Let's write about wonderful bamboo!

Why grow bamboo? Bamboo is an attractive ornamental plant; gardeners often seek out bamboo create a visual barrier on their property or to add a specific feeling to their garden’s design.

Environmental Bamboo Foundation logo: In East Nusa Tenggara (Indonesia), there are 'Bamboo Mamas', women who are creating thousands of bamboo seedlings in bamboo nurseries in preparation to replant degraded lands and bring back the forests of the past. This initiative is a direct response to the threats climate change is bringing to their island home.

“Many gardeners want to add bamboo to their property as a privacy screen,” said Jennifer Estrada, co-owner of New England Bamboo Co. in Rockport, Massachusetts. “It is a nice tall, dense, and evergreen option to hide a fence or just to give your yard a more private setting in an otherwise thickly settled neighborhood. Others might like bamboo as an accent specimen for their garden or to help create a zen feel.”

Why do I want to write about bamboo? Honestly, I came to a an appreciation for bamboo when my family lived in the Philippines, while my husbands was stationed there, with the U.S. Navy. What I remember most about bamboo is how fast it grows and the green color is intense year around. Beautiful furniture can be constructed with large bamboo stalks. Although there are no Panda bears living in the Philippines, those in China and in American zoos cannot get enough bamboo to eat. It's their favorite diet.

Therefore, I was interested in reading this article, published in the April 2022, Rotary International magazine.

In the Philippines, the forest cover is among the most depleted in the world. At the end of the 19th century, 70 percent of the country's land was forested; now, it's down to 20 percent. This has caused bigger floods, more soil erosion, higher temperatures and fewer crops.

Philippine Bamboo Foundation logo

Since trees are the "lungs of the world, performing the function of sequestering carbon," Edmund Singson who is president of the Rotary Club of Makati (Manila) Central, observes that the need to do sustainable projects on reforestation and increase the capacity of people to take care of the forests has become urgent.

Bamboo is bringing some hope in revitalizing deforested areas. "Bamboo is the first line of defense to deforestation," said Edguardo Manda, president of the Philippine Bamboo Foundation and past president of the Makati Central Rotary Club, who was the featured speaker on one field trip segment of the virtual Rotary presidential conference on, 27 November.

Bamboo grows quickly and can produce a mini-forest in just three years, he added. The plant prevents soil erosion and captures carbon dioxide to address pollution. A community can flourish around a bamboo forest by harvesting poles and shoots from the crop for sustainable livelihood as construction material, charcoal and food. This leaves forest trees undisturbed and protected because bamboo has given the community an alternative source of livelihood.

This was the rationale behind the rehabilitation of Wawa Dam, a critical watershed especially for Metro Manila, which is experiencing accelerated deforestation.

Moreover, the indigenous people residing in the watershed produce charcoal for their livelihood by cutting trees. The resulting loss of forest cover has contributed to the heavy flooding in Metro Manila, resulting in severe damage to property, dislocation of families and economic disruption.

Edgardo Manda: Commercially produced and sourced planting materials from either secondary or tertiary bamboo branch cuttings, require lots of care otherwise will not survive harsh conditions in plantation sites.

Since Manda became its president in 2010, the Philippine Bamboo Foundation has undertaken several nationwide information and education campaigns about the plant. It has also developed four eco farms and created bamboo villages/communities and in so doing also created bamboo forests.

Also, it has teamed up with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to prepare training materials about bamboo plantation management and the development of skills in producing finished products. Manda believes there is a commercial potential world-wide for bamboo products as a healthy food option, beer, laminated/engineered bamboo lumber, natural fiber, and reinforcement material for housing.

And this! Green School: Elora Hardy grew up in the wonderful land of BAli, in Indonesia, where her father taught her that if you have an idea you can create it.

Her father created a world-renowned design and build team in Bali, called, "Green School".

On its campus is a three-story triple-sprial cathedral innovation in architecture and engineering, made of bamboo. After working abroad, Hardy was lured back to Bali to carry on the work her father started. She founded the IBUKU studio, which has become an incubator of new ideas borne from collaborations between Balinese artisans and innovative designers and architects worldwide.

There were no experts on using bamboo in creative architectural designs. Hardy and her father put a whole new industry in motion.

Bamboo's strength is comparable t steel and concrete, says Hardy, who has brought bamboo to concrete spaces overseas. In Hong Kong, her company was asked t build a Balinese landscape. In Las Vegas, she was asked to create comfort, texture and a sense of closeness, "like bringing a sculptural bamboo volcano," within a warehouse space. It was, quite appropriately, called "The Sanctuary". She has created 300 structures around the world, using bamboo.

Bamboo construction is combining artistry with technology, nand with machine. The results are beautiful, inspiring, and technically precise, even breathtaking.

This is the future, says Hardy. With the efficiency of process systems and design, one can build a whole bamboo city within just four years, using forms that are warm, that can hold us, even hug us, that are enclosed and yet still a part of nature.

Elora Hardy was a keynote speaker at the Rotary presidential conference in Manila, in November.