Of the approximately 1500 species, the Phyllostachys varieties (including Moso), are best suited for growing and building in cool climates with frost and snow. Once a grove is established, the culms (the living poles) grow rapidly in the first six-weeks (12-18 inches a day, depending on soil conditions and moisture); then the bamboo spends the next three years replacing sugars and water with sturdy silica and cellulose. Harvesting of the third- or fourth-year poles, does not kill the rest of the plant, which grows in clumps or runners; and therefore topsoil is not displaced. Selective harvesting can take place every year in an established bamboo forest.

 

If that is not enough, one of the best features of bamboo is that the giants of this fast-growing grass sequester more carbon dioxide than just about any other plant.** According to the Zero Emissions Research Institute (ZERI), a bamboo forest can sequester 17 times as much carbon as a typical tree forest.*** Some species grow as much as 39 inches in a day! And due to bamboo's high nitrogen consumption, bamboo helps mitigate water pollution, as it takes in and transforms nutrient wastes when planted alongside manufacturing zones, intensive livestock farming, and sewage treatment facilities. Bamboo can also desalinate seawater!

 

Bamboo is the biggest member of the grass family and has thousands of uses. It can be pressed, flattened, molded, sliced, burnt or carved. It is used as paper, flooring, musical instruments; its leaves as livestock feed; its shoots are popular in Asian cuisines. And bamboo supports millions of people in cottage industries worldwide.