To curb climate change, we need not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to actively suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. That's where bamboo comes in. It turns out that bamboo is more than a snack for pandas; it's also an excellent carbon straw, sequestering carbon better than almost any other plant in the world. And given that bamboo grows incredibly fast, and is both strong and light-weight, it also has thousands of potential commercial applications .

In this episode, we sit down with Charlotte King, a Communications Specialist at the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), to learn about the global efforts to scale up bamboo agriculture. Charlotte explains some of the biology behind this super grass. We also learn about other environmental applications of bamboo, including erosion control and a replacement for traditional firewood.