WHY BAMBOO? ... HERE`S WHY ... DEFORESTATION and increased CO2 emissions threaten the earth`s biodiversity and the very air we breathe...Perhaps the environmental crisis` at hand have not yet touched your life, but the time is shortly to come. Recent NASA reports of a 60% loss of ozone over the arctic provide an explanation for increased severity in the worlds weather patterns which has only begun to affect us whether directly or indirectly. The social, political and economic implications are difficult to imagine as our ozone layer continues to thin, forests disappear and desertization is occurring at an alarming rate. BAMBOO HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY...The earth desperately needs the attention and action of us all or our children`s children will surely not have a world fit to live in.  There is no one solution but amazingly, the simple bamboo plant can make a dramatic positive impact in many areas. It is our goal to inform and raise awareness about "Bamboo, People and the Environment" and provide the tools and information to then respond in one`s own way in their own world. Every action counts, every person counts... ENDURING THROUGH TIME...Thomas Edison successfully used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiment with the first light bulb. This light bulb still burns today in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. He also used a bamboo as  rebar for the reinforcement of his swimming pool. To this day, the pool has never leaked. An unrivaled utility, {One resource book lists over 5,000 uses including paper, scaffolding, diesel fuel, airplane "skins", desalination filters, aphrodisiacs, musical instruments, medicine, food and was Alexander Graham Bell`s first phonograph needle SURVIVING THROUGH HARDSHIP...Amidst death and destruction, bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast closer to ground zero than any other living thing and provided the first re-greening in Hiroshima after the  blast in 1945. GROWING WITH STRENGTH AND SPEED...With a tensile strength superior to mild steel {withstands up to 52,000 Pounds of pressure psi} and a weight-to-strength ratio surpassing that of graphite, bamboo is the strongest growing woody plant on earth with one of the widest ranging habitats of more than 1500 species thriving in diverse terrain from sea level to 12,000 feet on every continent but the poles.  It also grows the fastest: clocked shooting skyward at 2 inches an hour. Some species grow one and a half meters a day. BAMBOO PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE AIR WE BREATHE...Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the regreening of degraded lands, and its stands release 35% more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Some bamboo even sequester up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide from the air per hectare. Bamboo can also lower light intensity and protects against ultraviolet rays. Traditional belief holds that being in a bamboo grove - the favorite dwelling place of Buddha - restores calmness to emotions and stimulates creativity. Carbon Sequestration InformationNet production and carbon cycling in a bamboo Phyllostachys  pubescens stand. AU: Isagi-Y; Kawahara-T; Kamo-K; Ito-H AD: Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research  Institute, Momoyama, Fushimi, Kyoto 612, Japan. SO: Plant-Ecology. 1997, 130: 1, 41-52; 48 ref. PY: 1997 LA: English AB: Phyllostachys pubescens is one of the largest bamboo species with a leptomorphic {a type of rhizomatous system with solitary culms scattered rather evenly} root system in the world. The species originates in China and has been naturalized in neighbouring countries. It was introduced in 1746 into Japan because of the economic value of the young sprouts and culm woods. It escaped from the planted areas and expanded by invading the native vegetation. In order to clarify the basic ecological characteristics of the species,carbon fixation and cycling were determined in a stand of  Phyllostachys pubescens in Kyoto Prefecture. The standing
bamboocentral.org/