Green Options

According to the Hanoi-based Prosperity Initiative, a shift toward more bamboo production by small scale farmers in Vietnam could bring 750,000 people out of poverty by 2020. It could also help circumvent worldwide demand for timber as a building material.

Due to its many benefits, bamboo has been touted as an environmental miracle crop. It’s a significant carbon sink, it grows fast, is more termite-resistant than timber, and can be used for everything from food to clothing material to scaffolding for building construction.

But are environmentalists being bamboozled? Despite its benefits, increased bamboo production could raise a lot of concerns too.

I have always loved pandas, ever since I was a baby, and was happy to discover a bit of feel good news about the giant panda in China this week via the uplifting cute-overload blog. Pictured here is a painting of a baby panda I worked on for a project my partner and I wrote called Sustainability Illustrated. We hope it translates well in Chinese. It is times like this when innocent creatures [...]