April 18, 2006 - Today, almost 1 million acres of forest vanish per week.  This alarming rate of deforestation has forced many world economies to rethink their business and manufacturing practices.  A sixty-foot tree cut for market takes 60 years to replace.  Meanwhile, a sixty-foot bamboo cut for market takes 59 days to replace (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR)).  Bamboo is officially recognized as the world's fastest growing plant and has a tensile strength comparable to steel. 

Driven by the ever-growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, many bamboo-related companies are gaining momentum as a reliable source for high quality and durable green building materials.  Will Latta, Director of Sales for Ambient Bamboo Products (http://www.ambientbp.com), says More than ever, you see people choosing high quality alternative building materials over traditional non-sustainable products.  Hybrid cars, recycled materials, reusable energy sources, bamboo floors, bamboo fences use of these products is exploding as consumers are recognizing the need to source products of a sustainable and regenerative nature.  Ambient Bamboo Products sells only bamboo flooring, which is more durable than most traditional hardwood floors, and recognized by the Green Building Council as a green building material.  Many of these products appeal, aesthetically and practically, to a wide variety of consumers.

Jeff Goldberg, of Cali Bamboo (http://www.calibamboo.com), is another entrepreneur that has seen the light.  Sales of bamboo fencing and lumber have skyrocketed in recent years because homeowners have become weary of ever-decreasing hardwood forests and the threat that this deforestation poses to an already fragile environment.  We have to think about the generations that will inherit this planet.  200 years from now, people will look back on our society and say they had scientific proof about the dangers of deforestation and pollution, and they did nothing about it?  This is unacceptable we must change the way we interact with our surroundings it is the logical and ethical choice.  More durable than traditional wood fencing, bamboo fencing has been known to last for more than 40 years.  Since bamboo is termite and rot resistant, it functions extremely well as fencing and flooring material.

Its an exciting venture, said Will Latta.  It is a privilege to be able to provide a high quality product that has a direct impact on the future of our planet.

"We will ship around the planet"! Many of these companies fill orders in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Mexico and offer shipping to anywhere in the world.  Ambients geographical proximity to the booming Washington DC real estate market offers local consumers an eco-friendly alternative to traditional wood flooring types, often at lower prices and even lower shipping costs.   Cali Bamboo has experienced the same benefits on the West Coast due to its proximity to the Southern California real estate market.

Both companies believe strongly in their philosophies, Flooring For The Future and Saving The Planet, One Fence At A Time.  Their philosophies are based on important ecological findings:

• Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on earth.  It is known to produce greater biomass and 30% more oxygen than a hardwood forest of comparable size, while improving watersheds, preventing erosion, restoring soil, providing sweet edible shoots and removing toxins from contaminated soil.  Ecologists tout bamboo as a renewable source used for building materials as well as food. Many promote bamboo planting for erosion prevention, and even to reverse the effects of global warming. 
• Bamboo helps reduce carbon dioxide gases blamed for global warming. Some bamboo sequesters up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide per hectare, which makes it a highly efficient plant, and conducive to fresh air.  Bamboo can be selectively harvested annually and regenerates without replanting. 
• Bamboo is a natural water control barrier. Because of its wide spread root system and large canopy, bamboo greatly reduces rain run off, prevents massive soil erosion and keeps twice as much water in a watershed. Bamboo helps mitigate water pollution due to its high nitrogen consumption, making it a solution for excess nutrient uptake of wastewater from manufacturing, livestock farming and sewage treatment.
• Bamboo can restore degraded lands. It is a pioneering plant and can be grown in soil damaged by overgrazing and poor agriculture. Proper harvesting does not kill the bamboo plant, so topsoil is held in place. Because of its dense litter on the forest floor it feeds topsoil, restoring healthy agricultural lands for generations to come.

Typical hardwood lumber trees, such as the ones used in conventional wood flooring, take 30-50 years to regenerate.  In the meantime, there is less oxygen produced, less carbon dioxide consumed, and more soil runoff in the spot where that tree was harvested - all producing negative environmental effects.  Our biosphere is suffering from resource depletion, habitat loss, species extinction, and ecosystem pollution.  These companies believe that suggesting sustainability is not enough.

For more information or to request a sample of Cali Bamboos fencing, contact sales@calibamboo.com or call them at 888-788-CALI.  For more information or to request a sample of Ambients flooring, contact sales@ambientbp.com or call them at 866-710-7070.