Bamboo clothing is billed as the eco-conscious choice. But is bamboo clothing really that eco-friendly? Find out the truth in this article.

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Good news everyone, the web site and blog integration has been completed.

From now on, please go over to our web site at www.starbamboo.com instead. Remember to update your bookmarks. Don’t worry about your feeds, they have already been adjusted.

Please continue to participate and discuss. If you have any comments or suggestions about the new site, do let me know.

OK, see you at www.starbamboo.com!

Sorry there won’t be new posts for the next few days. I’m in the process of integrating this blog with the Star Bamboo web site.

It’s been almost 3 months since we set up the blog hosted on wordpress.com. Took the time to understand the interface, and learn to host our copy of WordPress on our server. That offers far more flexibility and control – I like it!

So bear with us while we get the new blog-site up and running.

I found out more fascinating facts about bamboo today:

• Bamboo produces 13 tonnes of wood an acre, as against seven for lob lolly pine, a major source of timber in the US.
• Bamboo can store “four times the carbon dioxide of a stand of trees of similar size.
• And it releases 35 percent more oxygen.

I can’t think of any plant that’s greener than this.

Bamboo is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, taking just 4-6 years to mature for use in bamboo flooring. After harvesting, the new shoots grow up from the underground clumps without any replanting needed.

Even so, the booming market for bamboo products has caused severe pressure on the supply. The forest that we harvest from is monitored by the local government to ensure that there is no over-harvesting. This restricts the supply even more.

You might think replanting new forests would be a cinch. Ironically, it turns out that bamboo is one of the hardest plants to grow from seeds, because they flower only every 60 to 120 years before dying.

The race is on to find the fastest and most cost-effective way to reproduce bamboo from tissue cultures. This would allow much faster replanting.

Hopefully that would help ease the supply crunch and lower the costs for manufacturers.

I headed down to One Fullerton at 7pm on 07/07/07. I parked further away at Market Street as I was expecting a big crowd to turn up.

There were crowds indeed, but for the National Day Parade rehearsal at the floating platform just across the bay. The driveway at Fullerton Hotel was also packed with cars and guests for one of the many wedding dinners happening all over the island.

Volunteer helpers greeted us with markers at the pledge board, so I penned a short message:

“Save our Trees” (I should really improve my handwriting):

The live telecast of the Live Earth concerts were broadcast on a projector screen at a nearby marquee. The rows of plastic white chairs were mostly vacant, people were checking out the sponsor booths instead:

I suppose if they had wanted to just watch the concert, they could have done so in the comfort of their home.Flyers and freebies were being handed out.

I got a card that proclaimed “Vegetarianism – The Noble Way of Living”. Found out later it was some sort of spiritual cult, so into the bin it went.

Otherwise the event was pretty quiet. Perhaps the crowds would come after the NDP show is over but I had to rush off for a dinner appointment.

Caught the fireworks finale while cruising along Benjamin Sheares Bridge, what a lovely sight. The traffic police with their flashing sirens stationed along the road shoulders added to the spectacle.

So Live Earth came and went over the weekend. I don’t know if anything has changed, or if people treat it as a mega-party.

At the very least, there is definitely greater awareness of climate change and that can only be a good thing.

The big day is fast approaching, and there has been a lot of comments and discussions about Live Earth.

Not everyone supports the concert. The Today newspaper helpfully published letters from both sides of the debate.

Tan Chee Sean questions:

Beamed across eight cities, this concert will be watched by more than 2 billion people. At the same time, millions
of television sets will be turned on for up to 24 hours, so viewers can watch their favourite artistes. Ironically, wouldn’t this contribute to even more global warming?

In an attention grabbing-ly titled letter, Eugene Tay (pdf link) asks us to:

Give up hope. Because when hope dies, action begins.

What he actually meant was that saving the environment starts with personal action and responsibility. We shouldn’t hang on to the wishful thinking that someone else will do the job for us.

The blogosphere is buzzing too. Below are just some of the varied responses from Singaporeans I came across:

Scott Thong is more annoyed at MediaCorp’s Live Earth “We are not exaggerating” advertising campaign than the event itself. I haven’t seen the TV advertisements myself, but hey Scott, don’t mistake the messenger for the message.

Ordie helpfully points out that Mediacorp is encouraging Singaporeans to wear green to show how much we love hugging trees. Not very imaginative but definitely easy enough.

Sharp-eyed Liang Cai noted that the language one gets on the Live Earth official web site when clicking on the Singapore flag is… Malay. Well yes, it is our national language but not many of the non-Malays here actually speak it. One of the little ironies of Singapore.

No matter your personal sentiments about it, Live Earth is indeed going ahead. So why not make the most of it and see how we can use this unique opportunity to raise awareness about climate change?

Question: What do the following names have in common?

1. Madonna
   
2. Sheryl Crow
   
3. Alicia Keys
   
4. Kayne West
   
5. Faith Hill
   
6. The Smashing Pumpkins
   
7. Kelly Clarkson
   
8. Black Eyed Peas
   
9. Bon Jovi
   
10. Red Hot Chilli Peppers
    
11. Beastie Boys
    
12. John Mayer
    
13. Foo Fighters
    
14. Kylie Minogue
    
15. James Blunt
    
16. Snow Patrol
    
17. Lenny Kravitz
    
18. Jennifer Lopez
    
19. Snoop Dogg
    
20. The Police
    
21. Duran Duran

Answer: They will all be performing at the series of Live Earth concerts.

Actually, there are another 130+ names but I don’t recognise them.

I was just thinking that it’s such a marvellous idea having 7 concerts held across 7 continents (Shanghai, Sydney, Johannesburg, London, Hamburg, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo, and New York – OK technically, Tokyo and Shanghai are both in Asia but who’s nitpicking?).

Yes, it is a truly global event.

But the best part that you can feature all these big-name artistes under the same banner and give each of them the limelight and attention they want. After all, who would merely want to be a supporting act?

And none of the singers would have to perform under a hot blazing sun, because each venue is in a different time zone. Although to a television viewer in, say Singapore, the concerts would be tightly synchronised to appear as a single event.

If you can’t stand the blazing hot sun expected on Saturday at One Fullerton, you can always catch all the action live on Channel5.

Catch Madonna performing at the new Wembley stadium, London.

p.s. It was just a throw-away comment about 07.07.07 being the perfect wedding date, but it’s apparent that many people take it very seriously indeed.

Do you remember Eco Action Day event that I blogged about a few weeks back? Ricoh was the supporting organisation. The Eco Action Day post-action ceremony was held last Friday but unfortunately I couldn’t make it.

To my pleasant surprise, I got a phone call from Ricoh saying that we’ve won a lucky draw prize. Assuming it was some small commemorative item, I popped down over to their Heeren office on Monday.

Ms Masayo Hada, a very nice lady, greeted me there. The prize turned out to be a business colour printer (a very welcome addition to the office), along with other small goodies:

1 colour printer, 2 folders, notepads, staplers, and LOADS of pens.

I was most intrigued by this little gadget. At first I thought it was some sort of hole-puncher, but testing it on recycled paper yielded the following result:

ah-ha! It’s a staple-less stapler. The flap created holds pieces of paper together without the need for consumable metal staples.

It’s a clever idea but I don’t think external organisations would appreciate this as it is not as sturdy as normal staples. Would try using it in the office though.

Thanks, Ricoh!

Hello everyone,

I’ve just received the programme schedule from SEC for the Singapore leg of the Live Earth event this Saturday. It’s just 4 days away!

Because of the time zone difference, the programme is spread out over 7 and 8 July. So there’s your entire weekend all planned out for you.

The Live Earth, ahem, live screening is interspersed with local performances and talks. Click on the thumbnails below to see the timings, so you can catch the items you want.

Hope to see you there!

Shopping for a new refrigerator or air-conditioner will be much easier come 1 Jan 2008. That is when compulsory energy labelling laws kick in. This was an extension of 6 months to the original deadline of 30 June 2007.

Energy labelling rules benefit both the retailer and consumer. An energy-efficient air-conditioner can save over $500 per year in electricity cost compared to an inefficient one. The higher upfront cost can be recouped in less than 2 years.

So why have retailers and manufacturers been slow to get their act together? After all, voluntary energy labelling regulations have been in place since April 2002. After more than 4 years, over 80% of the products in the market are still unlabelled.

Could it be the cost of registration and certification, at around $100 per product model? However, NEA has waived this cost till 30 June 2008.

More likely is the fact that most of the products sold in Singapore would simply score poorly, especially the cheaper models imported from China. Given this market reality, voluntary registration would never take off.

Singapore has already lagged badly behind other countries:

• The U.S. introduced its mandatory labelling program in 1979.
• The energy labelling programme in Australia started in 1985.
• EU in 1992

Manufacturers and retailers in other countries have successfully adapted to compulsory labelling more than 20 years ago, and the results have been hugely encouraging.

Better late than never.