Many have been fooled about the uses of bamboo. Its applications are nowhere near as limited as industry would have us believe.

Sure, it can produce all kinds of consumer products once requiring wood or plastic. It also makes a fabric that's functionally indistinguishable from polyester (oh goody!), which in most cases is no better for the environment than synthetics.

That was clear to me after watching Michelangelo Antonioni's "Sette canne, un vestito (Seven reeds, one suit)" (1949), which describes how rayon was made in Torviscosa, an Italian town built by Mussolini. It was built on swam...