Kupenda Bamboo!

So my next video is going to be on "neglected resources". Namely bamboo. When you think bamboo you think Asia, but bamboo actually grows in Africa and Central and S. America too.

The reason its important is that bamboo is an amazing plant. First of all, its a grass not a tree so its is more efficient than trees for growing because its stem not just its leaves take in energy. With half the water of eucalytpus it grows 2xs the height. It's also fibrous and is being used in the Kibera slums (the largest slum in Africa- in Nairobi) to remove heavy metals out of polluted water. I get to go check out that project later this week. It also has medicinal uses, can make cloth, and even wine and BEER. If I go to tanzania, I'll see if I can bring home some of that. They tried to outlaw planting bamboo there because they said it promoted drunkeness... who'd have thought.

So point being is that I am looking at why a resource like bamboo which is environmentally sustainable and also has lots of economic uses is being wiped out. People hardly use it and instead burn it here, because they don't know of its benefits. And of course them destroying bamboo in Rwanda is leading to less and less habitat for the gorillas. Currently there is only 700 Mt gorillas left in the world.

Which is why I might get to go to the Rwandan jungle. Keep your fingers crossed...