Ecohoy: Bamboo Products

STORY BEHIND BAMBOO

Bamboo, technically is a grass which grows everywhere in the world but for areas with extremely cold climates.The species of bamboo that we know today evolved from prehistoric grasses between thirty and forty million years ago.

About 50 percent of India’s bamboo resources are in the North Eastern States which has 63 species of 20 genera in this region, hence producing the finest bamboo artisans. This is 50 percent of India’s species and 87 percent genera. Besides, there are 11 exotic varieties.

Through history, wood has become more and more scarce, simply because to produce a full grown tree can take up to sixty years, and another sixty years-time for a replacement unlike some species of bamboo which equal in height and width to some trees but take as little as sixty days to mature completely.

Bamboo products such as arrows, paper, building materials, and booksexisted as far back as about seven thousand years. Even in the early years, bamboo had been used in many ways, not to mention the traditional use of bamboo in the daily life of the early people especially in Asia.

HOW IT’S MADE

With the advancement in the knowledge about this special grass, the applications of bamboo seem to be endless. Furniture, sheets, yoga blocks, flooring and building materials, bridges, bicycles, skateboards, helmets, computer keyboards you name it, bamboo might be an eco-friendly and even a better alternative source of material.

The strength of the culms, their straightness, smoothness, lightness combined with hardness and greater hollowness; the facility and regularity with which they can be split; the different sizes, various lengths and thickness of their joints allow bamboo to have a wide variety of applications and thus it is rightfully considered to be one the most important and eco-friendly raw material available.

INTERESTING FACTS

Everyone knows about Thomas Edison and his bulb but did you know his first successful prototype used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiment with the first light bulb. He also used a bamboo as rebar for the reinforcement of his swimming pool. Some more interesting facts about bamboo you will be amazed to know.

Alexander Graham Bell made use of bamboo for his first phonograph needle.
A specie of Bamboo was the first plant life to return after the atomic bombings of Japan.
Over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses.
Bamboo has a higher tensile strength than steel. 28,000 sq. inch against 23,000 that of steel.
Some of the first paper products were made from bamboo.
Bamboo is stronger than steel and heartier than most hardwoods
It produces a higher quality of wood than hardwood trees do making it a valuable building material.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Not only can bamboo mature in 60 to 180 days but also bamboo minimizes CO2 gases and generates up to 35% more oxygen than equivalent stand of trees. Some more advantages of this amazing plant.

Bamboo helps reduce water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption.
Bamboo has a widespread root system as well as an enveloping canopy which makes it a great water barrier to control soil erosion.
Bamboo can help combat climate change because the use of bamboo as a building material saves more hardwood trees from logging.
Bamboo needs less water and chemicals for irrigation and keeping the plants healthy respectively
A harvest of a single bamboo stand can yield over 200 poles in 5 years, so there’s no scarcity added to its abundance which keeps prices low, making itvery affordable
Bamboo products are bio – degradable.