[Oe List ...] Jaime for ST Tuesday

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Bamboo and theweather


 
In the movie Crouching Tiger HiddenDragon, warriors defying the laws of physics walk on billowing bamboo topsas they chase each other in a highly choreographed dance of Tai Chi, a remarkable feat ofcinematography, on the one hand, and a mythological drumming of theimagination, on the other.
 
I stopped by Wudanshan in Shiyan Prefecture last yearwhere the Taoist section of the Wushu martialarts of the movie was shot.  From Shiyanin Hubei all the way to Fujian in the east cost are moso bamboo forests (Phyllostachys edulis, moso, ortortoise-shell bamboo, or mao zhu), remarkable for their shinyskin sheen and the absence of sticky spikes. The bamboo grows like the grass it is in China’s eastern hills, plainsand shores.
 
Living with the bamboo is an Asian source of rich metaphors.  The tinkling tinikling, bamboo stick dance of my former archipelagic home,celebrates a lifestyle of avoiding the clashing bamboo branches in a storm(typhoon/hurricane) by dancing in between the clashes.  Grace under pressure!
 
Were I Nikos sitting in Cyprus watching the clouds hovering overOlympus at a distance, I probably would not see anything across the Aegean, asI am sure the skies have become overcast like the rest of the planet.  But the weather in Dong Bei in late May wouldhave forgiven Nikos if he said that the Olympian gods had gone wild!  
 
We already had rains in spring but I did not shelve the long john inour wardrobe for the cold vacillated with the reluctant sun.  We had a day when short sleeves left ussweating in the sweltering heat, shattered by lightning and thunder with coldwinds in the early night.  The followingday, the sun came out strong again, until an afternoon hailstorm triggered allthe automatic sound alarms in the parked vehicles to blast a discordantsymphony of blaring sirens and flashing lights. Pedestrians sought cover under apartment door eaves, as umbrellas wereno protection to the ice-cube sized hail that peppered parasols.
 
Hard rain pelted Guangdong southwest of Hong Kong causing flooding inurban center Shenzhen.  Nikos would beforgiven if he thought Zeus had been peeing under his toga and Minerva couldnot hold her countenance.  But where rainwas not needed, there was too much, and where it was needed so badly, nary wasthere a drop.  My normal two-week springdid not last a couple of days.  Summerarrived with a vengeance, making us suddenly neighbors to Taklimakan and theGobi.  My Shenyang sunroom is my solariumof potted plants.  I usually sit in themorning to soak the warm rays, think and write but it turned into a Turkish spawith heat making cozy friends to my sweat pores.  
 
The thunder and rain followed us in the wetlands of northeast Texasas storms darkened the skies and tornadoes touched down on Okie land, making aninternationally diverse group gathered at a symposium on realistic livinggrateful for the relief on Texas hot, though fierce lightning in the nightscared the bejesus out of our fragile souls. We found harsh winds in Chicago even as tornadoes wrecked homes inWisconsin, ferocious twin twisters leveled Pilger, Nebraska to the ground, andSouth Dakota battled the twirls.  Some powerfulvoices in the U.S. Congress still find no alarm in the radical changes happeningwith our weather but denial has become more prominent than the river in Egypt.
 
The resilient bamboo that grows fast and in some places is used as fancyflooring when made into plywood (plyboo@) is an eco-friendly alternative tohardwood.  Full maturity happens in fiveyears compared to hardwood that matures as long as 120 years.  It is also self-renewing because the rootsystem remains intact after harvest, preventing rapid soil erosion that followshardwood harvests.  In its naturalenvironment, it grows without the assistance of chemicals (insecticides andpesticides).  The carbon footprint inproduction and utilization is very low though some have criticized thetransport cost since a majority of the product comes from China.
 
I am in no way suggesting a direct correlation between bamboo and theweather.  The production of plyboorequires high urea formaldehyde (allegedly no longer used), a high dosage beinga health hazard, though the material is widely used for bonding in toys.  As a resin, it is a derivative from oil, sothat is a plus in oil utilization.  I amsuggesting that where bamboo grows naturally, they can be cultivated for theireco-friendly quality rather than from the perspective of raking a profit.  To be sure, activities surrounding its usehave to be viable commercially to continue its use, but it is prudent not to makeit a profit making investment but rather as an inexpensive environmentallyfriendly ally, universally supported by the public through its governments.
 
As to the weather and climate change, the easy way out isdenial.  We are way past the option ofrestitution; our option is adaptive evolution, a metabolic change in thespecie.  We humans are resilient as thebamboo.  Be pliant!
 
 
 
 
 
 


j'aime la vie
pinoypanda2031 at aol.com

yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today. participate. In all, celebrate!

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