Hello and welcome back to bamboo. About two today, we are talking about hot topic in bamboo
Once again, bamboo for oxygen and CO2 sequestration. It's one of our favorite words to say here in the
uh eco activist community sequestration. And if you love learning about bamboo
definitely check out my website B AM B U B A T U dot com
bamboo batu dot com. You can also subscribe to the channel that would be great
So bamboo is amazing for generating generating oxygen and the sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
which makes it a super critical tool in the uh in the effort to combat and mitigate the climate change
So it's super interesting. People are talking about it a lot. There's a lot of information out there on the internet already
but we're gonna go over it briefly here just to summarize what is so important about bamboo
You may have heard forests being referred to as the lungs of our planet
Uh And the photograph here, this is actually a forest of bamboo in the background
Believe that's a photo from Cambodia massive bamboo forest there generating lots and lots of oxygen
So the lungs of a human being, as you may know, inhale oxygen or they inhale air from the atmosphere
and they select out the oxygen to take into the lungs and they release the CO2
which is basically the opposite of what the plants and trees do
It's so convenient the way nature works that way. And I love it
It's just perfect. It's like, yeah, it's coincidence. Or master plan. I don't know
But it's amazing. So this is what photosynthesis looks like, which is doing the opposite of what our lungs do
The tree as you see here, inhales these little gray bubbles of carbon dioxide and releases these little blue bubbles of oxygen
Keep in mind that this is just a learning tool here. Uh CO2 and doesn't actually appear in that color or in that size or
shape for that matter. But that's basically how it works. Photosynthesis, uh a very important part of life on earth
And so that's the science behind it. Uh We like to rely on science
Some people might consider it just to be a theory like climate change
the theory of photosynthesis. But most of us are pretty convinced that climate change is real
And so is photosynthesis. This is how plants and trees get their food
They take sunlight, they use the CO2 and water, they turn sunlight into sugar
which is food and they release oxygen as a byproduct oxygen being super important to humans and other animals as we already explained
So what's so great about bamboo? In this context, bamboo grows faster than trees
grows faster than pretty much any woody plant on earth. And because it's growing fast
that is equivalent to uh basically has a very high metabolism. And as it's metabolizing
that means it is sucking up more CO2 and emitting more oxygen
which is a great thing. And the thing about bamboo, you see that picture there
the bamboo, this species of bamboo which appears to be moso bamboo from China
Um the poles, the bamboo gets about close to 100 ft tall
Um Maybe it only gets 60 or 80 ft tall. It depends on the conditions and specific poles
But anyway, it gets huge, it gets as tall as some trees. And the thing about it is it gets that tall in a single
growing season. That's like two months worth of growth right there. Um It shoots that starts uh coming up out of the ground in the
springtime and it just shoots up like a rocket and it reaches its full height and in the course of the growing season
which is gonna be about two months could be three months, depends on the weather
the location, climate, soil, et cetera, et cetera species and so on
But usually about 22, maybe three months at the most to reach that full height
Unlike trees, trees, as you probably know, they sprout from a seed
they start to grow an inch or two the following year, they grow another few inches the following year
a few more inches, year after year, after year, uh eventually, after 20 or 30 or 50 years
you have a big tall tree that's uh 20 or 30 or 40 m tall
But uh it's not like that with bamboo, bamboo just goes super fast
And as it does that it is generating oxygen. So it's incredible
Um Survey says 35% more oxygen than trees. That's the number that's constantly repeated and quoted on the internet
And like most um statistics, it's not 100% reliable, but it is pretty close
Um The fact is when you're trying to measure these things, uh the carbon sequestration properties and oxygen producing properties of a plant
um you have to settle on a number, I guess, apparently eventually you just settle on the number and 35 is the number we've settled
on. Although that can vary pretty widely again, depending on climate species
whether soil type, et cetera, et cetera. But it's uh it's pretty reasonable to say between 20 and 40% more oxygen
than trees, which is crucial because we need more oxygen because this is what's going on with climate change
This is another scientific theory along with, along with photosynthesis, uh the theory of climate change
Um This is a chart which I made um using my tremendous graphic design skills
Um But yeah, I tried to keep it simple and clear. There's that little friendly bubble of oxygen on the left and that nasty bubble
of CO2 on the right. And the chart is showing the levels of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere over the last 120 something years. So before the industrial revolution
the age of industry, so going back uh say 1800 or 18 50 somewhere around there
uh CO2 levels in the atmosphere, we're about 280 parts per million
And most scientists say that 350 parts per million is about the upper limit of safe
levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. So we passed that in around 1986
Um As you can see, um this is not 100% accurate on the way I drew the graph here
but pretty much it was pretty level for a while and then all of a sudden it went around the middle of the 20th century
Um It just took off, it shot up like a bamboo shoot in the springtime um but not in a good way
So around 1986 we passed that level of 350 parts per million and did not look back
And now in the year 2023 when I'm recording this video, uh levels are at about 419 maybe 420 parts
per million according to the vast majority of the members of the scientific community that is
um, I got these statistics from a place called NASA. They're pretty reliable
But, yeah, I mean, if you believe in the whole moon landing business
uh, that's up to you. But anyway, the, the rate of CO2 in the atmosphere is just out of control
So, what do you do about that? There's a couple of things you can do and if you know me
you know that when I'm given a choice of a couple different things to do, I choose to do both because I'm crazy like that
So yeah, panic first and foremost, just freak out, just lose your mind because it's scary
It's super scary. I mean just look around the world is scary
So panic if you have to then take a deep breath and look for a solution
try to be solution oriented, go organic. Um the organic solution to this problem would be to plant a whole bunch of bamboo because bamboo
is really good at sucking up that co2 out of the atmosphere and trees
trees are good too. I'm not here to speak against the trees
I'm a big fan of trees. As a matter of fact, I was just out the other day and I
I gave a tree a big hug and we both enjoyed it
But uh bamboo is just the most effective carbon sequestering plant out there
Uh One more fun fact about bamboo and its carbon sequestration properties
Um When you cut down a tree, if you're building a house or building a ship or building some uh wooden toys uh or whatever
you're doing, either wood making paper. When you cut down the tree, the tree has been soaking up CO2 for its whole lifetime and creating
a carbon sink in, in the roots and the soil and stuff under the
under the tree. But when you cut the tree down, there's a certain amount of carbon that's locked into the biomass of that wood um
which will remain uh locked. If say you're building a house with the tree from that wood
that wood, the house will be like storing that carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere
And that's a good thing. But all the CO2 that had been collected underground and the roots and whatnot of the tree um after the
trees cut down, the CO2 will be released again, back up into the atmosphere
And that's not such a great thing. And so they can plant more trees and those trees will take many
many years to reach maturity. Bamboo. On the other hand, when you cut it down to make
uh if you want to build a house or make some chopsticks or make um bamboo towels or any of another 1000 different things you
can make with bamboo. Um There's CO2, there's carbon in the biomass of the bamboo
So if you're building a bamboo structure or bamboo flooring or bamboo furniture
those different products will act as you know, they will store that carbon in a solid state and all the CO2
and carbon that was stored underground and the roots instead of being released the way it is with the tree because bamboo is a rhizomatic
plant. Um it grows with the rhizomes that are all connected together
So if you cut down one shoot, the plant doesn't die, it loses a chute
but the rhizomes are where the life is. And so the the the lively
those lively rhizomes retain the carbon. The CO2 um you know CO2 in the atmosphere
it gets absorbed by the plant and it's stored in the plant tissue, that's as carbon
So sometimes you say CO2, sometimes you say carbon, it can get confusing but try not to get confused
The the carbon is stored in the rhizomes even after the colum is cut down because the plant
the organism is, is alive and well in that in the heart
which is the underground rhizome network. And so there's lots of other poles that are growing up out of that rhizome network
So if you cut down one or two or three or even most or all of the bamboo poles
the the vast majority, if not all of the carbon is still held tight in that carbon sink underneath the bamboo forest there
the bamboo clump, whatever the case might be. So it's an amazing tool for carbon
carbon sequestration. And that is what's cool about bamboo for generating oxygen and sequestering carbon
and addressing climate related issues. So take that knowledge, don't panic, breathe easy
plant bamboo and make bamboo batu your new favorite. All right. I hope you found that fascinating informative
interesting and entertaining. We'll see you next week. Take care