KEEP IT GREEN, KEEP IT CLEAN
GO GREEN WITH BAMBOO
Make The World Green
GO GREEN WITH BAMBOO
RinShihoAnu - University of Shizuoka
SDGs Green World
Keep it GREEN, Keep it CLEAN
Short summary
With the slogan Keep it green, Keep it Clean, we care about environmental protection and find out ways to keep the environment green, clean and beautiful in our own way. Environmental protection is not a new concept, but it is an obligation that we need to do to help future generations have a good living environment.
Which SDGs do relates to, and how
Goal15: Life on land（陸の豊かさを守ろう）
Bamboo kills native nature due to its spread around the field. It addresses this goal with regards to sustainable forest management and restoration of degraded lands. Areas whose natural ecosystems have been destroyed can be rehabilitated using bamboo.
Goal12 : Responsible consumption and production（作る責任、使う責任）
People have thought only of people for a long time. It makes the environment worse.
Goal13 : Climate action（気候変動に具体的な対策を）
Bamboo can reduce the effects of climate change. It serves as a great carbon sink. This is due to its fast growth. The faster a plant grows the more carbon dioxide it absorbs from the air.
Why does this research matters to you, to the local community, and to the global community
Our team has 3 members from three different countries: Vietnam, Nepal, and Japan. In VietNam and Nepal cultures, bamboo is very important in rural life because it is used to make houses and agricultural tools. Although we come from 3 different countries, the culture has many similarities, such as our cultures have fairy tales about bamboo. In Nepal nowadays people use bamboo to make restaurants and hotels. The reason is that bamboo is affordable and easy to get. The most interesting thing is people are being served various kinds of bamboo foods using bamboo-based pots and bowls. As bamboo can grow faster and even if we cut bamboo, it has the ability to regrow, it can help to save other plants. However, in Japanese bamboo is not widely used instead woods are being used mostly. As we know bamboo can be very useful in many different ways. Such as making furniture and constructing the building. However, why bamboos are not being used widely in japan even though they have high technology?
We are students of the University of Shizuoka and we hope that our research on bamboo will help our university gain new perspectives on sustainable materials available on campus. We are interested in many environmental issues such as Covid 19 waste, concreting, marine waste, etc. However, our main research object is bamboo, its benefits, and related issues. With this research, we hope that more people, especially Kendai students know more about the existence of bamboo forests on campus as well as find ways to use bamboo creatively and rationally.
RESEARCH REPORT
Introduction
We are students at the University of Shizuoka. Our project is to make the world green and clean by using eco-friendly goods. We are interested in bamboo and believe that bamboo can be used in many ways to make eco-friendly goods such as tables, mugs, brushes, etc. We also believe that bamboo can replace plastic and wooden goods. It is said that bamboo is not used widely in Japan. Thus, we went to the mountains to research bamboo. Bamboo trees were growing everywhere and getting unmanageable. We consider that if we make goods using bamboo, it will be easy to manage bamboo in mountains and we can use it as eco-friendly goods. We also conducted fieldwork around the university and collect some data, especially about bamboo goods being used. However, we found bamboo is not being used widely. Therefore, we want to tell people how bamboo is a sustainable material and can be used as eco-friendly goods.
Main contents
Who
We conducted fieldwork with Mr. Yamamoto, who is the manager of the medicinal botanical garden (薬草園) at the University of Shizuoka.
Your fieldwork Please watch 2 videos
From the data we have observed and collected, in our university, there are very few decorations, tools, and products made of bamboo. Chairs, tables, walls, and stair handrails are all made of wood or concrete. Therefore, most of us cannot realize the wonderful effects of bamboo. Items made of bamboo are mostly cleaning tools such as brooms, flower pots, and gardening tools.
Bamboo-based eco products in Kendai
Kendai 's furniture, decorations materials
Wooden material is everywhere.
What
Our main question is
Is bamboo being used widely in (kendai) or（around us?）
What is the role of bamboo in the University of Shizuoka?
When
June 17th
Where
University of Shizuoka (School of International Relations, cafeteria)
University of Shizuoka's bamboo forest
How
We counted bamboo-based eco furniture, and decorations at Kendai
We interviewed Mr. Yamamoto who is the staff of Kendai medicinal botanical garden (薬草園) of our university. He showed us the bamboo forest and gave us a lot of interesting information about bamboo on our campus, its benefit, and some problems in the management of bamboo in our university.
We took photos and recorded videos, and took notes.
Why
We think no one knows as much about the bamboo forest as Mr. Yamamoto.
Actions
We would like to share some creative sustainable ways to use more bamboo in Kendai and we do not do it alone.
Collaborating with SDGs clubs and creating bamboo eco-friendly furniture. We can make bamboo spots such as benches, tables, outdoor play areas, little bamboo houses, etc, and put them in Shibafu Kouen (芝生公園) bamboo roof
Making art bamboo leaves bookmarks and selling them at affordable prices.
Collaborating with Community Garden Clubs and making fencing for our university community garden and International Dorm(国際寮) Garden
Collaborating with Food and Nutritional Sciences(食品学部) students to dig young bamboos and give them to Kendai students
Conducting workshops and making school stuff such as wastebaskets, desk pen holders, etc
Other people/groups working on this problem
「静岡鉄道（静岡市葵区）と竹あかり制作を通じて市内の放任竹林問題に取り組む団体「アカリノワ」は１０日から、竹あかりを市内の３カ所に掲出する」
We found some beautiful bamboo-based decorations around Shizuoka city. We are impressed when we saw the beautiful bamboo lighting decorations(竹あかり) at the Shin Shizuoka Station. And then, we searched for some information about Takeakari. Please take a look at https://www.at-s.com/news/article/shizuoka/1024490.html Who created this stunning Takeakari? It is an organization called Akarinowa ( https://www.akarinowa.com/ ) They took bamboo trees at Kunozan Shizuoka and made these beautiful bamboo decorations.
2. https://kisakutei.com/menma/bamboo.html
This is an organization in Shizuoka that cares about abandoned bamboo trees in Shizuoka. They found some problems about bamboo trees in Shizuoka and created a project called "Shizuoka Menma Project". "If the bamboo grove is neglected and left unattended, the bamboo grows vigorously and the roots begin to expand and invade the forest". This project's goal is to keep the balance of bamboo in Shizuoka. They collect young bamboo in bamboo groves and make delicious young bamboo food. They found bamboo forest maintenance issues and this is the same problem of the bamboo mountain at our campus
Local community connections
we can find a lot of bamboo around Shizuoka city, especially in the mountain area. We can also find beautiful bamboo-based decorations around the train station. In Shizuoka, it seems people are trying to use bamboo and replace the plastic and wood-based product. We knew them through this project, and we are planning to meet and co-operate them. We hope we can meet more people having same interest as we do.
Conclusion
We have learned about the role of Kendai's bamboo forest with the guidance of Mr Yamamoto. Currently, having too much bamboo in Kendai garden area has caused many difficulties for the management. We also learned that bamboo can be used for furniture, cleaning supplies, and fuel, but bamboo in Kendai is only used as a decoration during the Tanabata festival, cleaning tools or as an object of study. Of course, that will never solve the problem of having too much bamboo in Kendai because the Tanabata festival is only once a year. At first, we thought that bamboo had a great role in reducing landslides, but actually having too much bamboo will make the soil more susceptible to erosion, especially unsafe during heavy rains.
References
１．https://www.at-s.com/news/article/shizuoka/1024490.html
Additional Links
We posted a lot of SDGS diaries on Instagram.
Rin https://www.instagram.com/sdgs.smallworld/