Bamboo: Revisited and Revised

In my first blog post "Bamboo Bills helping the world environmentally", I made several points to why bamboo would be a great form of currency. My opinion is the same as it was at the beginning at the semester; however, more revised. Bamboo would be an excellent idea to create currency and more. Firstly, it can be mass produced; it takes about 60-90 days for bamboo to fully mature. Bamboo is also grown globally so it could potentially be used as a global currency instead of having different names and numbers for different currencies for each country. It's tough stalk would be hard to make currency, I do admit, but I believe if a machine that was designed to cut the bamboo to make dollar bills, money shortages would not exist. Not only could bamboo be used for just currency; it can be utilized to save the world environmentally. Bamboo can replace wood because of the rapid growth compared to a regular tree. The bamboo can also take up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide and release more oxygen (by 35%) than a standard tree. Bamboo is also great for the soil and an amazing windbreaker. And lastly, bamboo can be reused for many things such as making bikes, desks, plates, and more.

Hopefully, everyone who reads this will consider this idea. Who knows, maybe in a couple years, American currency will not feel like cloth but more sturdy and smell of bamboo. Every country has once explored how to make currency work in the past. What have we got to lose?

Many of my information came from "Growing Bamboo for Money  And Healthy Environment". If you would like to read more here is the link: http://www.pcaarrd.dost.gov.ph/home/momentum/bamboo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1312:growing-bamboo-for-money-and-healthy-environment&catid=118&Itemid=5  

Google Image: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-nPQ49DkIQJM/Sdy37zEiO0I/AAAAAAAABK0/rRu7gEhGFGI/s220/Bamboo.jpg

Confusing Potatoes!

The Indian Potato and it's origins.

"Indian Potato (Ipomoea pandurata, Convolvulaceae) -- A Record of Confusion" appears in the Economic Botany website because the Indian Potato, according the biology of this plant, is not an actual potato...hence the title name. The author of this article is Daniel F. Austin and his home institution is Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona. The article is basically about the confusion of the plant being claimed to be a potato; however, it is not a potato. Confusing, right? When Europeans first settled in America and discovered this plant, they believed it to be a potato due to a man's identification of the roots by saying "(These roots [of potato] are called Openauk in Virginia)"(pg 410) when, in fact, the roots are of a morning glory species. According to the article, several plants were claimed to be part of another species than the Europeans believed and were renamed after a common European plant name. I personally find it interesting that Europeans would try to name a plant species to something that was similar to the plant they knew back at home. What is even more appealing about the article is about how the Indian Potato was confused with another species called Apios, a plant that Indians ate when famine occurred. The Indian Potato is actually used to treat kidney stones due to several scientists claiming the plant to be an edible laxative (but very bitter and varies on palatability). I find it fascinating how the author discovers several things about the Indian Potato but does not try it for himself to see if it is truly edible (why would an economic botanist writer not eat what he writes about?); but, I do not believe I will try it either, I dislike bitter things. But who knows, maybe one day I'll have to expel kidney stones and eat the roots of the Indian Potato (hopefully not, *knocks on wood*). Or, hopefully, the Indian Potato won't get confused with Apios and then I'll be full of roots and kidney stones...aahhh the confusion! Haha! If you are interested to read this article, here is the link: http://www.springerlink.com/content/l81871742q8303j4/  Enjoy! :)

Gently Falling

Hello, all! The leaves are beginning to fall off of several of the trees in my gigapan. The Ashe Junpier has not changed and I predict that it will keep its green leaves because it's a conifer (a tree species that keeps its leaves throughout the year). However, the Silver Maple is losing several of its leaves; they are turning into beautiful red and yellow colors. The Pumpkin Ash has lost most of its yellow- brown spotted leaves. So, as an observation, all of my trees are changing at faster rates than others; unless they are an evergreen species because they will continue to stay the same green color. I believe that there are differences between the tree is because of whether they are an evergreen or a deciduous and how they are reacting to the seasons and weather. I'm excited to see my next gigapan in a few weeks and see the progress of the trees!

Leaves, Trees, and Gigapans

My location of my gigapan is in front of the Environmental Studies Train Station on SBC. I identified a conifer tree called Ashe Juniper; it is on the left side of the train station. The second tree I discovered is a Silver Maple and it is to the right of the station. Lastly, near/behind/to the left of the Ashe Juniper, I identified  a Pumpkin Ash. So far, the Silver Maple and Pumpkin Ash are beginning to change yellow (I went to visit these lovely trees after the gigapan was taken; in the photo they are still pretty green) but the Ashe Juniper is staying green. The reason why leaves change color in the fall is the tree's way of saving energy. The trees break down compounds in the leaf and reabsorbs nutrients, thus killing off the leaves. Basically, trees absorb energy through their leaves all throughout spring and summer and when the weather begins to become cooler in the fall, the tree collects all that stored energy and the leaves die due to the absorbed energy the trees contained to survive the cold, harsh winter. Here is a link to the tree identifications just in case if it's hard to know where/what I'm identifying: http://gigapan.com/gigapans/115310 Please Enjoy! :)

Bamboo Bills helping the world Environmentally

Bamboo, often seen being eaten by adorable pandas, can be used for several things like currency. In Thailand, they are adapting to the use of bamboo as a form of currency for their country. Thai believe that the use of bamboo as currency will last longer because of its sturdiness. Bamboo is much more stable and stronger than paper money and will continue for years. To decline the use of trees, Thailand plans to make a machine that will cut the bamboo trees into tiny segments, almost as big as the dollar bill; however, it will be thicker due to the bamboo material. Bamboo would also be a great form of currency because the tree grows rapidly, quicker than pine trees from America. Not only does bamboo grow quickly, it is easily accessible all over the world because it grows in numerous countries. Bamboo is also great for the environment by taking in 12 tons of carbon dioxide. Thai people also have a solution if the currency begins to break; if a piece of currency is somehow snapped in two, they can reuse that bill for another product that requires bamboo. For example, when the bamboo dollar bill snaps in half; it can be converted into parts for a bike. Thai will use bamboo bills like paper bills where the bills can be exchanged for a product. Several Thai people could potentially just use the bills to recreate jewelry or other objects. Hopefully the bamboo bill can change the world environmentally. 

(Made up about Thailand people, just an example. Bamboo image is from google images. But more information about bamboo is here: http://www.pcarrd.dost.gov.ph/momentum/bamboo/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1312:growing-bamboo-for-money-and-healthy-environment&catid=118&Itemid=5)