Bamboo is a highly malleable, fibrous plant that has many impressive capabilities that often serve a variety of utilitarian needs. At Xandari, we’ve used this resilient, rapid-growing grass (yes, it’s part of the grass family and some species are known to grow up to 90cm in a single day!) to create wind chimes for birds and now, we’ve been inspired once again to create a different, yet handy tool.
bamboo
What Does It Take to Plant a Forest?
Indian man, Jadav “Molai” Payeng, has single-handedly planted a 1,360 acre forest In Assam. PHOTO: Jagran
For many people the sight of a dead snake would be an unpleasant but not tragic image, but for Indian activist Jadav “Molai” Payeng it was a call to action that inspired him to create an entire forest. When Payeng was just a teenager in 1979 he came across a bed of dead snakes on the sun-baked shores of the Brahmaputra river. The limbless beasts had been stranded on the barren banks and perished in the unmitigated heat due to the lack of shade or tree cover. Payeng wept over the corpses but resolved to turn his sadness into action.
The Sound of the Forest
A few years ago the Ministry of Environment included the Sagano Bamboo Forest on its list of “100 Soundscapes of Japan” — a selection of everyday noises intended to encourage locals to stop and enjoy nature’s music. PHOTO: CNN
What does it take for a government to officially recognize a natural soundscape? The bamboo forests of Kyoto. Growing tall on the edges of Kyoto, the Sagano Bamboo Forest is a once tranquil nature spot that is now a series of tourist-packed pathways, but if one can escape the sounds of camera shutters and boorish visitors, they can hear the rustling, creaking, and swaying of one of Japan’s governmentally recognized soundscapes.
The (Eco-friendly) Sound of Music
House of Marley
Jamboo
LSTN
Think Sound
Woodbuds
Eco-friendly and environment-friendly – the terms have become all too familiar now. From being used at green summits and in corners where the gatekeepers of conservation meet, they’ve entered mainstream vocabulary. The words are a call-to-action, they are rules, and have come to define a way of life. What is interesting is to see how much of this ‘eco-friendliness’ is thoughtfully designed for use, innovated and improved upon, and finally marketed and delivered as utilities. Over being mere concepts and terminologies, how much of this ‘friendliness’ can be used on a day-to-day basis. Yes, we heard about how biking can power phones but let’s hear more.
Bamboo Wind Chimes for Birds
One of the finished chimes
The picture above shows one of a couple bamboo wind chimes that Seth and I built to put up around Xandari. The sound is, err, rather wooden–but definitely mild and pleasant! You may be asking why we took it upon ourselves to demonstrate our mighty artistic prowess. Well, we really had the birds of Xandari in mind with this project. Specifically, a poor Buff-throated Saltator who had thrown himself against the spa window so many times that he had Continue reading
Bambouzle
France has a horticultural history that goes back centuries, from the forested hunting grounds to the formal gardens of kings. But “Liberté, égalité, fraternité” leads to parks for the people, offering countless opportunities for visitors to fulfill their desires to commune with nature.
Organikos 