Bamboo: The Vegetable Steel

Bamboo: The Vegetable Steel

By Edgardo C. Manda

Special to Business Mirror  

 

IT is Environment Month and Earth Day is just around the corner. For once—or on April 22, which is Earth Day—can we do something for the planet? Each of us can take a moment to ask ourselves what we have done or contributed to solve the alarming and inevitable changing environmental conditions. The Earth is the only one we have.

A morbid fever

Thirty years ago, Dr. James Ephraim Lovelock, an environmental scientist, checked the Earth thoroughly after it was diagnosed with a morbid fever. There was an aggressively metastasizing tumor and he biopsied it. Lovelock’s prognosis is that the planet has 10 years to put its health act together, or suffer from the irreversible damage that human abuse has caused.

The fever, as it were, can last up to as long as 100,000 years. Can we imagine what would have become of the 3-billion-year-old Earth by then? Can the Earth be too hot for comfort? Or, would it already be in coma, too deadened to feel or react to anything?

Revenge of Gaia

Reflected in his book, The Revenge of Gaia (Gaia is the Greek goddess of the Earth), Lovelock makes us realize that now—right now—we are already past the point of no return. However, expressing hopefulness, he realized that there is still something that can be done to save the organism called Earth.

In the book, Gaia remains optimistic that anything still alive has the chance to enjoy even a smidgen of good health in spite of all the depressing findings in the face of the reality that because of men’s activities, temperature is rising abnormally.

As the warming of the Earth continues and the terminal illness grips Gaia, the Earth is still breathing.

Global warming

Humans could only care less if aerosol- and carbon-emitting actions contaminate the atmosphere.

As of 2007, according to the United Nations Development Program Human Development Report, carbon-dioxide emissions worldwide were measured at some 27.3 metric tons. The US and China topped other countries with 22.2-percent and 18.4-percent fuel emissions, respectively. The Philippines had 0.3-percent fuel emissions.

Climate change, according to the report, defines development change. No country will be spared from damaging setbacks nor be immune to the impact of global warming.

While it is true that these kinds of pollution reduce global warming by temporarily blocking off direct sunlight, when it disperses, men become directly exposed to hazardous ultraviolet rays.

The cooling effect is fleeting. Most of the time, it is sweltering. This “fool’s climate” has catastrophic consequences.

Imagine the ice in the Arctic regions as fast melting. That leaves poor polar bears and other animals that thrive in colder habitat to face the inevitable: extinction. Climate change has triggered a tsunami in Southeast Asia, killing thousands. A hurricane as damaging as Katrina left New Orleans and neighboring states cut off from the rest of the most developed regions of the world. And right here, tropical Typhoon Milenyo swept most part of Luzon with extraordinarily howling winds. Elsewhere, sea level is rising, heat waves are more intense, droughts are the world over, and wildfires are frequent.

The Philippine climate has gone haywire these past years. We experience either drought or too much rain. But just the same, water reservoirs are often in the critical level.

Climate-change scenarios destroy opportunity and reinforce inequality, the report added. It is a fact.

Inconveniently true

If we remain apathetic to this environmental reality and continue to abuse Planet Earth not only in emissions that damage the environment but more so in logging, mining and unplanned industrial developments, what will become of the human race at the turn of the century?

“Climate change,” according to Nature Magazine, “could result in the extinction of more than a million terrestrial species in the next 50 years.” This could include man, if we are not vigilant.

Watching former US Vice President Al Gore’s The Inconvenient Truth documentary definitely sends shivers down one’s spine.

“Each passing day brings yet more evidence that we are facing a planetary emergency, a climate crisis that demands immediate attention,” says Gore, rallying those concerned to act fearlessly, immediately and with prudence before it is too late.

Greening the Earth: The ultimate remedy

ONLY men’s concerted efforts can make a difference in finding an ultimate remedy to save Planet Earth from further environmental degradation and relentless abuse. Global warming is for real and exists.

Until Hurricane Katrina, the US was not paying too much attention to global warming. The rest of the world was already taking concrete actions and preparing for its impact. The Netherlands was one of the first to act and set up the strongest flood defences; it is still exerting more efforts to make these stronger.

Just in time for last year’s Environment Month, Time Magazine came out with a special issue with the cover story “The Global Warming Survival Guide,” among other environment-related articles. Mark Hertsgaard’s “On the Front Lines of Climate Change” cited flood and coastal-defense management efforts of developed countries like Britain, Finland, France and Spain. Even Bangladesh has taken action.

Meanwhile, having learned its bitter lesson, the US is working on the post-Katrina New Orleans to make it one of the safest coastal cities in the world.

Making a difference

While Gore rocked the world with his Inconvenient Truth documentary on the Planet Earth’s morbid-fever dilemma, Time claims the planet is “trashing through the alternating chills and night sweats of a serious illness.”

The magazine article “51 Things You Can Do To Make a Difference” enumerates simple tips for all to contribute to avert global warming. The Earth, which is 3 billion years old, must be kept healthy and fit to live in. The grave illness gripping the planet may allow it to live another 100,000 years. We will only be too anxious to conjecture as to the condition of the Earth then. Humanity and living things must have been wiped out long before that time.

While we look at the certainty that we will all be responsible for the Earth and suffer the consequences, we cannot discount the possibility that massive or community action can make the difference.

The survival guide

According to the Human Development Report, countries of the world lack neither financial resources nor the technological capabilities to move others to action. “What is missing is a sense of urgency, human solidarity and collective interest” to address the problem.

The report succinctly argues that climate change poses challenges at many levels. All people of various influences and preferences must confront the actual issue of managing the environment of the one thing we all have in common: Planet Earth.

Deep and immediate cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions must be initiated now.

Time’s down-to-earth guides offer ideas of how each of us can help save Planet Earth. Some may find the suggestions ridiculous but, on the whole, each one sets a direction.

Tip No. 26 is as simple as “Plant a Bamboo [Fence].”

Great difference 

Indeed, as contributor Maryanne Murray Buechner has written among the 51 tips, bamboo makes a beautiful and convenient fence because it grows fast.

As plain as the tips may seem for making a difference, planting only as much as your lot can accommodate cannot dramatically reduce CO2 in the community. But for sure, bamboo will serve its use as a carbon sink for the lot owner. In the long run, a seemingly negligible percentage of carbon emissions that a clump of bamboo in your yard can sequester will make a great difference.

Rotary initiative

With shared vision to save and preserve Planet Earth, the challenge promptly and collectively undertaken by an entire human community matters a great deal.

Rotary is one of the civic organizations moving its members to act in saving the planet on a long term.

In 1917 Arch C. Klump, Rotary International (RI) sixth president and founder of the RI Foundation, had in mind the future of next generations. In establishing the foundation, Klump envisioned: “We should think in terms of years and generations. Rotary is a movement for centuries.”

At the forefront of the bandwagon, Rotary positions itself with major and long-term environmental projects through stewardship of Planet Earth.  

The Rotary Club of Makati Central (RCMC) under District 3830 forwards bamboo advocacy for the future generation. RCMC has tapped government agencies, local government units, private groups, the academic community, chambers of commerce and other Rotary clubs to sustain this endeavour to plant and propagate bamboo.

On April 26 and 27, approximately 1,000 cyclists will bike around Laguna de Bay for the biggest situation-awareness campaign dubbed “Save Laguna Lake Bike Caravan.” Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA) and RCMC hope this will be a continuing project, a small contribution to save Planet Earth. 

Why bamboo?

PLANET Earth is in peril and mankind must act fast. The solution is to make it green again.

Our forests are denuded and watersheds are barren, causing massive flooding. Half of the Philippines’ 30,000,000 hectares are identified as forest areas and, of these; 1,382,881 hectares are proclaimed watershed reserves. However, as we see it, most of our forests need to be replanted now, or else....

But trees will take 10 to 20 years to mature. Why not plant bamboo? Without doubt, bamboo is the fastest means to regreen our forests, as affirmed by Dr. Romualdo Sta. Ana, president of the Philippine Bamboo Federation. Then-Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes had the foresight to integrate bamboo in the country’s reforestation program as a substitute to timber.

Bamboo, which, by the way, is not a tree but a giant grass, can grow to as fast as four feet a day, reach its full height in about two months, and fully matures in four to five years. Some 1,500 varieties of bamboo grow naturally in temperate climates. Bamboo propagation requires very little maintenance, attention and capital.

The grass of hope

More than 5,000 uses of the different parts of bamboo directly benefit people from Asia, Africa and South America.

In China alone, the production value of bamboo has contributed some $6.4 billion to the government coffers in 2005 and $950 million for the same year in product export. The great value of bamboo was studied and validated by the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBaR), a 35-country organization based in Beijing that promotes sustainable bamboo development for livelihood and environmental protection.

Often ignored and given little importance, bamboo is the most available abundant resource in the countryside, he said.

Income can be derived from all the parts of bamboo in lesser time, as multiple harvests a year can be made from the second up to its 120th year. Imagine how many generations can benefit from one bamboo plant.

Various parts—from the roots to the leaves to the tip—can be used as building materials with the strength of steel, weapons (first rocket was a bamboo tube stuffed with gunpowder), fuel, furniture, writing and musical instruments, food, clothing, and medical and cosmetic products, among others.

Because bamboo planting does not harm the soil, intercropping of cash crops is another source of immediate income for the farmer.

The bamboo advantage

The incessant problems gripping mankind are environmental degradation and global warming as a result of carbon emissions.

Bamboo is scientifically proven to be a carbon sequestrator by many groups. INBaR validates findings that one hectare of bamboo plantation could seize 12 tons of CO2 in a year. In fact, as this is being written, a conference, entitled “Living in a Low-Carbon World,” is being held in London in response to the looming environmental crisis.

Other advantages in propagating bamboo are that the plant can effectively protect riverbanks and hill slopes against soil erosion. Its root network can spread up to 1,000 sq m to hold the soil and water, strengthening watershed areas, and that it is a great substitute for pulp in paper-making. Bamboo yields six times more cellulose than pine trees.

Bamboo’s nutrient-rich shoots contain amino acids, vitamins A, B1 and C, carbohydrates, glucose, phosphorous, potassium and protein. China’s income from export of bamboo shoots alone is worth more than $120 million a year.

Other specific parts of the plant may be produced as construction and building materials, furniture, décor and handicrafts, textile, and medicine and cosmetic products. By-products such as sawdust and strips can be manufactured as fuel, clothing, paper and lumber boards.

Pinoy ingenuity

Byproducts of bamboo can be crafted besides the lumber boards. For instance, natives of Surigao del Sur gained fame and fortune innovating with various designs of long surfboards.

A sell-out and winner in the 2006 International Longboard Surfing held in Lanusa, Surigao del Sur, the Pinoy ingenuity paid off. Lanusa is the surfing capital of the country.

The Pinoy bamboo surfboard is a favourite among Australian and European surfers.

Who said bamboo is a poor man’s timber?

Resilient, beautiful bamboo

For many years, farmers have been fascinated by forests planted densely to evergreen bamboo. They look at this as a peaceful and magical place. As the wind blows, the flexible bamboo bends gently and without breaking, poles click and leave a whisper.

Legend has it that the first Filipino man and woman emerged from a giant bamboo stalk.

Si Malakas at si Maganda are so named after the significant traits unique in Filipinos. Displaying strength and resiliency despite adversity and trials; as well as beauty and grace—like Filipinos, the bamboo is so described.

Dumaguete conference

IN February bamboo-industry stakeholders from all over the country gathered for a three-day conference in Negros Oriental to discuss the role of academe in developing the bamboo industry and the role of bamboo in attaining the Millennium Development Goals.

Livelihood and environment topped the plenary agenda. International groups, like INBaR, which advocated the propagation and use of bamboo, also gave counsel on the future of bamboo propagation and end-products.

This 5th National Conference on Bamboo established a strong cooperation among stakeholders, industry and private-sector partners, the government and the media. They drafted an action plan to assure the implementation of this collaboration accord.

Beyond Dumaguete, it is hoped the advocacy to propagate bamboo will grow even stronger—not just for this country but for Planet Earth.