How Eco-Friendly is Bamboo? Sometimes it's Not as 'Friendly' as You Think...

Oh Bamboo! There is much ado about you....

Sing with me here people!  

Sorry for the totally lame attempt at a rhyme, I couldn't help myself! ;o)

But really, bamboo is everywhere these days and it's touted as one of the most uber eco-friendly options out there when it comes to fabric, flooring and more. I've bought the odd item made from bamboo thinking that my choice was a more environmentally responsible one. Most times I was probably being grossly misled and if that was the case, I was definitely overcharged. Greenwashed if you will (which drives me nutty - I hate companies that greenwash! Grrr...)

What has me on this rant against bamboo? Well, it started with a conversation I was having with my cousin - a fellow granola girl (and a definite soul sister for sure - I'm sure we were twins in a past life or something, but that is for an entirely different post... :Þ). As I mentioned last week, we bought a lovely old farmhouse on 10 acres and before we move in next month we want to fix up and refinish as much as we can. 

There is original hardwood on the main level which of course we will restore, but I am looking for other flooring options for the basement and the top floor. We're on a ridiculously tight budget and we want to make sure we are making choices that fit our budget and that we aren't getting greenwashed (ie being misled/tricked into buying something that appears to be environmentally responsible when in fact it isn't). One of the ideas I had in mind for flooring to look into was bamboo. All I've read and heard about is how eco friendly, sustainable, renewable, and wonderful it is for the environment and how it is a much better choice than say, chopping down trees.

It was my enlightened cousin (hi K! ♥) who told me to wait and do a bit more research into bamboo, especially for floors. She explained that when she was having to choose new flooring for her home she looked into bamboo too and found that a lot of the bamboo options on the market aren't nearly as eco friendly as they are touted to be.  

Could bamboo be another case of a greenwashed product trying to wiggle in on the eco-friendly bandwagon?  

 

It seems that in a lot of cases, yes. Yes it is.

Now, I do have to say there are legitimate companies and manufacturers who care enough to make sure the bamboo they are supplying consumers is grown and harvested using sustainable and environmentally responsible methods (and you can bet I will share how to find those companies at the end of this post). Absolutely there are wonderful bamboo products out there that are truly sustainable, organic, eco-friendly and often fair trade certified.

However, most of the bamboo products we are finding in mainstream mega type stores (which is where a lot of people do the majority of their shopping these days), are most likely not a sustainable, environmentally sound product. 

Why the love affair with bamboo?

Bamboo is glorified because it is one of those species of plants that is incredibly diverse and adaptable to varied growing conditions. It's not a tree, but rather it's a grass and it's been used for hundreds, if not thousands of years for just about everything you can imagine. Whether it is good soil quality or low, nutrient depleted soil quality, it seems that bamboo is one hardy type of grass and will grow just about anywhere. Growing up in Vancouver, I remember my mom cursing bamboo in our garden. She would chop it down, pull it out and the darn stuff would.not.stop.growing. So yes, bamboo is definitely renewable and grows insanely fast compared to most other plants that are grown for consumer use. Bamboo has been known to grow two feet in 24 hours and the average bamboo plant can be harvested within 4-10 years (depending on the species of plant, growing conditions etc).

If you are thinking in terms of floors and furniture like I am lately, let me make a comparison here: An old growth oak tree can take upwards of 100 years or more to grow before it is chopped down (even typing that makes me cringe) and processed for its highly sought after flooring or furniture. Bamboo just 4-10 years or so. That is huge when thinking in terms of a product that can not only be harvested in under 10 years, but also just starts to regenerate it self a short year after harvesting and keeps up that cycle. When a tree is cut down that is it. It doesn't grow anymore. Bamboo does. Not only that, bamboo is also thought to be an environmental wonder plant because it can be grown easily without the use of fertilizers, pesticides and weed killers.

Are you wondering what I'm complaining about?

Well yes, bamboo is renewable because it grows so fast and so easily. But is it really an eco friendly option? After further research I've learned that where the majority of bamboo comes from, natural and native old growth forests are being completely wiped out and cut down simply so that bamboo can be planted there. A mono culture is being created and this is incredibly disruptive to sensitive and diverse eco systems. Chopping down and clearing out entire forests just to grow bamboo doesn't sound too environmentally friendly to me.

Faster growth time = more harvests = more profits.

Like I mentioned, bamboo is also given props because it can be grown without chemical pesticides, fertilizers etc. 'Can be' are the key words here. Just because it can be grown without chemical weed killers and the like, doesn't mean it is. Very often these chemical fertilizers and their toxic cousins are used to increase the yield and the growth rate. Speaking of toxic chemicals, many bamboo products are also full of formaldehyde and have a very high VOC (Volitile Organic Compund) output. Chances are, you aren't hearing that part either. 

Slave labour and child labour practices?

Who is harvesting the bamboo? Bamboo is the livelihood for millions of people, yes. But at the same time, we need to think about it more and realize as well that a lot of bamboo is grown in countries that don't have the best history when it comes to human rights and fair labour practices. Bamboo is a 15 billion dollar industry right now that continues to grow at an exponential rate.

Think about it...bamboo grows like a weed in even crappy conditions, it's often harvested by rural workers, many of them children, in countries that don't have the fairest labour conditions and it is fairly expensive compared to other products that are similar in make (flooring aside - bamboo floors are often around the same price or more as hardwood and other eco-friendly options, at least where I live). Someone out there is making a mint on the bamboo craze and I have a feeling it isn't the rural third world farmers working 14+ hours a day to harvest this bamboo that's demanded by eco-conscious consumers in our Western culture.

Bamboo is quickly on track to becoming an over-exploited plant that is worth a lot of money to a lot of people, which means the path of exploitation, in more ways than one, is just going to continue. This, in what is quickly becoming a mainstream movement of environmental consciousness, is leading to the destruction of natural growth forests and eco systems and is fueling possible slave labour  practices. All so that we can have a product that feeds our eco ego.

Let's put this together... we have a product that many times is behind the destruction of entire forests and eco systems for no other reason other than it is a profitable plant with a quick turn around and high consumer demand. It's pumped and sprayed full of chemicals so it can be grown faster, even though it doesn't need to be. It's harvested and processed often under slave and child labour conditions, then it is shipped from Asia (more than likely) and trucked across the country.

I dunno about you, but something about that whole process doesn't scream "low carbon footprint" or eco friendly to me. o_O

Still stuck on bamboo? Here's what you do (because there are good guys when it comes to bamboo too)!

(Okay, okay, I'll stop with the stupid cheesy rhymes - it's just so easy with the word "bamboo"! :D )

There are people and companies out there supplying bamboo items that are grown sustainably, harvested with fair trade practices and are good, solid quality products. The catch is you need to look for them and most likely search them out. Chances are the bamboo flooring you are buying at the local mega home improvement store on sale for 2 bucks a square foot isn't falling into the fair trade bamboo category.

If you don't have a huge budget for a true environmentally friendly option like Fair Trade or FSC certified bamboo flooring for example, that is okay. No one is faulting you for that at all! The point of this post is to inform our readers so you at least know what to look for and know what you are getting before plunking your money down. :o)  

  

 (both 'Fair Trade' logos can be on a certifiably Fair Trade product.The blue and green one just happens to be the new Fair Trade logo that's all)

Look for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and or Fair Trade certifications to start. Green America Approved Business is also a good certification which you will find more often on smaller items. A product might have just one certification or more - it doesn't matter really as long as one legitimate certification is there. If it is a certifying agency you haven't heard of before, take the time to look it up and avoid being "greenwashed". Just because it has a sticker with some green on it and includes the words like natural, green, eco friendly choice, does not mean that it is.

Any product with an eco friendly accredited certification will have that stamp or sticker on it that you probably won't be able to miss. If it is a website you are buying from then there should be an explanation of the item and where it came from. And any company that truly cares about its products, where their materials are grown and how they are harvested should not have any problems answering any questions you have. 

Like I am always saying, do your research, ask around and talk to other people. I can't say that enough. Just because something is marketed to look eco-friendly, doesn't mean it always is eco-friendly.

As for our character home restoration project we have started, I'm still not sure what type of flooring we'll go with. There are a few old barns on our property and I'm trying to convince my hubby to tear one down for me, refinish the wood and install our own reclaimed wood floors. Easy peasy I say! For some reason he's not as wildly excited about this idea as I am. Could it be he has enough common sense to realize the huge undertaking that would be? Most likely. ;o)

I'm sure he's mentally prepared himself though to come home from work one day and find me in the yard with a back-hoe tearing down barns so I can salvage some wood for our bedroom floor. After 13 years together he's used to things like that from me... :D

I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far!

Better and better,