The Bamboo Experience, Laos

On my first day in Luang Prabang, Laos, a fellow traveler at my hostel recommended that I spend a day at “The Bamboo Experience.” Of her weeklong stay in the area, she told me this was her favorite activity she undertook; yes, even more so than the majestic Kuang Si Falls. It was a bit on the pricey side, but I decided to take her advice and booked it.

The Bamboo Experience is a half-day course on all the traditional and local uses of bamboo, taught on a small property outside Luang Prabang. Bamboo is known as the “miracle plant” in Laos, as well as other neighboring Southeast Asian countries, and has been used for thousands of years as the primary material in making homes, tools, art, and even food. Upon arriving, I immediately noticed several bamboo clumps growing at the edges of the property. I, along with the other guests, were escorted through a quaint vegetable garden lined with bamboo fencing and bamboo benches, and into the main building, which of course, was constructed almost entirely with bamboo.

To begin the day, we were given a brief overview of the bamboo plant and shown several items the people of Laos would typically make from bamboo. This included everything from fish traps, to straws, rice steamers, mats, and musical instruments.

Next, we participated in a bamboo weaving class, where we learned how to weave thin paper-like strips of bamboo into small coffee coasters. The process is similar to knitting a quilt, but with bamboo instead of soft yarn and thread. Weaving was traditional done by Laotian women, who spent hours creating intricate and durable mats, flooring, nets, hats, and a host of other materials. It took a few attempts before I was able to lock the pattern down, but once I finally got it, I moved along with a rhythmic flow, and I must say, the final product didn’t come out too bad!

Following was a cooking class that used bamboo shoots as the main ingredient, accompanied by other traditional Laotian ingredients, which once cooked and prepared, we enjoyed as a delicious and beautifully presented lunch.

To end the day, we were treated to a traditional Hmong song and dance, performed with a large flute-like instrument made from bamboo that produced a sound similar to that of a didgeridoo.

Overall, it was a fun and informative experience that opened up the world of bamboo to my eyes. The people of Laos have used the plant in their daily lives for thousands of years, but what about the rest of the world? Could we all turn to bamboo? I wanted to learn more about this “Miracle Plant” and see if it truly could be a sustainable alternative to timber and a viable solution to the issues of deforestation, habitat loss, soil erosion, and climate change that our world faces today.

Bamboo as a Sustainable Alternative

Where does it grow?

There are over a thousand species of bamboo worldwide, normally growing in tropical or sub-tropical climates in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Although bamboo species can be found in a range of differing climates, such as the high Himalayas and the cold, snowy winters of northern Japan, in general, bamboo will grow in the humid climates of the middle latitudes.

Characteristics

Bamboo, typically thought of as a tree or hardwood, is actually a type of grass and is one of the fastest growing plants in the world. It will reach maturity, and its maximum height, in a matter of years, or even months. Many trees that are generally felled for timber, in comparison, often take decades to centuries to reach maturity. This means, when bamboo is cut and harvested, it will regrow to the same height and can be harvested again within a couple years. In contrast to trees, bamboo does not need to be replanted, but will continue to regrow again and again after it has been cut. This is a reason many experts believe bamboo can be a sustainable alternative to timber to help alleviate deforestation and pressures on the Earth’s old growth forests.

There are an estimated 1400 different species of bamboo worldwide. With so many differing species, each species of bamboo contains characteristics that make it more suitable for a specific traditional purpose, or use. For example, some species are larger in circumference–suitable for construction of homes and bridges, and some smaller–for items like straws, instruments, or fish hooks. Other species may have long sections between nodes (the rings, or “ends,” that are evenly spaced along a bamboo pole and seem to connect it together), which is perfect for slicing off long strips to be used in weaving, and some will be short and stubby, making the pole much stronger and resistant to snapping under pressure.

David Trujillo, a structural engineer and advocate of replacing steel and concrete with bamboo, details the many benefits of bamboo in his TedTalk on the subject (watch it here). According to Trujillo, the fibers in the wall of bamboo are three times stronger than steel, and with nodes for support and an efficient natural hollow shape, bamboo is lighter and stronger than steel. Perhaps, more importantly, bamboo is also much cheaper than steel, both in terms of monetary costs as well as carbon costs. Where a significant amount of carbon dioxide is released in the production of steel, bamboo stores carbon and is, therefore, carbon neutral, or even carbon negative, in its production and use. Thus, if we began using bamboo instead of steel or concrete, we would not only be producing less carbon, but actually capturing and storing carbon that is already in the atmosphere.

Uses

Each year in Luang Prabang, Laos, at the start of the dry season, when the Nam Khan River at its lowest flow, locals construct a bamboo bridge across the river to connect the two sides of the city. Once the rains begin, the bridge is taken down for the duration of the wet season, until built up again the following year. This bridge has become a favorite for tourists visiting the city, but locals still use it for its original and practical purpose of transportation. This is just another traditional use for bamboo in this region of the world.

Globally, bamboo is today used for items ranging from paper, to toothbrushes, floorboards, and even to the fibers in clothing and bedding.

While bamboo has long been used, in regions where it naturally grows, to build huts or small homes by those who are unable to afford other materials, some are beginning to use the plant to build massive luxury homes and buildings.

Elora Hardy, CEO of Ibuku, grew up in Bali, an island that is flush with natural bamboo forests. She started Ibuku as a way to reimagine how modern homes are designed and built, and now constructs luxury homes made almost entirely of bamboo across the island and other parts of Asia (Watch her TedTalk here). She explains how, for places like Bali where bamboo is abundant, it makes perfect sense to construct buildings with bamboo. It has the tensile strength of steel and the compressive strength of concrete, and is earthquake resistant–an important feature for buildings on an island that lies on a major tectonic plate. For an artist like Hardy, bamboo offers infinite opportunities for creativity as no two poles of bamboo are alike, and, thus, no two buildings she designs are alike. Bamboo is not straight and uniform, but curved and random, and each home must be designed based on the natural features of the bamboo that is used.

Combatting Environmental Degradation and Global Poverty

By replacing timber, the hope is, switching to bamboo products could reduce the rates of deforestation worldwide. The detrimental effects of deforestation have been widely documented, including habitat loss and species extinction, the release of carbon into the atmosphere, and soil erosion, among many others.

International Governmental Organizations like INBAR (International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation), a multilateral organization comprising of over 40 member states, promotes sustainable development in developing countries by using bamboo (and rattan) products to end poverty and develop environmentally-friendly economic practices.

According to INBAR’s website, “Bamboo and rattan are astounding resources with unique potential to combat poverty and natural resource challenges. They grow locally to some of the world’s poorest communities in the tropics and subtropics, and have many uses, providing a vast range of sustainable products, livelihood options and ecosystem services.”

By promoting the use of bamboo products and producing it locally in these poor regions where it grows, we can help alleviate some of the issues of both global poverty and environmental degradation.

By harvesting bamboo instead of timber, we can reduce deforestation of the world’s old growth forests. Already about half of the world’s forests have been cleared or degraded in favor of urban areas, crops, and livestock grazing. This has directly led to the habitat loss, and consequential extinction, of a number of species that require healthy forest habitat for survival. In addition, trees provide soil stability by holding the soil in place so it can absorb water and nutrients; when trees are cleared, the soil is susceptible to erosion and runoff, leaving the land degraded and unable to recover.

Planting bamboo could simultaneously reduce the amount of forest we need to clear, while also reducing soil erosion and promoting soil stability as bamboo also holds the soil in place where it is planted.

The World Resources Institute provides a map (find it here) shows how many of the world’s areas where deforestation is most prevalent, such as tropical rainforests in South America, Africa, and Indonesia, are also areas where bamboo grows naturally. Thus, bamboo can be planted to help restore the damaged forests in these habitats.

Based on the information provided, it seems as if switching to bamboo products is a simple solution to many of the global issues we face today. Commercial bamboo production and use is actually quite prevalent today, but the issues of poverty and environmental degradation still persist. How can that be?

In short, the methods most commercial operations are currently using to produce and transport bamboo products are contrary to the goal of sustainable development.

Is Bamboo Truly a “Green” Commodity?

Fair Trade

First, there are issues of fair trade as much of production of bamboo is outsourced to countries where labor wages are low, and the people working in these facilities to create the products make minimal profits from an increasingly lucrative industry.

Environmental Costs

The environmental costs can also be great. Often viewed as luxury items, bamboo products like clothes, linens, and flooring are often bought by consumers in the more affluent societies of the Global North–places where bamboo doesn’t grow naturally. The bamboo must be transported there somehow and this involves intercontinental shipping which produces great amounts of pollution.

In addition, bamboo must be treated before it can be used to build anything, otherwise it is at risk of pest damage and disease. To make the thin, soft fibers used in bamboo clothing and linens, the material must also be treated and processed. Both of these processes often use cheap, chemical solutions to treat the bamboo that can be harmful to human health and wildlife if not disposed of properly.

Of course, there are bamboo producers who use fair trade and environmentally-friendly methods to treat bamboo, though this is a more expensive and longer process, which means the final products are often on the higher-end.

Going Forward

At the moment, large, commercial bamboo production is not entirely sustainable. Though, when produced and used on a smaller, local level, such as it is used in Laos, the benefits of bamboo are immense.

There are people out there, such as Elora Hardy and David Trujillo, who are at the forefront of moving sustainable bamboo products into mainstream modern architecture and development. The possibilities of bamboo are certainly endless and exciting, and it seems there is potential this “woody” grass really can be the world’s “Miracle Plant.”