Bamboo products, particularly fabrics and flooring, are enjoying quite the eco-hype these days, for some very good reasons.  Bamboo is fast-growing, in some cases growing as much as three feet per day.  It requires little if any fertilizers or pesticides, it reproduces itself without the need to plow and plant, and its cultivation, processing, and distribution provide hundreds of millions of jobs in China alone.  The fabrics made from bamboo fibers can be soft and supple, non-irritating to the skin, and temperature-regulating because of their wicking properties.  Flooring made from bamboo can be strikingly beautiful and cost less than hardwood floors.

However, bamboo products may not be as green or eco-friendly as they appear.

Although bamboo may be a significantly sustainable resource, the way it is processed commercially and then distributed can question its smartness, at least for now.  Large-scale fabric manufacturing requires the use of toxic chemicals, and flooring may be constructed using formaldehyde-based adhesives.  As for distribution, nearly all commercially available products begin with bamboo harvested and processed in China, resulting in a huge fossil fuel cost to move the processed bamboo around the globe.

Before you make that commitment to bamboo flooring, or even bamboo fabric pajamas, dispel the myths and arm yourself with the facts by linking to these excellent resources.

Questions To Ask Before You Buy

What chemicals are used in processing bamboo for fabrics, and what are the known hazards of those chemicals?

What are some of the socio-economic concerns behind bamboo fabric manufacturing that make some people question how green bamboo clothing is?

How is bamboo processed into flooring, and what’s the truth about its durability compared to traditional hardwood flooring?

How green is bamboo flooring, and why?

In a nutshell, what are the pros and cons of bamboo flooring?

Just for fun, is the word “bamboozle” related to bamboo?

Photo by tracyzhang at sxc.hu

As I sat down to the table and began to add these simple staples to my shopping list, I found my hand pausing above the paper while memories of my mother’s kitchen flowed through me like warm breezes on a cool day.

A Pantry Short on Sugar, Tall on Fresh

Plain white vinegar and plain vegetable oil.  These were in her pantry when I was a little girl, but she never kept the varieties I had come to use.  The same with cereals; while I stocked up on granola, corn flakes, grape nuts, and even frosted flakes now and again, she kept only raisin bran to eat in the warm weather and cream of wheat to cook when the days turned cool.  And Lord forbid there should be sweet snacks or drinks in her kitchen unless company was coming, while I had boxes of cookies, bags of candy bars, ice cream in the freezer, and plenty of soda pop.

Meat, poultry, and fish came fresh from the butcher and the fish market, vegetables and fruits fresh from the grocery or farm stand, and breads fresh from the bakery.  Occasionally, for convenience, we’d eat frozen vegetables as well.  This fresh fare meant that my mother shopped several times a week, even though she always held a full-time job.

My Mother’s Recipe for Healthy Eating

My mother’s recipe for healthy eating was both simple and rigorously applied:

• Weekday breakfast of cereal and milk (Saturday breakfast might involve eggs or pancakes, while Sunday breakfast came from the Jewish deli in town)
• Lunch of sandwich and fruit and milk, rye bread only
• Daytime snack, fruit or cheese only
• Dinner of salad with homemade Russian dressing, green vegetable, starch, meat, milk, and no dessert
• Nighttime snack (if necessary) of cereal and milk only
• No soda, no sweetened juice drinks, no cookies, cakes, candies, or ice cream (all of these were reserved for enjoying at others’ houses, for having company, or for dining out on rare occasions)

No wonder I loved going to my best friend’s house after school.  Her mother always kept Hawaiian Punch and Pecan Sandies on hand. And no wonder I never gained weight until after I moved out of my mother’s house and set up my own.

Getting Back to Basics

Hand hovering over the grocery list, I snapped back into my own time, with its obscenely overstocked pantry, and began sorting out the expired, the nearly expired, the overly processed, and the sugared.  I tossed some, put some aside for whoever would want it, and kept very little.

Today, although I plan meals with my mother’s principles in mind much more than I did prior to that epiphany a few years ago, I do hang on to the flavored vinegars, and I do enjoy a dessert after dinner.  Who doesn’t love, and need, apple pie?

Photo by funny-p at sxc.hu

To add to the junk mail disposal woes, we also have the burden of how to get rid of unneeded personal papers such as old bank statements and credit card bills that contain our detailed account information.  How are we to protect ourselves from identity thieves who rummage through our trash?

The home paper shredder takes care of these nuisances and in the process gives us neat raw materials to put to other uses.  Shredding also keeps spent paper out of our land fills and helps minimize the risk of identity theft.

Paper shredders are reasonably priced and for the most part quite durable, as long as you follow the manufacturer’s instructions about loading and avoiding over-heating.  They are also compact, about the size of a small office trash can, and lightweight.  Make yourself feel extra good about acquiring this handy appliance by shopping at yard sales and thrift stores.  Just be sure to plug the paper shredder in and try it out before you take it home.

Shred those junk mail and personal paper nuisances!  Then you can use the shreddings in these smart ways.

Make Handmade Paper

Just as snowflakes, no two pieces of handmade paper will ever look exactly alike.  In themselves, they can be works of art when bits of leaves and grasses or a dusting of glitter are added.  When you shred your own paper base, you’ll never run out of raw materials for making paper.

Create Packing Material

Shredded paper is ideal as a packing material for mailing and shipping items or for storing fragile treasures.  When prepared properly, it can replace expensive and non-biodegradable Styrofoam peanuts.  Fill pre-used, clean plastic or paper bags with shredded paper and staple them shut.  Or, compress balls of shredded paper with your hands, wrap the balls with a whole sheet of junk mail paper and seal with tape.

Add to Compost

Every compost pile needs a source of carbon, and shredded paper added in moderation along with other carbon sources such as shredded leaves or straw makes for good chemistry.  Just make sure you are not adding any coated or waxed paper, or papers printed with metallic inks.

Make Pets Happy

Shredded paper is not only absorbent, it is also insulating.  Use it in the bottoms of bird cages, as cat litter, and as bedding for mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs.  Still have too much shredded paper on hand?  Call your local animal shelters and veterinary hospitals and ask if they’d like some.  Chances are, they’ll be delighted.

For more ideas, you can search the net for “uses for shredded paper”.

Photo by iowa_spirit_walker at flickr.com