Trips to North India

The Wonder Grass team just got back from a venture up north to the upper regions of India, and the Himalayas. We were very happy to see the use of bamboo to be quite extensive there, and our eye brows were raised when seeing the size of the bamboo that was being used. Up north by Sikkim and the Bhutan/Nepal border the bamboo can grow well over 6 inches in diameter, however the wall thickness gets to be quite thin and weak. Although useful, this bamboo has different uses in terms of housing. Wall paneling, flooring, temporary fencing, and many other suitable uses for thin wall bamboo can be found in the current housing examples in that region. From the train headed to the north we were witnessing the spirit of bamboo as building material alive and fresh from countless examples of bamboo villages where, concrete block, and mortar were not to be seen. This is quite a nice break from the mass housing that consists of brick and mortar. In the last 80 years brick and mortar has become the primary building material for the most part of the sub-continent, as well as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and several other countries of that region. So why does the average family in one of these countries prefer concrete? Simply put, it gives the impression that a home built with concrete last forever, but what it does not tell you is that it will not last through a natural disaster, it will require large amounts of energy to produce and transport, as well as being uncomfortable in high temperatures.

Now building with bamboo does tell you the answers to those questions,
it will last through a natural disaster, and if not, it will bio-degrade back to the earth, and you have the ability to construct another. It is cheap to transport since there are many bamboo forests all over India, and couples with other materials such as mud, bamboo housing is incredibly comfortable in hot days. Of coarse all of these characteristics have been tested and lived in before the advent of concrete, but we would never know it with the zeal towards modern building methods.

Bamboo does not last forever, but neither do we or the life styles we live
from generation to generation. How many ways has the life our parents lived changed from ours? And in the changing world, how will our
grand children's lives differ from ours? Should we build structures
that are unsafe in earthquakes, store heat in the summer, and are
incredibly energy intensive to make for our children? Or instead
build them houses that show them, living responsibly means thinking ahead with a smarter intention for the natural environment. The Iroquois of the great lake regions in North America believe in the 7 generation approach. Build, construct, and use materials as well as daily choices that will eventually influence the next seven generations. Seven generations from now what will children say when growing up in the schools about the mass amounts of people who decided to live in concrete blocks for their entire lives, instead of making housing that can be grown in 5 - 8 years, provide income to farmers, decrease atmospheric carbon content, as well provide attractive housing?

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