| Green building enthusiasts like to banter about how | | | | oxygen that is one third greater than a comparable |
| bamboo is a superior flooring option over traditional | | | | stand of lumber trees. With the growing global |
| hardwood floors. The process of creating bamboo | | | | concerns over greenhouse gasses and global |
| planks used in the flooring industry has improved | | | | warming, it is easy to see how planting bamboo can |
| vastly in recent years resulting in a product that is | | | | help with the problem. It traps more carbon dioxide |
| comparable in durability to oak - a widely used | | | | than hardwood trees does and crates more available |
| hardwood for homes. What is it that makes bamboo | | | | oxygen. This process is excellent at reducing your |
| so environmentally superior as a building material? | | | | carbon footprint. |
| 1 - One common misconception is that bamboo is a | | | | 3 - Bamboo plots are an excellent way to prevent |
| wood. It is actually not. Bamboo is a species of grass | | | | soil erosion and build up the available water in a |
| and is widely known to be one of the fasted growing | | | | watershed. The complex root structure of the |
| plants in the world. A stand of bamboo will | | | | bamboo plant prevents top soil erosion even after |
| regenerate itself after proper harvesting in less than | | | | harvesting. When hardwood treed are harvested, |
| two months. Compare that to a stand of lumber | | | | however, the soil in the area becomes much more |
| trees which can take anywhere from forty to sixty | | | | vulnerable and is typical destroyed in the process. |
| years to replenish itself. Doing the math we can easily | | | | The soil is laid bare to the elements and will erode |
| see that bamboo is a superior renewable resource. | | | | away. What is left will become dead soil due to a lack |
| 2 - Bamboo stands create one of the highest | | | | of plant debris to generate nutrients. This process |
| amounts of oxygen of any crop type plant. Generally | | | | can be seen first hand in the clear cutting of the rain |
| speaking, a typical stand will produce a volume of | | | | forests of the world. |