silk thread to form paper.
Can you show some pictures of the bamboo flooring?
laminate flooring on 02/10/2010