World Bamboo Day: A step towards affordable housing and renewable energy
18th September, 2018 saw Auroville celebrate World Bamboo Day at Mohonam Cultural Centre. The event was inaugurated with a puja and the plantation of the first of one thousand Bhima Bamboo saplings that would usher in a new age of renewable energy and alternative housing for Auroville.
This genetically engineered bamboo project has been in the pipeline for 13 years, and has finally begun to take shape. In conversation with the minds behind the program, we learned about the advantages of using bamboo and how its multi-faceted applications are an ideal alternative resource to many materials, such as wood, coal, cotton and even concrete from Mr. Pashi and Mr. Chunkath. Mr. Romel explained the science behind the biomass plant that will run from this new harvest of bamboo, while Mr. Balu is the head of the program and was seen orchestrating the event.
Today marked Auroville’s first step towards a greener, cleaner future for Auroville, and hopefully in time, the rest of the world.