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71 Comments
- Bukowsky, on 06/29/2009, -3/+53It would never make as much money as Hemp would.
- obliviousfool, on 06/30/2009, -1/+28Bamboo is sustainable, but you have to be careful. It is such a hard material that it requires very harsh chemical solvents to make the fibers workable for soft items. It is not a "green" material outside of just using it to build things. For sustainable fiber we'd be a lot better off going with hemp!
- kemp34, on 06/30/2009, -2/+25If the Federal Government did not clamp down so hard on industrial hemp cultivation, it would rapidly become the next MAJOR cash crop. Given that it is a weed that grows easily in numerous environments without fertilization agents or pesticides required, it is VERY environmentally friendly. If government leaders really cared about the environment, they would allow this crop to grow.
In April Ron Paul introduced HR 1866 essentially to make hemp legal to cultivate at the Federal level:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1866/show - Paulish, on 06/29/2009, -1/+23Using more bamboo would be pretty cool, but you have to be careful when cloning. The bamboo industry might end up in the same situation the banana industry is in right now. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/07/07 ...
- iDoraemon, on 06/30/2009, -2/+24Don't worry, Chinese bamboo very strong.
- EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -0/+16Then we'll have a story titled Bamboo Goes Bananas.
- effer, on 06/30/2009, -1/+17With bamboo, comes the problem of pests, namely the giant panda. Have you ever tried panda meat? The taste is rather offensive.
- zslice, on 06/30/2009, -0/+9Maybe they can if they make pandas the next Americans.
- Frankyfan3, on 06/30/2009, -1/+9I think we know what the New Billions Dollar Cash Crop is... hell, we knew it in 1938 but our government decided we little children needed that decision to be taken away from the public.
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/history/P ...
Note: There was so little public attention and notice to the need for a ban on marijuana, or the resulting legislation (Marihuana Tax Act of 1937), that the editors apparently did not realize that it had already been outlawed when they published this article. - WordsnCollision, on 06/30/2009, -0/+8First Big Oil, now Big Bambu... are Cheech & Chong the CEOs?
- LordSkywalker, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7The next big cash crop is and will be hemp. Industrial hemp stalk is a sustainable, renewable resource. More info on hemp can be found in the documentaries:
Emperor Of Hemp
Hemp And The Rule Of Law
Hemp Revolution - ipushmycar, on 06/30/2009, -3/+10If bamboo becomes too popular it will have to be made illegal.
- JCEEZ, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Bamboo is pretty gnarly, I studied for a year in Hong Kong and they would use it to scaffold an entire building while under construction:
http://images.google.com/images?q=hong+kong+bamboo ...
You can also eat bamboo shoots.... and cut it up to make shot glasses and bongs! - Barackalypse, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Its a bit of a stretch to call this as strong as steel, since its tensile strength varies between 115 and 309 MPa depending on the height and growth layer the sample was taken from. Steel starts at over 300 MPa and goes past 1,500 MPa.
http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/ja/ja_yu004.pdf
http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/steelprop. ... - wicki1, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5All the best to American Farmers.....
- EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6Excellent idea! They're actually reluctant to breed.
- markf3388, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6You can easily grown bamboo in northern california, its all over the Sonoma valley, its almost weed like in that it just starts growing everywhere.
- ebcreasoner, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5$2
- joe122370, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5anybody can, they don't mean anything
- dwu182, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6climate-conscious people will be glad to know that bamboo takes in a ***** of carbon dioxide
- Hillsfar, on 07/01/2009, -0/+4Hemp for oil and for cloth, but bamboo for structural materials. Both grow quickly without need for much fertilization.
Bamboo can be used for smooth hardwood floors, flat modern furniture, cooking and eating utensils, etc. - RiotHeart, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6Only if we can have Panda's with them
- IgorUnchained, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4Yep...even from Popular Mechanics back in 1938. I guess they gave up after 71 years and decided to call Bamboo the way to go.
- EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4True, but "just" building things is a fairly enormous industry! Every tree saved is a small victory.
- Leezus, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4Bring em to America, they'll ***** like crazy.
I don't have any basis for this, just a hunch. That's how I know I'm right. - bdbr, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4In the West, if someone is growing fast we say they're growing like a weed; in Asia, they say they're growing like bamboo (according to my Asian wife). This stuff grows extremely fast, and makes some nice-looking flooring.
- Import98, on 06/30/2009, -3/+6How about we make marijuana our next cash crop.
I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and say it will be successful. - EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Because who doesn't love squeaky, uncomfortable furniture that looks like it came from a garage sale?
- Velocity14, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3I'm all for localizing sustainable resources for production, but we gotta watch the waste end of the bamboo cycle -- particularly if it were harvested for clothing. A lot of harsh chemicals are used to treat and soften bamboo to make it into clothing and all that waste gets dumped back into the system in one way or another. If we're serious about having concern with bamboo in the US, we have to look at how it'll change the ecosystem, both good and bad.
- Spamorama, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4I can't wait until I can run through an American bamboo forest with Zhang ZiYi.
- atlasdugged, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4think of all the retro furniture we can make
- purpmint008, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3Retro furniture FTW.
I know it looks cheap but its actually quite strong and efficient. - govtdoesnotwork, on 06/30/2009, -8/+11Personally, I agree...BUT...The only way to know we're right for sure is to institute REAL capitalism and see what works best for farmers, in a free marketplace, as opposed to the statist control-freak ***** we call "capitalism" right now.
- linziedad, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4I've got a ton of bamboo growing in my backyard. Can I start selling carbon credits too?
- EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4Is there an example in the world of a successful national scale implementation of the type of "real" capitalism you're describing that we might learn from, either current or historical? Not baiting, just curious.
- ebcreasoner, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4Disease goes bananas for bamboo, tonight at nine.
- mr138, on 06/30/2009, -2/+4No.
Let's just do hemp instead. - EddiePotato, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2How much is that in layman's terms?
- askantik, on 06/30/2009, -4/+6Not bad, but hemp is better.
- purpmint008, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Great find. I knew cloning in this manner would have some bad impact. Hopefully they can 'engineer' something that is resistant to this fungus.
- viol999, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2Isn't bamboo extremely invasive? All we need is to have it overrun all of the native plants.
- rwert, on 06/30/2009, -1/+3I'm betting big on wicker after bamboo.
- ebcreasoner, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2What? I just bought 2 million credits from a friend that knows a Nigerian prince.
- DrJG, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2Eddie - the real capitalism examples would be in those poorer nations that are unable to afford playing with medicaid or social security and don't have either leftist, totalitarian or military regimes, so people have to provide their own needs including old age provisions and much else. Some do have schools sponsored by government and hostpitals, mostly used by poor, but that is about it, little other interference really. However if you are looking for the Ayn Rand capitalism, with no public schools and no hospitals for the poor, no roads even unless they are built by the private funds, then you have to look at really primitive nations perhaps in Africa. For a counterargument to Rand look at Germany, and while a lot is negative especially with the people not quite having gotten over the infection of the ideology they should have lost with the war, there is no doubt they have excellent system set up for their citizens what with public transport and roads and many many many incentives for large families. The infrastructure thus set up works for visitors too, and it is really easy to travel there and see the country, or live without a car. Capitalistic with modification - they have religion mixed with state to heavy degree, what with restrictions on sundays when you cannot disturb the neighbours and so cannot mow the lawn or wash your car, and there is a religion tax.
- govtdoesnotwork, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2I designed & made a 2 stage bamboo bong way back in college (early '80s). That thing rocked, too; because ice in the second stage didn't cause any condensation on the first. :) WooHoo!! Gainesville Green!! Those were the days.
- govtdoesnotwork, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Let's do both, and let the best crop win. (It's what used to be known as American capitalism, before a certain 2 party duopoly ***** it up with prohibition!)
- DrJG, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2This idea is good for a huge number of reasons, some immediately apparent are - for one thing bamboo plantations will secure the delta coast and much of other coastal areas of south from a flood or tsunami; second it grows in a variety of climates and can benefit the general country - the earth - with a quick recovery for now from the deforestation disaster looming close, for now (while more biodiversity has to be paid attention to in slightly longer run); and it is good and strong for building houses, buildings, furniture, a lot. It could bring back a mini log-cabin-era, what with bamboo cabins being easier to make for variety of uses. Then there is the carbon sink and the carbon credit market too. Half a dozen right there, about.
An entirely brilliant idea, but do grow natural strains and keep the clones as only one of the many strains. - ZenMojo, on 07/01/2009, -0/+2My dad bought a house with this stuff in a little garden back in Texas. Took the place over and kept coming back immediately everytime he tore it down.
- DrJG, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2Technicality and an irrelevant one. Most good points of bamboo forests are true about every species, while perhaps not all are equally strong for skyscraper building, but the latter is not proved.
- Enlefo, on 07/02/2009, -0/+2What's with all the "***** that grow help" comments? Hemp has many great uses, so does bamboo, some of those overlap, some do not.
Oh and when it comes to cloths... bamboo is waaaay more comfy then hemp. -
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