Granatstein.ca

Product: Mini Shoo-foo from Shoo-foo

Where: The Orange Tulip, Ottawa

Price: $1.95

Why: The displays sample was so soft I wanted to get my jammies, suck my thumb and take a nap.

Benefits: Portable (1 ¾” diameter), great for travel and camping. Compostable, scent-free, chemical free, made from a sustainable resource.

Downside: Made in China

The Mini Shoo-foo blossomed into an impossibly soft, generously-sized washcloth that held together well for one use in the bath. It fell apart during the second use and is now composting in the garden.

Why all the buzz about bamboo?

If you’ve ever grown bamboo in your garden as an ornamental you will know that when it starts running towards the foundation of your house, it’s already too late. Chances are it’s already growing in your pipes. As beautiful as it is, bamboo is THE most invasive and fastest-growing plant in the world, reaching maturity at three years with growth that’s been measured up to 3’ in one day. That’s feet, not inches.

Bamboo has now become the darling of the eco-consumer. Its lightening speed growth makes it renewable, but the additional sustainable benefits are hard to argue. Unlike its dirty cousin cotton, this crop does not require pesticides and herbicides and has a low water demand. Used for production of the silkiest, softest textile products that are hypoallergenic, naturally antibacterial and highly absorbant, bamboo deserves its new star status.

The dirty on cotton:

• Cotton is the world’s thirstiest crop with up to 20,000L of water required to make 1kg of cotton – equivalent to a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The water required to supply at least 73% of the world’s cotton crops is withdrawn from freshwater resources, through extensive irrigation and damming.
• Cotton uses approximately 25% of the world’s insecticides and more than 10% of the pesticides (including herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants.). (Allan Woodburn)
• Approximately 10% of all pesticides sold for use in U. S. agriculture were applied to cotton in 1997, the most recent year for which such data is publicly available. (ACPA)
• Fifty-five million pounds of pesticides were sprayed on the 12.8 million acres of conventional cotton grown in the U.S. in 2003 (4.3 pounds/ acre), ranking cotton third behind corn and soybeans in total amount of pesticides sprayed. (USDA)
• Over 2.03 billion pounds of synthetic fertilizers were applied to conventional cotton in 2000 (142 pounds/acre), making cotton the fourth most heavily fertilized crop behind corn, winter wheat, and soybeans. (USDA)

I know David Suzuki would have more to say on the topic of over-exploiting a good thing and mono-crop planting, but in comparison to cotton, bamboo is looking good. And hopefully it won’t  take over the world like Kuzdu seems to be doing in the southern US.

YouTube – Kudzu

Sources: Organic Trade Association, Bamboo Body