The Greatest Plant In The World Is Ready To Change Everything
There is a perfect storm brewing. The Green movement is in full gear; companies are looking for ways to display how environmentally friendly they, and their products, are. They are also looking for ways to offset the rising fuel costs. Couple these with the fastest growing multi-use plant in the world and you can expect a huge change.
The plant is bamboo. Consider these facts (pulled from Wikipedia and various other sources):
- Is the fastest growing plant in the world, growing three to four feet a day with spurts as high as one to two feet in one hour. This allows it to be harvested as wood in 1-5 years, as opposed to 40 years for oak.
- Can grow in almost any climate.
- The shoots are edible, healthy, and are widely used in Asian cuisine (and are also crafted into utensils).
- Fiber is made into paper in China.
- Releases 35% more oxygen into the atmosphere than most hardwood trees.
- Every part of the plant can be used for something.
- Requires no fertilizer, pesticides or herbicides.
- In Asia, it is used as a source of potassium and to directly treat infections.
- When treated, forms a lightweight durable board. This wood is used to craft everything from furniture to bridges, flooring, boats, skateboards and musical instruments with a million uses in between.
- Fiber is used to make yarn and fabric. Due to the soft nature, it is often crafted into clothing and bed sheets.
If I told you that these facts belong to the easiest growing plant in the world, you would likely reply with “Why the hell isn’t everything made out of bamboo then!?”
Good question.
After doing some Googling, I really can’t find reasons why we don’t use bamboo. The only negative I can find is that it is hard to control from spreading. Not just in your yard and neighbors yard, but it can begin to grow under your house and pavement too. Ouch.
But why is that stopping us from using bamboo? Bamboo isn’t something you’d place in your own garden next to tomatoes, carrots and lettuce. This would be used as a mass resource by manufacturers. It would be grown in miles upon square miles of fields.
In the end I still can not find a reason why the U.S. has not hogtied bamboo. I think it’s only a matter of time before it will.
Sooner rather than later too.
Bamboo isn’t the only multi-use plant in town though. Sorghum is becoming chic in the housing industry as well. Though it’s just a grass commonly used in foods, what companies are finding is that a byproduct can be used to make beautiful trendy wood such as Kerei boards. They are turning waste into a valuable product. Now that’s a powerful sentence any company would love to claim.
A third, more familiar, resource you can throw into this trend is wheat. Yes, wheat. It’s being turned into a ‘strawboard‘ used in building luxury furniture.
Bamboo is a versatile product that domainers can tackle in two different ways: one large bamboo site covering all the products; or a series of smaller sites dedicated to different industries that bamboo can cover. Either way, keep an eye out for bamboo domains.
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Related:Labor Day Recap: Vinyl Wall Art Is Now My Top Search Term
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5 Responses to “The Greatest Plant In The World Is Ready To Change Everything”
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Very interesting facts! I had no idea bamboo was soo useful.
Bamboo Jeans - who wants a pair?:)
Mark:
Bamboo was one of the subjects that made me want to start this blog. I’m just amazed the U.S. isn’t seeing its benefits yet.
Namer:
bamboojeans.com is taken! And it’s more than a parked page.
Scott, thanks for the great post. I’ve read some great things about using hemp for paper, clothing etc. but didn’t know much about bamboo.
I actually saw a napkin holder (which I bought) and several other little kitchen items made of bamboo in a store recently. The manufacturer was smart enough to mention how quickly it grows etc. and that was a great selling point for me. Why not buy that over a regular wood or metal one? And wow, I had no idea you could make clothing out of bamboo too… how cool is that?
Thanks John.
Hemp has been used to make clothing for hundreds of years. Its main problem is the halo effect from the other use it has