Does Bamboo Clothing Qualify For Sustainable Living Standards?
Detractors of bamboo clothing, which is considered organic clothing, have made a variety of claims namely: 1. The producers of it use fertilizers and pesticides on crops to increase productivity. 2. Land is clear cut to produce large monocultures of it, reducing biodiversity. 3. Harsh chemicals used during production are harmful to people and the environment. 4. The production process uses excessive energy. These are all valid concerns and I will share my findings. Almost all bamboo rayon is produced in China. This is logical given that over 80 percent of global bamboo stands exist in Asia. Unlike cotton, it needs no outside inputs such as irrigation or fertilizer. Its natural resistance to disease means no pesticides or insecticides are needed. A mature Moso bamboo stand (the species used to produce textiles) has an average yield of 139,000 Kg per ha (Isagi et al, 1997). Compare that to cotton which yields an average of 845 Kg per ha (Kooistra and Termorshuizen, 2006) and you see that
