In an age where green sells, marketers are quick to add the popular labels such as “eco-friendly” and “organic” to make their products more appealing to the public.  Unfortunately, there is a lack of measurable standards in many industries and while a lot of companies talk the talk, there is minimal action to back it up.

However, a luxury resort in Bali is striving to walk the walk by developing the world’s first entirely ecological five-star villa estate, the Green Village at Ayung River.  Developer and real estate broker Nils Wetterlind was inspired by the Green School in Bali and partnered with PT Bambu (builders of the Green School) to develop a resort that combines ecologically conscious design tactics with organic, contemporary architecture.

For Wetterlind, this is a personal goal reached after a little soul-searching and much frustration with the hypocrisy of some builders.

“There are many hotels which have something ecological but only a tiny part and then call themselves ecological. That is the same as talking about a clean energy coal power plant – that simply does not exist. You pollute or you don’t; if it’s only an element – then you are not green,” explains Wetterlind.  “And when I say the world’s first five star eco resort I really mean it, ‘cause there really is no such resort which is completely neutral on this planet yet.”

Bamboo is the go-to material for this five star resort.  The amazingly versatile plant will provide everything from beams for the building to planks for the flooring to fibers for woven mats.

While some may be nervous sleeping in a villa made of bamboo, there is no need to worry.  Bamboo is as strong as steel but is much more pliable, making it ideal for building design.  And bamboo adds to the green credibility of the resort by offering other environmental benefits:  it actively works to convert carbon dioxide to oxygen at a higher rate than traditional hardwoods and it serves as an incredible erosion controller in moisture-rich Bali.

On a grander scale, Wetterlind sees the untapped potential of bamboo as a replacement material for traditional hardwoods and as a way to end the devastating plague of deforestation.  Each year the Earth loses swaths of forests as large as Panama for agriculture and logging needs and this loss devastates habitats for thousands of species as well as drives climate change.  And with the current rate of deforestation, some experts estimate that the world’s rain forests could disappear within 100 years.  Wetterlind himself estimates that within ten years, there will be no forests left on Indonesia unless a viable alternative is found for building and material use.

Bamboo with its incredible growing speed and many uses is a viable solution to the problem of deforestation.  Bamboo shoots in tropical countries grow up to 30 meters within six months, which directly shows the potential of bamboo to substitute slower growing wood species in terms of annual yield, reports Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

And Wetterlind is taking advantage of that growth rate.  The developer and his partners created a foundation that will give bamboo saplings to farmers around Bali and within five years, the farmers will be able to harvest the bamboo to sell to the developers.

“There is nothing more easy to cultivate than bamboo; it grows practically anywhere, and incredibly fast,” says Nils. ”And the thing is also that when bamboo grows, you get sprouts and you don’t harvest everything – the root stays and just keeps on growing and growing and last for up to 90 years.”

And while there is a measurable outcome of beautiful villas and local farmers cultivating bamboo, there is also the less tangible but equally important benefit of true eco-friendly marketing and leading by example.

“What we are showing is that you can build beautiful homes that are just as lasting as and perhaps stronger than conventional buildings made out of concrete.”

For more on how bamboo is helping the environment, visit Green Earth News section on Bamboo & the Environment.

1. Bamboo & Sustainable Architecture: Building A Better Future
2. Eco-Friendly Checklist: How To Save The Earth One Step At A Time
3. Extraordinary Bamboo Green School Nestled in Bali’s Rainforest
4. Indonesia lures eco-tourists with bamboo travel
5. Social Enterprise And Bamboo: Building Industry In Madagascar

Tagged as: bali, bamboo, deforestation, eco-tourism, green building, Indonesia, luxury resort, sustainable