Interesting Facts

About Bamboo
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In 1854, Henricg Globel, a
German watchmaker made
the first true light bulb. He
used a carbonized bamboo
filament inside a glass bulb.
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Thomas Edison also used
bamboo as rebar for the
reinforcement of his
swimming pool. To this day,
the pool has never leaked
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The needle in Alexander
Graham Bells first
phonograph was made of
bamboo.
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Thomas Edison's first
successful incandescent lamp
(light bulb) used a filament
made of carbonized bamboo.
It was patented in 1880. This
light bulb still burns
today in the Smithsonian
Museum in Washington DC
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The modern and glamorous game of polo
owes its origins to Sagol Kangjei, a sport
that originated in the Imphal valley of
Manipur. To this day, Meitei riders astride
sturdy Manipuri ponies play many-a-side
polo, using rattan sticks and a ball
fashioned from bamboo rhizome. The
practice of using a ball made from bamboo
rhizome continued for many years, to be
replaced only well into the 20th century
with balls made of hard plastic material.
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Amidst death and destruction,
bamboo survived the
Hiroshima atomic blast closer
to ground zero than any other
living thing and provided the
first re-greening in Hiroshima
after the blast in 1945.
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With a tensile strength
superior to mild steel
(withstands up to 52,000
Pounds of pressure psi) and a
weight-to-strength ratio
surpassing that of graphite,
bamboo is the strongest
growing woody plant on earth.
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Bamboo is the fastest growing
canopy for the re-greening of
degraded lands, and its stands
release 35% more oxygen than
equivalent stands of trees.
Some bamboo even sequester
up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide
from the air per hectare.
Bamboo can also lower light
intensity and protects against
ultraviolet rays. Traditional
belief holds that being in a
bamboo grove - the favorite
dwelling place of Buddha -
restores calmness to emotions
and stimulates creativity.
Bamboo is one of the strongest
building materials. Bamboo's
tensile strength is 28,000
pounds per square inch versus
23,000 pounds per square inch
for steel.
Bamboo is a high-yield
renewable resource: "bamboo
ply" is now being used for wall
paneling and floor tiles;
bamboo pulp for paper-
making; briquettes for fuel,
raw material for housing
construction; and rebar for
reinforced concrete beams.
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There are 1500 species of
bamboo on the earth. This
diversity makes bamboo
adaptable to many
environments. It can be
harvested in 3-5 years versus
10-20 years for most softwood.
Bamboo tolerates extremes of
precipitation, from 30-250
inches of annual rainfall.
Bamboo shoots provide nutrition
for millions of people worldwide.
In Japan, the antioxidant properties
of pulverized bamboo skin can
prevent bacterial growth, and it is
used as a natural food preservative.

Taiwan alone consumes 80,000
tons of bamboo shoots annually,
constituting a $50 million industry
Bamboo litter make fodder for
animals and food for fish.
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Bamboo leaves are normally
utilized as fodder during
scarcity. Young bamboo leaves
and twigs are a favorite meal for
elephants and the Panda.
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Bamboo has for centuries been
used in Ayurvedic medicine
and Chinese herbal medicine.
Tabasheer, the powdered,
hardened Secretion from
bamboo is used internally to
treat asthma, coughs and can
be used as an aphrodisiac.
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In China, ingredients from the
root of the black bamboo help
treat kidney disease. Roots
and leaves have also been used
to treat venereal disease and
cancer. Sap is said to reduce
fever, and ash will cure
prickly heat.
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A village in Indonesia reports
that the water form within the
culm is used to treat broken
bones effectively and that the
tabasheer is used to promote
fertility in their cows. Current
research points to bamboo's
potential in a number of
medicinal uses.
Bamboo is a mystical plant: a symbol of
strength, flexibility, tenacity, and
endurance. Throughout Asia, bamboo
has for centuries been integral to
religious ceremonies, art, music, and
daily life. It can be found in the paper,
the brush, and the inspiration for poems
and paintings. Some of the earliest
historical records form the 2nd century
B.C. were written on green bamboo
strips.
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In the tropics it is possible to plant
and 'grow your own home;. in
Costa Rica, 1000 houses of bamboo
are built annually with material
coming only from a 60 hectare
bamboo plantation. If an
equivalent project used timber, it
would require 500 hectares of our
diminishing tropical rainforests.
Using bamboo to replace timber
saves the rainforests. With a 10-
30% annual increase in biomass
versus 2 to 5% for trees,
bamboo creates greater yields of
raw material for use. One clump
can produce 200 poles in the
three to five years. Bamboo
generates a crop every year.

Bamboo is a peerless erosion control agent,
it's net like root system create an effective
mechanism for watershed protection,
stitching the soil together along fragile
riverbanks, deforested areas, and in places
prone to earthquakes and mud slides.
Because of their wide-spreading root system,
uniquely shaped leaves, and dense litter on
the forest floor, the sum of stem flow rate and
canopy intercept of bamboo is 25% which
means that bamboo greatly reduces rain run
off, preventing massive soil erosion and
keeping up to twice as much water in the
watershed.
Bamboo is a pioneering plant
and can be grown in soil
damaged by overgrazing and
poor agricultural techniques.
Unlike with most trees proper
harvesting does not kill the
bamboo plant so topsoil is held
in place.

One of the enduring images of
Indias freedom struggle is of
Mahatma Gandhi setting out on
the Salt March in 1931, a 140
kilometer odyssey from
Ahmedabad to Dandi. As always,
he carried little else but his
conviction - and a bamboo stave.

A suspension bridge on the river
in China is 250 yard long, 9 foot
wide and rests entirely on
bamboo cables fastened over the
water. It doesn't have a single
nail or piece of iron in it.


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Bamboo grows at phenomenal
rates, up to a foot in a single
day!


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A mature 100x100 patch of
clumping bamboo can produce
enough construction materials
to frame an entire house every
year.


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Bamboo has one of the highest
rates of photosynthesis of any
plant species

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A sixty-foot tree cut for market
takes 60 years to replace. A
sixty-foot bamboo cut for
market takes 59 days to replace.


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Over one billion people in the
world live in bamboo houses
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Bamboo absorbs 2/3 more
carbon dioxide and releases 2/3
more oxygen than any other
plant on earth.



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A single bamboo clump can
produce up to 15 kilometers of
usable pole (up to 30 cm in
diameter) in its lifetime.

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Bamboo will not negatively
impact our environment. In
fact, Bamboo plants produce
highly oxygenated air and
balanced humidity.


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Bamboo stabilizes the earth
with its erosion control and
prevention, and restores the
health of soil by sequestering
excess nitrogen.


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The Bamboo plant is used for
watershed protection, and soil
remediation. It retains water in
the watershed, reduces runoff,
sustains riverbanks and helps
mitigate water pollution due to
its high nitrogen consumption.


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Thank You

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