We found an intriguing article on one of our favorite blogs: Mother Nature Network. Its interesting on many levels to us. First we are extremely concerned with not only reducing our own environmental impact but also on actively contributing to its health. Second, we manufacture sustainable and eco-friendly rugs and textiles from fantastic plant fibers from around the world.
While we are not sure we’ll be manufacturing Kenaf Rugs anytime soon we still think you should read about this fascinating plant. Here is an excerpt:
If someone were to tell you that they had a technology — a weed actually — that could sequester huge amounts of carbon permanently while lifting villagers out of poverty by providing both protein-rich food and super-insulated building materials, you might start to wonder if they were, well, smoking a different weed.But it appears that one retired building contractor, Bill Loftus, has actually come upon a brilliant application of the fast-growing, carbon-sucking plant known as Kenaf.Kenaf is in the Hibiscus family and is thus related to both cotton and okra. Originally from Africa, this 4,000 year old crop was used for its fiber. It has the astonishing ability to grow up to 14 feet in one growing season, yielding 6-10 tons of fiber per acre and making it a great source of pulp for paper.But researchers have also discovered a corresponding ability of Kenaf to inhale huge quantities of our most abundant global warming gas — CO2. We all now know we need to dramatically reduce our emissions, but even if we were to cut them by 50% in the next 10 years (an almost unachievable goal), we still have decades worth of CO2 that has yet to impact the climate. In other words, we need a technology that can actively pull CO2 out of the air and store it… permanently, now.
The article goes on to talk about how this plan actually gobbles up CO2 at an astonishing rate. We’d be curious to know what you think. To read the rest of this article, check it out on the Mother Nature Network and tell them we sent you!
