Despite not having any major eco benefits to the bamboo computers, they did give a good demonstration of what can be done with a material that versatile.

Surely bamboo must be the only plant that is a source of building materials, clothing and food. One of Edison’s early light bulbs had a carbonised bamboo filament. Its strength and low price tag makes it a great material for building, particularly in parts of Asia where it’s used as scaffolding. The bamboo fibres have extremely high tension and compression strength. Bamboo has almost the same tensile strength to weight ratio as steel, plus it has roughly twice as muhc compressive strength as concrete. Now there’s even a bamboo laptop!

Bamboo products ticks almost all boxes for anyone looking to purchase eco-friendly home furnishings. For a start, it’s a highly sustainable raw material. There are some species of bamboo that grow more than a metra each day. Local people can cut down as much as they need for carving, weaving, sawing or splitting and still have as big a forest at the end of the year as they had at the start. As for the global warming question, because the bamboo is a plant, anything that’s been made from it contains a large proportion of atmospheric carbon. However, the plastic equivalent to a bamboo products actually adds to the atmospheric carbon levels, rather than taking away!

Another point would be, because bamboo is a natural material, there are huge variations between the plants, this makes it a very difficult material to be used in mass production. What this means is that you can be almost positive that a skilled craftsman has built the bamboo product you buy. If you buy from a reputable source of eco-friendly products, you’ll know that the craftsman that made the item was paid a fair wage for their time and skills. Finally, you’ll know that your product won’t have accumulated any air miles during its journey to your home.

With eco credentials as strong as these, it’s amazing how beautiful bamboo products are. Just picture a hand crafted bamboo box, layered 15 times with natural shellac. All natural, and really lovely. In the last few days, I picked up a beautifully hand-crafted bamboo knife block and am seriously considering following suit with other bamboo kitchen accessories like salad bowls. Stylish and ethical. Win.