Is Bamboo the Answer to Our World's Environmental Problems?
Friday July 6, 2007
A Cane the World Can Lean On - New York TimesIn an article written for the The New York times, environmentalists are being quoted as promoting bamboo as the new “It” plant for saving the earth. Some believe growing bamboo is the answer to many of the earth's environmental problems. Let me list bamboo's strengths, according to the report:
- Bamboo produces 14 tons of "wood" an acre. The leading U.S. wood producing tree, Southern yellow pine, only grows 8 tons.
- Bamboo is the plant for carbon abatement as the plant can store “four times the CO2 of a stand of trees of similar size”
- Bamboo's porous fibers make a cloth that breathes, is a soft subsitiute for silk and National Geographic Magazine says “this upstart fabric may someday compete with King Cotton.”
- You can't eat a tree but you can eat bamboo. Bamboo shoots can be eaten raw or cooked if you "pop them off underground, just before they emerge from the dirt."
I really have to scratch my head over this bamboo promotion. The N.Y. Times article is an interesting read but millions of dollars are being spent annually in the Southern United States to control bamboo using chemicals and heavy equipment. Here are several discussions on my Forestry Forum about bamboo and the invasive effects of the plant:
- "Discussion: Killing Bamboo"
- "Discussion: Alabama to Make Bamboo Paper"
- "Discussion: What's the future of pine pulp plantations?"
Bamboo Thicket - C.Bargeron/Univ.of Ga./Bugwood.org
Comments
Bamboo has over 1000 species world wide. There are two main types of growth, determined by the root, or ‘rhizome’ structure: clumpers (sympodial) and runners (monopodial). In general, the clumpers are tropical and the runners are of temperate climates. Runners can be very invasive. The “clumping” species stay where they are planted or close by when seeds are dropped, as the name implies they grow in clumps.
Bamboo is one of the most eco-friendly plants that there is. Bamboo gives us clean air to breathe it consumes carbon dioxide and returns 30 percent more oxygen to the atmosphere than trees.
Bamboo is actually a species of grass and isn’t a tree at all.
The idea of one plant being “eco-friendlier” than another is absurd! The ecological disturbances that are an issue worldwide are largely manmade problems.
Plus you CAN eat trees! (of course) Ever hear of apples, plums, etc. you can’t eat fully grown bamboo shoots any more than you can eat the trunk of an oak… but you can eat acorns with proper preparation.
Living in a tropical country, one can see the tremendous utility of bamboo, not to mention a great soup made from roots and shoots. Whether ^CO2-GW is man-made or not, we need solutions, and it sounds like bamboo has lots of promise. In a past life, near Seattle, we had a bamboo hedge around a Japanese garden (although “monopodal” simple techniques kept it from spreadding). So it can even offer a solution in temperate climates in USA.
Steve,
Can you tell me where you got the info regarding the Southern States spending Millions per year to control Bamboo???