{"id":12503,"date":"2011-06-02T15:49:49","date_gmt":"2011-06-02T21:49:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=12503"},"modified":"2011-06-02T15:49:49","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T21:49:49","slug":"bamboo-haiti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/bamboo-haiti\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Bamboo Save Haiti?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Haiti bamboo overview\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4DRpn0N_uEM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Crowdfunding sites are becoming some of my favorite spots online to hit when I&#8217;m looking for unique stories. A browse through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/\">Kickstarter<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiegogo.com\/\">Indiegogo<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenfunder.com\">Greenfunder<\/a> (which I just discovered today) brings up all sorts of innovative projects aimed at implementing sustainable practices in many different forms.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the concept I came across was growing bamboo in <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/haiti-food-crisis-documentary\/\">Haiti<\/a>. Proponents like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.developingbamboo.org\/\">For\u00e8 Bamboo<\/a> (an organization I discovered on Greenfunder) claim the fast-growing plant can help Haitians still recovering from last year&#8217;s earthquake in a number of ways: providing a very strong building material, shoring up topsoil against erosion, reversing <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/creation-care-scott-sabin-tending-to-eden\/\">deforestation<\/a>, and providing economic opportunities to Haitian farmers. You can see more about their plans in the video above.<\/p>\n<p>Sounds perfect, right&#8230;? I think there&#8217;s a lot of merit to the concept, but I immediately wondered about biodiversity issues: is bamboo invasive? In many cases, yes&#8230; <a href=\"http:\/\/architectureforhumanity.org\/updates\/2011-05-17-bamboo-in-haiti\">Architecture for Humanity<\/a> claims that fast-growing equals fast-spreading; it also notes that the concept of using bamboo in Haiti to address the issues listed above is pretty popular among aid organizations. Still, the organization doesn&#8217;t dismiss efforts to use bamboo as a tool to address the island nation&#8217;s numerous economic, environmental, and development challenges&#8230; it just notes that &#8220;it&#8217;s not a silver bullet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In their <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenfunder.com\/project\/20\/for%C3%A8-bamboo\">Greenfunder appeal<\/a>, For\u00e8 Bamboo does note their efforts to develop nurseries in Haiti involves &#8220;non-invasive, construction-grade bamboo&#8221;&#8230; so it appears they are thinking about the potential downsides to introducing non-native species to the island. And no doubt there are many potential benefits&#8230; so time to add another topic to the tracking list.<\/p>\n<p>Know more about efforts to use bamboo as an economic and environmental resource in Haiti? Seen them? Would love to get any first-hand (or even second-hand) accounts of endeavors to meet Haiti&#8217;s many challenges with the plant&#8230; as well as your reactions to this particular organization&#8217;s plans.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit: <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Bamboo_Cathedral_Chaguaramas_Trinidad.jpg\">R45 at Wikimedia Commons<\/a> under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/deed.en\">Creative Commons license<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crowdfunding sites are becoming some of my favorite spots online to hit when I&#8217;m looking for unique stories. A browse through Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Greenfunder (which I just discovered today)&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[3276,91,2758,4983,4520,3128],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Can Bamboo Save Haiti? &#8226; Sustainablog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/bamboo-haiti\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can Bamboo Save Haiti? &#8226; Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Crowdfunding sites are becoming some of my favorite spots online to hit when I&#8217;m looking for unique stories. 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