Bamboo soaks up CO2

It seems I'm just one of the many fans of Bamboo. A recent article called "What's Driving the Bamboo Market" by Jonathon Bardelline published in Green Design claims that "Bamboo plants sequester four times as much carbon dioxide as hardwood trees (taking in 62 tons of CO2 per 2.4 acres versus 16 tons per 2.4 acres of trees) and puts out 35 percent more oxygen".

Bamboo is becoming more popular, and my bamboo flooring is certainly not unique, though well admired for it's soft feel and durable finish. I have bamboo in my wardrobe in the form of some quite smart business jackets and some exceptionally soft t-shirts. According to what I have read, bamboo doesn't require pesticides to grow, and it's a low water use plant, actually mostly considered a weed because it grows so fast and is so hardy.

So if you are in business, and are looking at new materials, take a look at bamboo, and some of it's many varieties. It's a material that I expect we will see lots more of in the future.

Pic ex Flickr Bamboo by The Pug Father

Socially Speaking

My thoughts have been on communication, and in particular, using Blogs, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. What is the optimum package? And there are many thoughts on this - see a really thoughtful article on this based on the writings of Steve Rubel. The article shows how we are evolving - from printed media, radio, TV, then to websites, blogs and we are now in the era of social networking.

Obviously, too many formats! So something has to give. I rarely read newspapers, though I do like the odd well written magazine, and TV is much less important - and less credible, as it attempts to mimic the social element of blogs and twitter. Daily news now comes to me via my computer, and mostly through the blogs and selected twitter feeds that I receive. The real key, is to focus on what's important to you - and to filter out the overwhelming mass of quite useless chatter. Social Media is global, so no-one in your local geographic area, with their own agenda, such as an owner of printed media or TV, can control what is there.

It's taken a while but I have decided that I like Twitter - I tune in to short bits that I find interesting but only from those who I trust. While I may blog once a week or so, I put links up more often on my Twitter page - and I share what I find useful! -see GoBizGreen Twitter.