Are Bamboo Clothing Manufacturers Stealing Food From the Mouths of Baby Pandas?
Many fear that by supporting the bamboo clothing industry they are stealing food from the mouths of baby pandas. That fear stems from the fact that China’s bamboo forests are disappearing, and by extension, so are the giant panda’s who depend on those forests for their homes and food supplies. However, the notion that the clothing industry has anything to do with that is both unsupported and false. The type of bamboo typically used for textile production is Moso bamboo. This bamboo is not the same kind of bamboo that pandas eat and does not damage tropical forests because it is primarily grown on family-owned farms in China and Taiwan. What many do not realize is that bamboo is actually one of the most eco-friendly clothing materials there is. Bamboo is one of the fastest growing woody plants on earth, capable of growing three to four feet per day. Because of its rapid growth, bamboo is highly renewable, and it can thrive in almost any environment. This not only makes it available, but
