Bamboo Forests in the Desert

David Liepman (Disruptive Nation) ... Strong commercial applications of bamboo include sustainable branded products such as pulp paper, timber, lumber and textiles. And, in line with tissue and textile major brand owner concerns, bamboo is twice as soft as cotton and doesn’t require pesticides and fertilizers in its crops.

As a $100 billion industry in China, bamboo has flourished for centuries in the tropical climates of the Far East. Regenbiomass founder and CEO Phil Cruver of Palm Desert is confident that this sturdy-as-steel plant will also grow and thrive on a grand scale in the arable lands of the Southern California deserts.

A 25-year test with 50 different species of bamboo on 40 acres in the hot desert climate of Imperial County has proven to be an anecdotal success. Regenbiomass has embarked on a pilot program to set up a micropropagation nursery capable of producing 20,000 plantlets of six different bamboo species per month. Discussions are underway for the USDA Agricultural and Salinity Research Unit and UC Riverside Botany and Plant Service Department to independently verify the water consumption and the sequestration levels of carbon dioxide.

“Bamboo grows extremely fast in the desert environment thriving on sunshine and high temperatures. It is documented to grow as fast as 47.6 inches in a 24-hour period and reaching over 100 feet in height. Bamboo absorbs four times the CO² and releases 35% more oxygen than hardwood trees,” notes the Regenbiomass website.

Another bamboo by-product is bioethanol for booze. Mr. Cruver’s twin children are heading up “Drink to Save the Planet,” a campaign promoting vodka and gin distilled from regenerative bamboo grown on desert lands.

Utilizing the good fortune of his age (he’s over 65), Mr. Cruver is able to advance his seven provisional patents to be approved within one year by the USPTO. By that time he may also be channeling his energies to include other renewable bioremediation crops such as Paulownia, the fastest growing tree in the world and Salicornia, the “salt-loving plant.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Biomarket Insights: It is currently developing a pilot project in the Salton Sea Region of Southern California for creating an environmental and economically sustainable bamboo industry for the United States. This project, developed on marginal desert lands not suitable for traditional agriculture, avoids the “food versus fuel” controversy concerning dedicated bioenergy crops.

Global commercial scale bamboo plantations can produce regenerative biomass that can be economically converted into biofuels; alcohol spirits; pulp for paper and textiles; timber and lumber; and, afforestation projects.

Bioengineering and microbial research is also being conducted for producing higher-yielding bamboo more tolerant to drought and salinity conditions in harsh desert environments. Empirical growth rates and carbon sequestration data are being evaluated for creating a carbon offset protocol that would subsidise the development of large-scale commercial bamboo plantations contributing towards decarbonising the planet.

The global bamboo market is forecasted to reach $100 billion during this decade of which about 80% is grown in China and exported to the United States and Europe. Supply chain disruptions caused by the pandemic, particularly with products from China, now presents a providential opportunity for a developing a domestic bamboo industry in America for secure supplies.

We are working with legislators to amend the Trillion Tree Act for including bamboo plantations and supporting the recently introduced Global Climate Solutions Act for breaking down barriers with a USDA carbon credit certification program encouraging climate-smart practices. If enacted into law, these bills would help create a bamboo industry in America for jumpstarting job growth, economic expansion and accelerating the fight against climate change.

With continued pandemic unemployment and the increasing movement for social equity, we believe a carefully crafted Green Jobs Stimulus Program later this year could provide a popular bipartisan solution. Thus, we are promoting a project for “putting to work” hundreds of thousands of fallow federal lands as bamboo plantations in the deserts of California. These “Carbon Farms” would create jobs for producing valuable commercial products including renewable biofuels, sustainable pulp for paper products, textiles, lumber and timber. READ MORE