Bamboo

Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about how bamboo is processed into fibers in a very thoroughly researched blog post. It even includes some comparisons to lyocell and modal, materials cited in the World Changing book as good textile alternatives. It’s especially eye-opening after this post on Inhabitat.

One thing that the post doesn’t mention is where most of the bamboo comes from. In the last few years, I noticed a tremendous interest in bamboo not just for clothing, but for flooring, paper, and even cutting boards.

Bamboo grows fast, it is a grass, it is a sustainable resource—I have heard all of it. But isn’t one reason that giant pandas are on the endangered list is that bamboo forests (their ONLY food source and home) are disappearing? If we can switch from wood to bamboo for everything we use, then I want to know that my new bamboo cutting board from Whole Foods didn’t kill pandas!

Or pollute water systems, for that matter. One comment in the bamboo post asks for a certification process similar to the FSC, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any for sustainable bamboo farming.