Bamboo’s versatility outmatches most tree species. It is known to be a natural and excellent raw material for manufacturing strong and sturdy furniture, handicrafts, and novelty items. It is not only valuable for its uses as raw material but also because of its ecological bearing.
Listed below are some of the characteristics of bamboo:
- An effective erosion control plant and natural control barrier due to its widespread root system and large canopy;
- Reduces runoff, prevents massive soil erosion;
- Keeps twice so much water in the watershed & sustains riverbanks;
- Protects surrounding environment during typhoons due to its height;
- Regenerates and resilient even after strong typhoons;
Helps mitigate water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption;
- Minimizes CO2 gases (sequesters up to 12 tons of CO2 from the air per hectare); and
- Generates up to 35% more oxygen then equivalent stand of trees.
Having said all of this it is important to delve deeper & get to know Bamboo better.
MATIC HUB held EkoShare: Bamboo Series with certified green architect and planner Joy Onozawa as trainer/mentor last October 8 & 9, 2015.
The two sessions of the series were dubbed Bamboo 101 and Bamboo 102.
EkoShare: Bamboo 101 was a combination of lecture on the essentials of bamboo and hands-on activities on some of its practical uses and treatments. The session benefited not only companies and designers but also individuals and homemakers.
EkoShare: Bamboo 102 was more advanced which entailed making bamboo slats, proper ways of slicing and battering bamboo, foundations, columns, and bamboo flooring. Participants finished the series with a model structure of their own making.
Matic Hub 