The following facts come from Delta Airlines’ March 2012 Sky magazine:
- 1,400: number of bamboo species growing throughout the world.
- $23 billion: projected global market for bamboo in 2012.
- 9.0: Earthquake magnitude withstood by some bamboo buildings.
- 33%: amount of world’s bamboo supply harvested by China. The U.S. is currently the largest importer of the grass.
- 2 feet: growth rate of some species of bamboo in a 24-hour span. Bamboo can be reharvested every three years. Comparatively, many trees used for building materials take decades to regenerate.
Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
