Sustainable bamboo project

Sustainable Bamboo Project
By Pandas Love Us

Introduction
Ping Fu once said, “Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable
of adapting to any circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to
bounce back even from the most difficult times.” Bamboo is a plant that sustains itself on its
own. It is an ancient plant. Like rice to the Asians or wheat to the Europeans, bamboo has been a
staple in many cultures of the world. It is friendly to the environment, bamboo’s own compost
fertilizes the next generation, the leaves and branches decompose, nourishing the soil below.
Bamboo renews rapidly, it can help protect and preserve the environment for current and future
generations. Ideally, the speed of a material’s regeneration matches the need for its utilization.
Sustainability can be thought of as a way of being holistically responsible at the local grassroots
level while still having a global effect. How our actions and choices affect both our local
communities and those beyond our boundaries must be considered. A balance must be
maintained that does not exploit one over another. How bamboo grows and sustains itself
represents an inter-life cycle of regenerative ecology. Respect for tradition as well as time tested
methods that work together with innovative new technologies can help achieve solid solutions
for today and tomorrow. Bamboo is simple, elegant and strong, yet flexible. It embodies the
interconnectedness of all life on this planet (Goldberg, 2002).
In this crunch of resources and common sense, it’s inevitable that increasingly students of the
art of serving life, rather than snuffing it out, should be turning to one of life’s most successful
designs for living. Many look toward the human future and sustainability and find themselves

contemplating hints from our human past and find bamboo standing by all these centuries on half
the globe.
On our planet there has seen unprecedented destruction of forests, loss of topsoil, extinction
of species, and elimination of native peoples. We need to have plant therapy-plants heal people
and bamboo is suggested as one of the easiest of all plants to cultivate and love and among the
most rapid to re-green the globe. Revegetation is critical for Earth’s health as well as human
sanity. We have lost over one third of U.S. topsoil in fifty years of industrialization and chemical
agroindustry. This reckless loss of limited topsoil has complex consequences that are coming at
us quickly from our increasingly fragile future. Leaves are therapeutic principally because they
pump oxygen and the reduction of which in the brain cells has been clinically found to increase
anxiety and a whole spectrum of negative emotions that plague modern urbanites. Bamboo’s airy
green filter and dense underground life is renowned for erosion control and combine to make it a
healing force. With deforestation occurring in every country the current per person reserves of
wood in the world are dipping drastically. Bamboo can take the weight off wood in a number of
human uses, while playing the same role as trees in modifying weather, controlling floods,
diminishing winds, and guarding the soil (Farrelly, 1984).
First, let’s take a look at how and why bamboo is such a tremendous sustainable option.
When looking at bamboo as a sustainable resource we can leave the concrete jungle that
surrounds us. When thinking about bamboo, Steve Lacy’s quote put it best, “Bamboo is not a
weed, it's a flowering plant. Bamboo is a magnificent plant”. Steve was right, bamboo is
incredible. It is stronger than steel, needs no fertilizer or pesticides to grow, releases 35% higher
oxygen emissions into Earth’s atmosphere, and can be used to build homes as well as several

other household items. And the list goes on and on. The most significant however, not only does
bamboo have all these traits but the most crucial trait; it can build a sustainable future. Let’s take
a look at how.
According to Bamboo Village Hawaii, “Bamboo grows at phenomenal rates, up to a foot in a
single day!” (Pelton, 2013). In addition, a mature 100’x100’ area of bamboo can yield enough
construction materials to frame an entire house every year (paraphrase, Pelton, 2013). Not to
mention “Bamboo can be harvested every three to six years for construction purposes (depending
on the species); whereas trees range from 25 years (for softwoods) to 50 years (for hardwoods)”
(Kati, 2012). Furthermore, this same patch can live for hundreds of years and continue to
provide materials for building (Paraphrase, Kati, 2012). These buildings bamboo created via
bamboo aren’t just little lean-tos either. They can range from your everyday home to immaculate
soaring towers that reach the heavens. Great examples of this can be seen across the globe from
Bali to right here at home in Hilo. But we will cover Hilo in the coming paragraphs. Continuing
on, not only is bamboo able to do this but there is just that special something about bamboo,
“When we see a building made of bamboo, we think about the natural environment," added
Precht, who recently unveiled a concept for a bamboo hotel and a spectacular bamboo gateway.
"That creates a certain campfire romanticism of being off the grid for a while” (Fairs, 2014).
When working with bamboo it’s more than just about its ecological aspects, it gives one the
sense of being a part of nature. Now, I’m not just talking about that laying under the stars looking
up at the sky type of feeling, but a deeper connection to the Earth itself. A spiritual connection
between ourselves and the world we live in. Bamboo can be used almost endlessly. Moreover, it

connects and that’s what makes it miraculous. “Bamboo is at the center of a sustainable eco-
ethical industry worldwide and new industrial applications are being developed every year”
(Pelton, 2013). To sum it up, bamboo creates a more sustainable world not just by its use for
buildings, but by allowing humanity to connect and grow as deep as its roots with Mother Earth.
Second let’s delve into the history of Hawaiian bamboo. Hawaiian bamboo was originally
brought to the islands by the early Polynesian settlers. There are two types of Hawaiian bamboo,
Schizostachyum glaucifolium and Bambusa vulgaris, which are both, considered clumping
bamboos. The most familiar bamboo is the Bambusa vulgaris, known as the “common bamboo”
it is the larger of the two (Pelton, 2013). It’s the timber bamboo and has a special property of
growing individual clumps of flowers and dying. This bamboo in Hawaii can reach upwards to
an enormous 50 ft. and was used for water containers (Pelton, 2013). That’s pretty incredible
when you think about the size of normal flowering plants. The Schizostachyum glaucifolium that
clumps and grows a bit shorter however, stands at approximately 40ft. This type is not only used
as water containers but also used as musical instruments. Both bamboos had problems with the
Powder Post Beetle attacks throughout history. In doing so, it’s thought that these bamboos were
not used for home construction due to the beetle problems. Next there are four other varying
species of clumping bamboos which are bambusa beecheyana, bambusa vulgaris, guadua
angustifolia and hirose. “Bambusa beecheyana is dark green and leans away from the clump”
(Kati, 2012). It thrives in moist climates and has a white powdery residue on its surface. This
bamboo is actually the most commonly used on the Big Island. Since it can produce thick walls
and has a good sense of bending strength which makes it ideal. The only drawback however, is

due to its starchy nature, it’s prone to beetle attacks. With criteria of a medium strength timber, it
is thought to have a mosaic virus that gives it its own unique characteristic when sanded or
carved. “The Guadua angustifolia is known for having thick wall but also thorns” (Pelton, 2013).
It lacks the starch powder that the other bamboos produce but it’s prone to beetle and fungus
attacks as well. Being the center of a sustainable eco-ethical industry worldwide, bamboo is
being applied to daily life every year. Bamboo durability and revitalization of its sources is one
of its best characteristics when used for development purposes. For example, a 60ft. tree cut
down takes 60 years to replace. However, a 60ft. bamboo cut for market takes 59 days. A cousin
to rice and corn, versatility being a main characteristic of its family, bamboo is used for houses.
Just to give you an idea of the vast amount of uses:
“furniture, cases, baskets, screens, farm tools, fishing rods, windmill blades, boat
building, record needles, paper, kites, blowguns, polish, diesel fuel, scales, food,
medicine, chopsticks, incense sticks, musical instruments, blinds, tipi poles, concrete
reinforcement, plastic reinforcement, scaffolding, cables, bolt substitutes, piping, bike
frames and plenty more”(Sundar, 2013).
In more than one way bamboo continues to surprise readers as well as builders of its usefulness.
To illustrate, one unexpected usage of bamboo is brewing beer, a filament used in the Edison
light bulb in Washington. After looking at the various types of Hawaiian bamboo and
background information it is plain to see that bamboo is quite possibly one the most versatile,
oldest, and most useful plants to ever exist on the face of the Earth.

Now that we have covered bamboo in Hawaii, let’s take an in depth look at the
communication side of how bamboo is actually being used here on the Big Island in everyday
life. For that, we have two full interviews conducted by our group member Laurel Rain that has
been transcribed from her audio file below.
Interviews
by Laurel Rain
Michael Gornik is a Licensed General
Contractor and is co-founder and co-director
of the Polestar Community. Polestar is a
spiritual community on the Big Island of
Hawaiithatoffers year-round, hands-on
experience in cooperative living based on the
universal teachingsof Paramahansa
Yogananda.
You can listentothe audioversionbyclickingonthe icon
below orread the followingtranscription.

Michael is a Licensed General Contractor. Can you tell me how many years you’ve been
building in general Michael?
M: Right around 40 yrs.
L: And generally you’ve been building mostly the standard wood frame construction?
M: Yes, I would say 90% of what I’ve built has been standard but I’ve built everything else also.
We’ve done rammed earth, we’ve done fired earth, we’ve built yurts, we’ve built bamboo houses;
there are probably few I’m forgetting.
L: And currently you are working with Bamboo Hawaii, David Sands?
M: Yes, I built 2 houses with them last year, I don’t have any projects going for them right now
but am talking to them about other a couple of other projects with them and that’s correct.
L: And how does working with a bamboo kit home compare to doing the standard wood frame
construction in your opinion?
M: Well, they are panelized so instead of a wood frame where you have individual members,
larger members are put together in Vietnam, and assembled in a shop and then the whole thing is
built over there in a big warehouse, taken apart, shipped over here and then bolted back together.
So, it differs a lot in the sense that you basically have to put in the foundation pretty much like
normal, but then all the panels just go together, you just like follow the erector set, and it goes

together quickly, very quickly. So does with framing in a wood house, but this is even quicker
and in a lot of cases it is the finish as well, at least, as some of the interior finishes aren’t included
in the kit. What we found is the things that made it more difficult were because it is mostly
designed for single wall, you’ve got the plumbing wall, questions in the wiring and you have to
detail all that stuff out. Then you have to finish all that, so there’s trim, fitting cabinets, that kind
of stuff is laborious so the trim took quite a bit longer than the walls.
L: And will you still be using a bamboo substance for trim?
M: Yes, they ship over the trim as well.
L. How does the cost compare? I mean shipping a whole house sounds very expensive yet I
know that labor costs and materials are quite a bit cheaper say, in Vietnam?
M: That’s true. There, definitely more cost, I don’t know exactly how much more but I would say
on the order of 50-100% more than traditional construction; that would be just a rough guess.
L: From some of the research I’ve done, the bamboo seems, if it’s treated properly with boric
acid, Borax, pressure washed, all that stuff, that it will even last longer than traditional lumber; is
that true in your opinion?
M: I don’t know the answer to that, I do know that it is the same substance they treat wood with
that we build with traditionally. I don’t see why it would be better or worse because I know the
bugs eat in either case whether it’s regular framing or bamboo, so I don’t know if it really makes
a difference.

L: When I spoke to you previously you mentioned that some of the work that David Sands was
doing in bringing facilities to grow bamboo in places like Brazil and eventually Hawaii; can you
speak a little bit more about that project?
M: I don’t know too much other than the concept. They did a study about basically, creating a
bamboo plywood factory. It’s a really great concept because it is a very sustainable product and
beautiful product and I think everybody will want it. They have plans for doing it in various
places and they’ve have been negotiating with a number of different sites and are working hard
on it. I can get you an update on it but that’s about all I know at this point. He (David) was off
in Brazil not long ago, everything was looking good, and the government was backing it. It all
sounded really promising.
L: That sounds very exciting and I would imagine having a bamboo factory on the island, if we
could ever do that, would reduce the cost and just make this type of building more available to
many more people.
M: I think so. Because the bamboo, just a sheet of good of bamboo, that was grown and
processed here, would be an amazing quantum leap in sustainability.
L: Right. From my understanding, growing bamboo is quite good for the land, adds mulch and
improves the soil.
M: Yes, that’s right and it grows in very marginal soil too.

L: Do you know of any sites that have been considered here on the island or is it too soon to say?
M: I know they need, in order for their particular approach to work; they need something like
3,000 acres, so it is a significant site but I’ll bet they can find it here. I think they’re just
following leads. I don’t know if they’ve gotten anywhere with that yet.
L; Are there any obstacles to building a bamboo home in Hawaii right now?
M: There are, the main one is, unless you get a kit, there are no building standards, or way for the
county to approve it without an engineer who will sign off on it. To get an engineer to sign off
on it, I think you still need, I could be wrong about this, certified, and treated bamboo.
L: I’m sure that’s true.
M: Okay and so I don’t know if you can get that done here right now. For a while you could get
it done but I heard, through the grapevine, that maybe it was hard to do right now. So in the case
of the wood industry they’ve done it for so many years. They’ve got all the details worked out
and they know how to grade lumber, they know what a #1, and a select and a # 2 is and what it
will hold up; it’s been tested extensively. It’s much harder to apply that to bamboo, it’s not taken
to a factory and milled up. I think at this time it is inherently more difficult to engineer but I
think with time it would all get worked out.
L: It seems also the small-scale factor is another limiting issue at this point because in speaking
to Leimana Pelton, he is creating his joinery, one by one almost.

M: Right, he builds beautiful homes. I was really excited about bamboo for a long time but the
more I looked into it the less excited I was actually. I would love to think you could do more
sustainable, local materials but the reality is the labor intensiveness of connecting two pieces of
bamboo and having it be structural and look good, whether its trim or structure is just expensive.
L: Yes, it’s more craftsmen type work.
M Yes it is.
L: From what I’ve learned it is labor intensive with the pressure washing, the treating and all the
sanding that goes into that and matching stock.
M: So I actually think the plywood factory idea is a great way to think about it.
L: That does sound pretty exciting.
M: I think that would be a really great approach.
L: So, if there were a main benefit to building with bamboo what would you say that would be?
M: Well, I think the carbon footprint is drastically reduced and I believe that’s true even though
they’re shipping it from Vietnam in the case of kits. I think it takes a lot more of Earth’s
resources to build a regular house.
L: Right. Bamboo is quite a bit more renewable than logging pines and firs.

M: Right!
L: Well I think that’s all the questions I have for you today. Thank you very much for your time.
M: You’re very welcome!
As you can see from the interview and Michael’s in-depth building background, bamboo
houses are on the rise in Hawaii. To be honest, it is still coming along as he stated, David Sands
from “Bamboo Hawaii” wants to eventually get a bamboo plywood hybrid factory on the island
and that as Michael said would cut the shipping cost out entirely. So, the positives to take away
from the overall interview and the inside look at building and how the organizing of a bamboo
house looks is that; the buildings are fairly easy to construct according to Mr. Gornik, bamboo or
the bamboo plywood hybrid he discussed is much more sustainable, and overall it cuts the
footprint down. The cons are that it is a bit expensive, as of now, having to ship materials from
other places around the world; like the example of shipping kits from Vietnam. So, he question
really ends up being; “Are we, the people living in Hawaii as well as around the world, willing to
do what it takes to make bamboo a reality or not?” Yes, it will be a bit more money at first, but
as it becomes more readily available the cost will reduce and diminish. However, the
sustainability of bamboo and the eco-friendly nature of it all will never go away.
To follow up the first transcribed interview, Laurel did another with the head honcho himself,
David Sands. He is, what could be considered, the main man, the bamboo guru here on the Big
Island. He works extensively with bamboo and is working tirelessly to make bamboo plywood

and hence homes here in Hawaii an affordable reality. To give you an idea just how he operates
and how bamboo will work to build homes not only here in Hawaii but in other places around the
world here is his transcribed interview.
The reason behind giving two interviews is that it is an important aspect to recognize the
differences between how David discusses the prospect of bamboo and his in-depth knowledge in
comparison to Michael’s building background and just working with the product. The interview
will give an insider view from David Sands on “Bamboo Living” and “Bamboo Hawaii”. Also
view the videos in our power-point presentation.
David Sandsis co-founder and chief architectof Bamboo Living. A long-time
Big Island resident, David bringshis greatvision and talent to making the
reality of building with bamboo an affordable and artistically inspiring
possibility to many around the world.
You can listentothe
audioversionbyclicking
on the iconbeloworread
the followingtranscript

L: We’re here today with David Sands who is the Chairman & Co-Founder of Bamboo Living.
We’re here to talk to him about what he has done with the bamboo and how he is helping make
this more viable and sustainable for Hawaii and other places in the world.
L: I wanted to know a little bit about how long you’ve have been working with Bamboo?
D: Sure, this year makes 20 years actually. Well, there were a couple years before but this is the
year that we started the first permitted bamboo structure.
L: And it was these types of kit houses?
D: We pre-fabricated it onsite because we had to build a company so we basically just started
with poles and figured out how we’re going to make panels, trusses, figured it out.
L: And you’re the Chief Architect for these types of buildings, so you had a lot to do with how
the kits were designed and all the structural engineering that went into making them.
D: Yeah that’s right; the friend that I started the business with, Jeffrey Trudeau had been a
builder for many years and studied as an architect so it was really a combination of us working
together.
L: What got you interested in working with Bamboo in the first place?
D: It was really like a mid-life crisis, you know. I wanted to do be doing something that was
more meaningful and had a real environmental interest so I just felt like it was time to figure out

what that was. Took a little bit of time to figure it out, stopped my practice, left for about 6
months, traveled, talked to my friend Jeffrey, and figured out, yeah, this is something I really
want to do.
L: I’m not familiar with what you did in the past.
D: I was an architect. I have been an architect for many years.
L: Okay, I see, so just a little more free-flowing to get to do your own development?
D: Yes, the big thing was using a material, what had happened was I built a house on Maui 25
years ago; Jeffrey was the builder friend who helped us with it. They delivered the lumber for
the house and it was just kind of painful to see how many trees went go into a house. I just
thought there has got to be a better way of doing this.
I went to Bali with a client for a project a couple of years after that and met Linda Garland
and saw some of the things she was doing with bamboo. Then that next year she hosted the
World Bamboo Congress at her estate in Bali and Jeffrey went down for that, and I had another
commitment, but he came back and had made a connection for getting structural bamboo and a
friend of ours was willing to be our first client.
L: I have seen some fantastic homes, really more of the pole structures on the Internet, like the
Green School.
D: Sure, yeah.

L: If I’m correct, I think that I’ve been told that you were the one who developed the technology
to create the bamboo plywood, is that correct?
D: Well, we’ve developed… I can’t talk too much about that because it’s a work in progress right
now. Yeah, we’ve developed a … like the bamboo plywood that’s out there right now is really
quite expensive and it’s for high-end cabinetry, and then you see bamboo flooring. There are a
lot of other ways to use bamboo and so that is what we have been working on.
L: So this is a process that you’re going to patent or copyright in the future?
D: That’s right, yes. We’ve already got it in patent pending.
L: That is pretty exciting and takes a lot of work from my understanding.
D: Yes, thank you.
L: Well in speaking to Michael Gornik, he mentioned there is some rumor, or possibility of you
setting up bamboo plywood factories in the future and Brazil might be the place number one?
D: That’s right. I was just down there in January working on that project and it looks very
positive for moving ahead.
L: That’s sounds really exciting; I’d love to be a caretaker on a 3,000-acre plot of bamboo!
D: Yes, yes, yes!

L: Yes, that’s what I’m told; it would take about 3,000 acres, at least here, to set up facilities,
enough growing to make it feasible.
D: Yeah, that’s right.
L: Will it be even feasible on this island, with the cost of land so high?
D: Well, it’s not the kind of thing where you can go out and buy land and run a business plan on
it, but you could probably get an agricultural lease.
L: Yes, I have a friend that does Palms in Kona; he’s got an agricultural lease and basically built
a nice business out of a rocky hillside.
D: Sure, yeah.
L: Seems to me with the way things are now that we’re not quite at the place where bamboo is…
we’re still in the process of making it sustainable and affordable. Being here, that’s going to
require growing it here and processing it.
D: We are already sustainable; we’ve got a carbon negative footprint, which is a positive thing
already.
L: I guess I used that term incorrectly; I mean for building here to be happening.

D: Yeah, right, there are just some things that just have to happen in terms of the amount of
acreage in bamboo, there’d have to be a central processing facility, and then going through the
building code process. It’s all do-able things; it just takes funding to get that done.
L: The sustainability of bamboo is quite exciting.
D: Isn’t that neat, yeah, yeah, yeah!
L: Seeing, on your website, that with one acre of bamboo, you can build a house out of that,
where it takes twelve acres in a forest of lumber which is a total destruction in the forest
usually.
D: Right, Yeah exactly, you kill the trees when you harvest; for most trees, when you harvest,
you’re starting all over again.
L: Right and trees have become poorer in quality because we’ve cut all the older, heartwood
from long-standing groves.
D: Yeah, these poles are three years old.
L: It’s beautiful, and what type of bamboo, is this the Guadua?
D: No, it’s a Southeast Asian; Guadua is a South American, and Central American
bamboo. There are a number of Guaduas; this is a Southeast Asian bamboo.
L: Does it have a name?

D: Yes, Bambusa stenostachya
L: Okay, I’m only familiar with the bamboos grown on this island. The thin-walled one I’ve
used for ʻohe hano ihu, the nose flutes.
D: Yeah, right, made the flutes. That’s what they call a canoe plant; that’s Schizostachyam
glaucifolium
L: Right, and then the other bamboo apparently has a lot of starch in it and is very bitter
D: Yes, it’s the Bambusa vulgaris.
L: It’s pretty on the outside. Well, I can’t wait until we have more of this growing here.
D: I know, I know. We actually put together a business plan for a large landowner and they
really, seriously considered it but didn’t move ahead with it. It’s possible to do; I would be able
to do it as a co-operative even.
L: Right, I think there is probably a lot of energy building for that. I’ve been researching things
for about three months for this project.
D: Yeah, and what exactly is the project?
L: Well, I’m sorry I didn’t say that at first. It’s a class on Sustainability, Communication and
Culture.

D: Ah, beautiful.
L: It’s an online course so we’re all in groups and we decided to do our project on bamboo
because the five of us in our group really love it; it’s just really beautiful and exquisite. We have
this beautiful island to live on; how can we make this happen here? You seem to be a big mover
and shaker in this world and the homes are so lovely!
D: Thank you I appreciate that
L: I think that’s all I can think of to ask you
D: Thank you, Laurel, for making the time.
L: Thank you David, I really appreciate your time.
As you can see from the interview, David Sands started out as just anyone else, a man with a
passion and know how to want to make it a reality. To think he equates it all to a midlife crisis.
Sands really gets what the world needs and that is to be clean, sustainable, efficient in how we,
humans, do things, and overall protecting our home. He mentions that they have a negative
carbon footprint which means that instead of hurting the environment, Sands and the people he
works with are actually bettering it. That is what the goal needs to be for everyone. Being carbon
neutral is not enough, with the vast number of resources diminishing; the planet needs more
David Sands in it. David Sands, his friends, and his company all are doing what the world is
crying out for, making a sustainable resource more cost efficient, readily available to a wider
audience, and inevitably causing real changes to happen not only here in Hawaii but in Brazil has

he mentions in the interview and without a doubt soon the whole world will follow. Bamboo can
do miraculous things when used correctly. People need only try hard enough to be sustainable to
make it happen.
Bamboo Across the Globe
Let’s now take a look into bamboo across the globe. Bamboo is known as “the wood to the
poor” in India, “the friend of the people” in China; “the brother” in Vietnam (Farrelly, 1984).
Today, Bamboo is used in many different areas as a beneficial resource to produce numerous
goods like the ones listed in the previous section of the paper above. One example could be
building bridges. After doing the research, I found that bamboo bridges are very popular,
especially in Thailand. These contemporary bamboo bridges are pushing the limits of
engineering, design, and drawing all over the globe. Typically, “…the bamboo bridges still take
advantage of new metals and complex alloys in order to increase their strength and attractiveness
to the naked eye” (Bravo, 2013). However, recent developments have seen an advance that one
would not expect in this area of architecture. Both temporary and permanent bamboo bridges
without any metal have been popping up around the globe, “…serving as both installments that
draw a considerable number of tourists as well as functional constructions that allow for
transportation of citizens living in these places such as Thailand” (Bravo, 2013). From Thailand
to major metropolitan cities, bamboo bridges are making their presence known. In Thailand, a
bamboo bridge has taken the place of the famed Mon Bridge. It was said that this structure

stretched for over 1,500 feet, which is one of the longest bridges in the world (Bravo, 2013). Not
only do these bridges bring life and something useful to these cities, but they also attract people
from other areas to want to visit and experience the sustainable resources that other places use.
Bamboo is a necessity when building things around the world, and becomes a popular resource
in many areas. It is said that an “estimated 2 billion people across the globe use bamboo on a
daily basis to produce everything from household utensils and handicrafts, to scaffolding for
construction sites”, according to the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan. Increasingly,
though, it also is being recognized for its beauty, durability and flexibility, turning it into a hot,
internationally traded commodity, and making it a key resource for livelihood development.
From a sub-family of grasses, bamboo is in many ways an ideal crop for the rural poor. Its clonal
colony growth form, rapid growth rates, and short rotation cycles enables annual income
generation unlike the long harvest cycle for timber trees. For example, in China they don’t have a
lot of access to a variety of resources so bamboo starts to become an extremely important
resource for them. Hogarth, lead author of a recent Center for International Forestry Research
report, states, “Bamboo production does not require special tools, and there are many skills in
bamboo production that are common to agricultural crop management – such as soil cultivation
and fertilization – that are easily adapted,”. This was said, to help China in the usage of bamboo;
to help them not only survive in the rural areas, but to also learn about bamboo so that when it
comes down to the need to build a house, they would be able to build it with bamboo. Bamboo is
a cheap and easy resource that should be used across the world, more and more people are
starting to grasp its importance in addition to its almost limitless applications. The Hindu-habitat

is trying to expand the usage of bamboo. They start by talking about how bamboo was replaced
in many of its uses with wood, steel and concrete by the British and this practice has been
followed by most of the colonized world for a long time. But times are changing and bamboo is
gaining popularity as the greenest material. It is currently being used in all kinds of projects; be it
housing, public buildings, even infrastructure projects across the globe. The Hindu-habitat then
goes on to explain the accessibility, and how long their houses have lasted when building with
bamboo. The habitat has used bamboo for things such as floors and essential kitchen items.
Bamboo kitchenware has come a long way from chopsticks and steamers. “Totally Bamboo”, a
North Hollywood company owned by Tom Sullivan and Joanne Chen, makes a wide range of
laminated bamboo cutting boards, serving bowls, and utensils. Sullivan says he's also done
prototypes for bamboo dashboards and gearshift knobs in cars as well as shower curtains.
Recently, he made a bamboo guitar for a client. Later this year the company intends to launch a
line of bamboo countertops and is looking into making bamboo building materials. Bamboo is
finally starting to get a glimpse of the recognition it deserves as one of the most sustainable
resources to make literally anything out of. Bamboo can make what we need but more than that,
it can make the Earth, our home, a more sustainable place to live. So why not use it, right?
Unquestionably, bamboo is not only on the rise but is starting to take hold on our planet.
Finally, The Environmental Bamboo Foundation or EBF is an Indonesian non-profit
organization founded by designer Linda Garland. It was established in 1993 to protect tropical
forests, by showing and promoting different developmental opportunities and experiences that
bamboo actually offers. In as little as three years EBF has helped put bamboo on the
conservation and development agenda of Indonesia’s government, while generating an

international interest in bamboo that's growing exponentially (Garland). The EBF has a focus
upon international development, through consulting and education, preservation research, agro
forestry projects, watershed reclamation, plantation development and policy development.
Weekly educational workshops under the guidance of the staff of the Environmental Bamboo
Foundation are ongoing in Indonesia. To date, EBF continues to improve and celebrate the very
sustainble lifestyle of bamboo. Some of their activities include design and marketing of locally
produced high quality bamboo products, bamboo-based agro forestry and watershed
rehabilitation, networking with government officials, entrepreneurs and bamboo experts, and
many more. They have hosted events and have received many different types of awards for the
work that they have done. It’s amazing to see how passionate people around the world are about
making their environment beneficial for everyone and how something as simple as bamboo
could change our lives and help us live sustainably. This foundation continues to do great
projects for our world and we should be thankful for the establishment of foundations like this
that care about their people. I fully support this foundation and I hope after reading about it you
will too.
The Hawaiian Bamboo Foundation chapter has a goal of building a large bamboo pavilion on
each of the islands, for the purpose of using these spaces for educational workshops about
bamboo and sustainability here in Hawaii. Perhaps in the future we could build natural structures
out of bamboo for the homeless population here in Hawaii.
“Bamboo is flexible, bending with the wind but never breaking, capable of adapting to any
circumstance. It suggests resilience, meaning that we have the ability to bounce back even from
the most difficult times”. Ping Fu could not possibly have known the full implications that these

words have brought to light. However, after reading this paper hopefully you will have an idea of
just how flexible and useful bamboo can be. Bamboo has the capacity to help us bounce back
from the destruction we have created across the world. Bamboo however, cannot do it by itself.
We, humanity need to stand up and put a stop to over using, over spending, over polluting,
building with unsustainable materials. Bamboo can be a start for us and our children’s children
sustainable future. We spend so much time and money trying to make things faster, stronger, and
better but forget to look two inches in front of our face and realize that we have materials that
can do all of that while not destroying everything we care about. So why not use bamboo? Why
not work toward a sustainable future with a sustainable material that is readily available to us
through out the world. It’s simple, use what nature gave us. Don’t take too much, most of all,
respect our home. I’m not talking clean the carpets and wash the dishes here; I’m talking about
lowering the global footprint we have placed on our mother earth. Bamboo can be a start to all
that. Without a doubt, bamboo can be the future today.

Works Cited
Austen, R., Levy, D., Ueda, K. (1977). Bamboo. John Weatherhill, Inc., of New York and
Tokyo.
Bravo, G. (2013, October 10). 3 Creative Bamboo Bridges Across the Globe. Retrieved February
13, 2015.
EBF. (2014, January 1). EBF-Environmental Bamboo Foundation, Bali, Indonesia. Retrieved
April 23, 2015, from http://www.bamboocentral.org/index1.htm
Fairs, M. (2014, July 18). Leading architects are "turning the focus back on bamboo" Retrieved
February 13, 2015, from http://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/18/penda-chris-precht-interview-bamboo-
architecture/
Farrelly, David(1984), The Book of Bamboo. Sierra Club, 85 Second Street, San Francisco,
CA 94105.
Goldberg, Gale Beth. (2002) Bamboo Style. Gibbs Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah 84041.
Kati. (2012, June 12). Uses for Bamboo in Sustainable Building - www.greenbuild.org.
Retrieved February 13, 2015, from http://www.greenbuild.org/new-construction/uses-for-bamboo-
in-sustainable-building/

`OHE. (2012, January 1). Retrieved April 1, 2015, from http://www.canoeplants.com/ohe.html
Pelton, L. (2013, January 1). BAMBOO APPLICATIONS/ Bamboo facts. Retrieved February
13, 2015, from http://www.bamboovillagehawaii.org/facts.htm
Sundar, N. (2013, December 13). Build it with bamboo. Retrieved February 13, 2015, from
http://www.thehindu.com/features/homes-and-gardens/design/build-it-with-
bamboo/article5455783.ece

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