Posted on October 15th,
2009
by Berit Griffin
With the growing interest in green living, bamboo often is mentioned. What’s it all about?
Let’s start off with what bamboo is. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not a tree. According to Wikipedia, bamboo is a woody perennial evergreen plant from the true grass family Poaceae. It grows natively almost everywhere except Europe and Antarctica.
How can you use this amazing grass? To start off with, you can eat it! Certain bamboo species’ shoots are edible. Notecook shares a delicious recipe for hot and sour soup with bamboo shoots.
If eating bamboo isn’t your style, how about giving it as a gift? It is known as “lucky bamboo” so it would be especially appropriate as a housewarming gift or for a new office.
Green Living Tips has quite a few uses for bamboo. Their list includes: baskets, bicycle frames, bird cages, blinds, boats, bridges, brushes, buckets, canoes, carts, charcoal, chopsticks, clothing, cooking utensils, diapers, fans, fences, firewood, fishing rods, food steamer, furniture, garden tools, handicrafts, hats, incense, musical instruments, paper, particle board, pens, pipes, ply, roofing, scaffold, tableware, toilets, toothpicks, toys, umbrellas and walking sticks.
If you are looking for a way to be sustainably fashionable, bamboo delivers there as well. More and more places are selling bamboo T-shirts and underwear, but Organic Bamboo Clothing has an entire online store of bamboo clothes. Bamboo seems to be almost as versatile as cotton, appropriate for a night on the town or for a newborn baby.
Look around and see all the ways you can use this amazing grass for yourself and your home!
Photo courtesy of hbierau on Flickr.
