Why Bamboo, why the heck?

Department of Environment and Natural Resources, urges once again, the community to plant trees to “avoid” these circumstances. Recommending to plant dipterocarps that would last a hundred years. Trees has its valuable existence since the beginning of the world, the tree of good and evil, the first sin of Eve and Adam, the arc of covenant conveniently resting in Vatican City, the ark of Noah, the cross where our savior has been nailed, and trees had been sold for 40.00 -50.00 per board feet. Ah, yes, let us plant trees for it has more commercial values rather than planting other cultivars with par excellence of the trees.

Hmmm, what can I recommend? How about bamboo, you plant one bamboo and in five years, you begin to harvest, you cut one bamboo pole and still there is that clump that would support the whole industry for over one hundred twenty years. A good carbon sink, that a hectare of bamboo can absorb 12 tons of Carbon Dioxide and exhales 35% oxygen. Oh, where is the market? Ask by dissenting few, amid these crises, if you introduce something that could help resolve these massive flooding, brought about by climate change, still you as an advocate will be asked, a glaring stare right into your cornea, WHERE IS THE MARKET?

Well, Chinese and Indian people did not have to ask this kind of question, WHERE IS THE MARKET? with their 10 million hectares of bamboo propagation, a second in figure with India which has 12 million hectares, they are asking themselves what else we can do out of bamboo? After making it as toothpick, pencil, charcoal, corrugated bamboo sheet, mat board, panel board, MDF tiles, furniture, heat insulator, source of bio-fuel, pulp paper, flavone, clothing, rug, fuel pellets, incense sticks, novelty items, cup, strand board, matchstick, scaffolding, Americans love the Bamboo Bicycle of Calfee Design... etc. Ah, they are smarter than us, don’t they? Come to think of it. Satires tell us that, all things are Made in China, and the rest are created by God.

After Thomas Edison made it as a filament for his first ever incandescent lamp that still burns until today at Smithsonian Museum, after Alexander Graham Bell used it on his first Phonograph needle, that produces sweet sound of music that soothes our wearied soul, once again, let us ask ourselves, the market, dude?, then ask yourself, what are my stewardship talents and skills to help alleviate impoverishment of this world.

Now, what is the relationship of flood, typhoon, green house gasses and climate change with bamboo? Well then, urging us to plant trees, I just opted out to plant bamboo, a good and much better option, it holds water too, it needs water as it shoots up clocked to 1.2 meters in just overnight.

I just come to think when Provincial Council of Cotabato Province passed as resolution to stop the manufacturing of wood charcoal, we must offer an alternative, bamboo charcoal, the same technology of producing wood coal, only do it while it is green, it burns in 2.5 hours much longer than the wood coal. Imagine the lost opportunity to earn and feed their family, if the charcoal industry is paralyzed; almost half of the population is using coal as an efficient fuel mostly from the working class, cutting costs on dwindling price of LPG.

In Brazil, 600 hectares of bamboo built a low cost community housing unit and it builds 1,000 houses, in the next few years, another thousand of housing unit will be built out of this SAME 600 hectares ONLY of bamboo forest. That would save a million natural forests in the future.

Discussion level is, we could not compromise the principle of co-existence of people and nature, we need the abundance of the forest, the forest needs us to take care of them, we think, the forest couldn’t, they just naturally care for us. We have to utilize the gift of the nature, only is, we must be wiser by now, looking for efficient and workable solutions.

What is it in me? Well my children need this world, wonderful Gaia to spend the rest of their lives, do you have children?... well, come to think for them. Bamboo… poor man’s timber, anyone?