Bamboo - A Renewable Resource
By Blaizy Blair
Pandas are known to eat it, but bamboo is fast becoming the latest renewal resource. Bamboo is actually a grass, but industries are seeing the potential for multiple uses, particularly in hardwood and household flooring.
Since bamboo is a grass, it makes for an aesthetically pleasing and attractive addition to any garden. Bamboo has two types: clumpers and runners. Runners, as their name suggests, will run as far and wide as they possibly can. Clumpers clump around the center of the bamboo and grow slowly outward. Some varieties of bamboo have both types of bamboo, while there are varieties which only have one type.
There are plenty of varieties to chose from, many that can grow in full shade to full sun gardens. Unlike many household plants, bamboo requires a great deal of water, which is why is grows so well in tropical regions. If your yard is not a moist area, or does not have an area of water collection for your bamboo, you will need to water it more often than your other plants.
Bamboo is also great for the house, adding lovely greenery to any room regardless of lighting. Just makes sure to get a variety of bamboo which does not require a significant amount of light, if you do not have a sunny spot to place it in. In Chinese cultures, bamboo is considered good luck and placing it in the house ensures luck living in your house with you!
Currently bamboo is used as an environmentally friendly hardwood floor alternative. It is also be used as furniture material and house construction in certain third world communities. It has even been used to make such every day items like fishing poles and wind chimes. Since bamboo is a renewal resource and has a substantially less growing time, bamboo can save trees! A stalk of bamboo only takes approximately two months to grow back while trees can take upwards to several decades to grow back into useable material. With such a short growing time frame, bamboo is a great, economical and environmentally friendly alternative to deforestation. Bamboo can grow back many times over in the time it takes to plant, grow and cut down one tree. One tree! Think of the acres of trees we could save by switching to such a renewal resource.
Yet, bamboo can offer people yet another great environmental benefit. With bamboo being a grass and have green leaves, it can filter the air around us and release clean, fresh oxygen in return. They can be our very own air filters! By breathing in the toxins and carbon dioxide that we give off, bamboo can absorb the toxins and give back oxygen for us to breathe in. All we have to do is water them. What a great deal.
Bamboo not only makes a garden more attractive, but it can provide necessary material for the world's population. Between paper products, bed linens, hardwood flooring and other uses, bamboo may be the pine of the future. And we thought the pandas were just chomping on grass all this time!
Blaizy Blair is a writer, director, producer, and artist who first garnered the attention of the international press in 1998 when he performed his song Linda Angel at the vigil held for Linda McCartney at London's Trafalgar Square. The heartfelt tribute attracted the attention of news cameras, and his impromptu performance was televised internationally.
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