Green School - Bali, Indonesia

• A single bamboo clump can produce up to 15 kilometers of usable pole in its lifetime.
• Certain timber bamboos have better tensile strengths that iron or steel on strength per weight ratio.
• Over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses, and the world’s recognized 1,100 to 1,500 species range in geographical distribution from the tropics to temperate climates, from 46 N to 47 S, and in altitudes up to 4,000 meters.
• The world trade in bamboo and rattan is currently estimated at US$ 14 billion per year, and bamboo’s commercial consumption is expected to reach US$ 20 billion per year by the 2015.
• Bamboo is the most diverse and primitive group of plants in the grass family, and has one of the highest rate of photosynthesis of any plant species in the world.
• Bamboo is extremely resilient; in fact a species of bamboo was the first plant to return to life after the atomic bombings of Japan in 1945.
• Bamboo can grow at an incredibly rapid rate, up 1.2 meters in 24 hours!
• Certain bamboo root clumps can live for hundreds of years, providing a dependable and steady supply of materials; in fact, a mature 100’ by 100’ patch of clumping timber bamboo can produce enough material to produce a house every year!

Source: www.sustainableadvertising.org

Did you know?

• Bamboo is naturally hypo-allergenic and anti-bacterial, preventing odor, allergies and skin irritations.
• Bamboo has for centuries been used in Ayuverda and Chinese acupuncture.
• Bamboo has double the absorbency of cotton.
• Bamboo is an essential structural material in earthquake architecture.
• Bamboo is the most sustainable textile material available on the market.
• Bamboo is considered as a mystical plant throughout Asia. It is a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, endurance and compromise.
• Due to its high nitrogen consumption, bamboo helps mitigate water pollution, making it a solution for excess nutrient uptake of wastewater from manufacturing, livestock farming and sewage treatment.

Uses of Bamboo:

• Wind protection
• Bamboo leaves added to compost create a natural fertilizer
• Bamboo added to rice compost creates natural fungi protection
• Soil erosion control
• Road embankment stabilization
• Irrigation pipes
• A source of food and fodder
• Storage containers
• Musical instruments like flutes and xylophones