Published by Martha Danly under Building Supplies, LEED, Sustainable Products

Bamboo. Can’t go a day without somebody telling us he’s walking on it, sleeping on it, cooking with it, knitting with it, writing letters on it, or wearing it.

So it’s clearly versatile. It’s very durable. It’s rapidly renewable.

Sounds perfectly green to me. But is that the whole story? Here are some fun facts about what makes bamboo green…and not so green, thanks to Wikipedia and other generous sources:

What is bamboo? What are its advantages?

• Bamboo is the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth.
• It’s as durable as hardwood, even though the plant is technically in the grass family.
• It grows incredibly fast. Under the right soil and climate conditions, bamboo can grow as much as 1.5 to 2 inches per hour.
• While an oak tree may require 120 years to grow to maturity, some species of bamboo can be harvested in three years’ time.
• Bamboo offers many green benefits. Environmental Building News sums it up thus: “It’s hard to argue with a wood substitute that matures in three years, regenerates without need for replanting, and requires minimal fertilization or pesticides.”
• As a result, bamboo is recognized as a green material under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building certification.

What bamboo facts will impress my friends at the next holiday cocktail party?

• Bamboo produces up to 35% more oxygen than hardwood trees and absorbs four times as much carbon.
• Owing to its high nitrogen consumption, growing Bamboo can detoxify wastewater and improve soil quality.
• Bamboo also has natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

Where does bamboo grow; how long has it been cultivated?

• Most bamboo flooring comes from the Hunan province of China.
• Bamboo has been used as flooring, paper, and medicines for approximately 5,000 years in Asia.
• More than 6 million people in China are employed in the bamboo industry and 600 million people worldwide rely on income from it.

Do pandas eat the same kind of bamboo that we use?

• No, the Moso species of bamboo—the kind used for flooring—is not a food source for giant and red pandas.
• Bamboo comprises up to 99 percent of the giant panda’s diet. And because of bamboo’s relatively low nutritional value, a single panda can spend up to 16 hours a day eating as much as 40 pounds of the stuff. Yum!
• However, pandas in the wild are suffering from shrinking habitat and food supply on account of human population increase and land development.

How is bamboo flooring made? What are its properties?

• Bamboo poles are first sliced into strips, steamed to make them more flexible, then flattened and glued together. Finally, bamboo is finished with a protective UV coat.
• Natural color variations develop through pressure steaming, a process called carbonization, which gives it a light brown tone without application of dyes or artificial finish.
• Because the color is achieved by heating and not by staining, the longer it heats the softer bamboo becomes. Therefore, the darker the color, the softer the final product.
• Because it is a native tropical plant, bamboo by its very makeup resists moisture; thus bamboo flooring expands and contracts less than do hardwood floors.

What are the environmental and health concerns about bamboo?

• While some people describe bamboo as a true wonder plant, it isn’t. There’s no such thing.
• The first concern is the use of non-sustainable growing practices; some growers use pesticides and fertilizers; others harvest using clear-cut techniques, encouraging monoculture and threatening biodiversity.
• The second issue is that most bamboo flooring is laminated using urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesives, which emit volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are harmful to our health and unfriendly to the atmosphere—the planet.
• The third potential problem is the use of dyes that may employ heavy metals and other toxic substances.
• The fourth concern is that there is no Fair Trade certification for bamboo yet, so there is no way to guarantee that a given bamboo product was produced with fair wages and conditions for the workers.
• The fifth question is transportation. Most bamboo flooring is shipped from China, as against a consideration for local sourcing.

I’m considering bamboo flooring for my home. What points should I weigh?

• Choice of supplier is important. With the recent introduction of Smith & Fong’s PlyBooPure, you can now buy FSC-certified and formaldehyde-free bamboo flooring. This company maintains direct relationships with farmers, who harvest the trunks of mature bamboo plants only. Ask your dealer whether the products the store carries can make the same claims.
• Consider sustainable alternatives to bamboo. Local wood flooring from well managed forests in North America may be as green as imported bamboo. If you could find a source of local, reclaimed wood, that would be even better.
• Don’t be a knee-jerk buyer. It’s easy to fall into the if-it’s-bamboo-it-must-be-green trap. Consider all the green factors that go into the alternatives you’re considering, and then look at the triple bottom line—the cost to you, to other people, and to the planet.

Sources:
www.bamboosa.com
www.buildinggreen.com
www.dovetailinc.org
www.nationalzoo.si.edu
www.smockpaper.com
www.treehugger.com
www.un.org
www.wikipedia.com