Grounded. In yoga terms, being grounded means being physically and energetically connected to the earth… In nomadic terms, it means not being able to fly around the world as we have for over a decade.
In bamboo terms, it means taking a tiny plant, putting it in rich soil and watching it grow to a towering 20 meter high bamboo clump that will give sustenance to farmers for 80 years.
Grounded we are indeed, in every way.
We are now able to share some visuals of my (Ben) work in the Philippines, having reached some important milestones.
It was a stroke of genius, really, to fly to the Philippines just at the beginning of the pandemic at the end of February, to get bamboo nurseries started.
With early signs of countries potentially shutting down access and preventing international travelers from coming in, I did not know when I would be able to get back to the island of Mindanao for my consulting job as Head of nurseries plantations and Carbon Offests, so I am very glad that I squeezed this trip in before borders started closing.
My role is to launch a bamboo economy in Mindanao, the large, southernmost island of the Philipines.
My work priority, back in February, was to organize, contract, fund and monitor the production and growth of bamboo plants in nurseries for our first annual giant bamboo reforestation “campaign”.
The business I consult for is a leader in the bamboo housing industry and their strategic vision is bold, going after the huge timber market in the construction industry, to replace timber with sustainable, renewable bamboo construction materials. Bamboo is the opposite of trees. As a (giant) grass, the more you cut it, the more it grows. And so, for now the priority is to plant a whole lot of bamboo clumps (plants) so that in a mere 6 years, farmers in Mindanao can participate in the huge and growing global bamboo economy.
The company’s business interests lie in having enough bamboo material to justify the requisite investment in industrial capacity to process on a large scale the magnificent Giant Bamboo that exist in the Philippines. But how to pay for all this planting activity?
This is where I come in with Carbon offsets. High carbon footprint industries around the globe – airlines, the construction industry, the oil industry, mining industries, manufacting companies, software companies… try as they may to reduce their carbon emissions, but they often need to augment their technical or process improvements by also financing deserving reforestation projects (that wouldn’t get off the ground without their financial support). The carbon sequestration that results from the reforestation activities they have supported counts toward reducing their own carbon footprint profile. Ours is a perfect case of a reforestation project that can have a massively positive carbon sequestration impact, but wouln’t come to fruition were it not for carbon offsets-based financial support.
My February trip opened up multiple leads and relationships that I have been working diligently, at a distance, while grounded in Mexico.
Some of these partnerships have been quite surprising….
The one I am most proud of is the relationship I have established with indigenous tribes. There are seven indigenous tribes in Mindanao and they control over 40% of an island which is the size of Ireland. Tragically, their land has been badly deforested over the past 5 decades. An island that was 90% forest cover at the end of World War II, now is down to 30% forest, and deforesting at the rate of 100,000 hectares (or 200,000 acres) per year.
Bamboo to the rescue. While Giant Bamboo is native, until now there has been no commercial value to the uniquely large bamboo that is endemic to Mindanao. With our arrival on the scene, and construction of a first small pilot factory, money is changing hands. Farmers who happen to have bamboo on their land are now, for the first time, able to monetize this asset and sell us their bamboo poles. Transporters are paid for moving bamboo from the fields to the factory. Factory workers are paid for processing bamboo. A bamboo economy is born.
My job now is to scale this project. Since February, we have started 7 nurseries, producing 130,000 plants. That’s a lot of plants! Small farmers, indigenous communities are now suddenly collecting cash for wages for those who work in nurseries, for the collection in the forest of the starter material, bamboo “branches” that will become plants, and then a tiny 2 inch plant will grow to be an enormous clump that grows to a dramatic 20 meters (60 feet) in height in 3 years.
** Credit for all photos to a young photographer from Mindanao, Glenn Palacio.
From a “GREEN Global Trek” perspective, this is a very exciting and meaningful project. Our environmental impact will be huge. And knowing I can have a direct positive impact not just on the environment, but also social and economic development in the indigenous communities is a rare priviledge for which I am most grateful.
This is as well an unexpected sense of deja vu for us. We anchored our lives in Nicaragua, for 6 years, around CO2 Bambu – the company we founded to have positive social, economic and environmental impact in Nicaragua. We worked with Mayagna Indigenous tribes who were the harvesters of our bamboo, trasnporters, factory workers in the post harvest facility we stood up on the edge of the bamboo jungle and they were as well the beneficiaries of a World Bank program we won, to build post-hurricane Mitch low cost bamboo housing for the indigenous Mayagna community. In all we built, delivered and field constructed over 200 bamboo houses.
Wow, what an accomplishment. So glad you managed to get there before all the shut downs.
Thank you Peggy. The timing was fortuitous. I anticipated difficulties but who knew that months after this visit, U.S. passports would become no grata.
Ben
Really nice to hear from you, Peta and Ben, Thank you for the fascinating information on how bamboo grows “…the more you cut it, the more it grows…” Very interesting about the indigenous tribes, farmers and how a bamboo economy is born. It is hard for me to imagine a 2 inch plant growing to 60 feet in 3 (short) years. Wow, about the chicken offering and potential signs of future prospects. Everything about this story is fascinating! The jobs for the women and the community and the positive impact on the environment. And, yes, all of the photos are National Geographic worthy, especially the ones with the water buffalo. 🙂 Erica
Erica thanks for your comprehensive response. So glad that you found this post so interesting…. Peta and I have both been passionate about our opportunities to have positive environmental impact , hence the name GREEN global trek and it was in Nicaragua that we discovered we can combine environmental, and social and economic impact. If you are interested to read more, you can check out our archives to see the work we did in Nicaragua with bamboo and the Mayagna indigenous tribes there.
About the water buffalo photos… I have a local friend in Mindanao who has affectionately referred to our program in local language with something that translates loosely as “the BEA= the buffalo employment act.”
There will be many farmer – buffalo teams deployed to help execute long term planting campaigns.
Ben
Ben, I read your answers to all the comments and I continue to learn more. I am heading to your Nicaragua archives next. Thank you for educating us. The BEA sounds like a win/win 🙂
Thanks Erica. I hope you manage to find the bamboo related posts in the Nicaraguan archives.. there are about six years worth of posts there.
Ben
What a great partnership between you and these fledgling businesses, Ben. They have the resources and the land, you have the connections and business know how. The country and eventually the whole world benefits. Thanks for showing what it is that you do, it was an absorbing education in what can be accomplished.
Shari thank you.
What we bring to the table is actually quite an interesting case study in harmonizing skill sets between local communities and global entities. Subject matter expertise about the bamboo market and bamboo processing is of course critical, but that is not enough. Providing financing is another critical contribution because indigenous populations are for the most part ill equipped to satisfy the requirements of commerical banking. Just to illustrate, they may have land tenure over their ancestral domains but they cannot use the land as collateral to get commercial bank loans. So my ability to navigate the very complex world of carbon trading is the solution we are able to engineer in lieu of commercial bank loans. Without capital there is no money to buy plants and plant them.
Ben
i understand the need for money to grow any venture (still trying to figure out how to self-publish my books) but had no idea about the complexity of business transactions for indigenous cultures – I guess, what most of us think of as third world countries. Funny thing is, they have a better handle on how to enrich the world with desirable commodities without depleting the world’s precious resources. We all have much to learn.
Glad you are enjoying the perspective on indigenous challenges. Just to correct one point – the challenge of not being able to use land as collateral is not a “third world” problem, in the sense of a typical “developing country” challenge with its economy. The issue is very unique to indigenous people who are custodian of their ancestral lands handed down from one generation to another, for hundreds of years, but it is the responsiblity of the current generation to care of it and pass it on to the next generation of indigenous communities. Hence it cannot be sold. Hence it cannot be a collateral for a bank. Hence they can’t get any kind of commercial credit line, which is the lifeblood of any small business, anywhere in the world…
You all have to feel so proud. I didn’t really understand how carbon offsets work. Great photos and breaking it down for me to understand better.
Deb, to simplify the carbon offset global regime, here is what is important. The entire planet minus the U.S. government and Afghanistan, has long recognized that our ability to reduce our carbon emissions or to increase carbon sequestration is an existential challenge. This generation, anyone alive today, sits on the tipping point of collapsing into irreversable climate damage, or taking steps urgently to slow the halt. Therefore, there are two related actions we can take. Firstly, we can reduce emissions by reducing demand of anything and everything we consume globally, in this sense, the current pandemic has contributed to a momentary slow down in consumption and therefore carbon emissions, but the counter part is we can also take steps to increase the sequestration of carbon dioxide which is what forests do. This is why it is so tragic that the world is losing its forest as a result of logging.
Lets say an airline has a carbon footprint which is related to how much fuel it consumes, ie. how many planes fly and how many flights per year and all the employees and all their facilities. All these together result in that airlines carbon footprint. That airline if it flies to Europe is obligated to reduce its carbon footprint by X percent. The first thing they would do is to look at all the engineering or technical solutions that could help them reduce their carbon footprint which is why one sees airlines buying more fuel efficient aircraft or cutting out routes which are not economic and contribute unnecessarily to carbon emissions. After they have done all they can, they are still left with a gap and need to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint.
By financing a reforestation such as this one, polluting companies create the financial means for reforestation projects to take place. We can calculate very precisely the amount of bamboo biomass created per hectare. We can calculate the relationship between bio mass and tons of carbon emission reduction and after that we can sell those tons of verified carbon units on a number of carbon offsets trading platforms.
Is this helpful to clarify the process?
Ben
Thanks
I know you aren’t writing to me, Ben, but this is something we should all know – and now I do. Thank you.
great….
Wow! That’s incredibly wonderful work!
Thank you Leslie.
Incredible project you are “grounding up”. And the pictures are fantabulous, the narrative really informative – thanks for the trip.
Most welcome Judy. These days we have to travel however we can… albeit virtual.
Ben
Hi Ben and peta
Wow I learned soooo much love this work. I’m proud of you too. You are both such amazing writers and photographers. There is so much material for many books. I can just see them. Love your journals and adventures.
Heidi it’s nice to hear from you. Thanks for the compliments on the writing. The photography was all taken by a young local photographer whom I hired to document the bamboo value chain. As they say, “a photo is worth a thousand words” and I am now starting to pursue a number of grants for which photography is an important element.
We are hoping to write a book, but the problem for us, is the time, because we always, as you know, have interesting projects ongoing. But it is on our bucket list of things to do.
Thanks for your enthusiasm for our blog and adventures.
Ben
Congratulations, well done!!
Thank you Keith nice to hear from you. You know of course from staying in our bamboo house in Granada, the amazing feel that bamboo brings to construction.
Ben
Wow, your story is a shining light in a world full of darkness.
Thank you for explaining the process, the challenges and — most of all — the value for the indigenous people and their land. We should all be doing such meaningful work in service of the environment and the future. Well done, Ben! Looking forward to more posts as the bamboo grows!
Thanks Kelly for your enthusiastic feedback. Making a difference with indigeous populations is something which is very meaningful given the history of abuse and ill treatment by external populations globally. There is very little difference between the way the U.S. government exterminated native American tribes, the way Australia has decimated the aboriginal people, the Chinese with Tibetan culture, or the Uighurs Muslim population in China, the Canadians took advantage of their indigenous people, the way Bolivia is ruining a fast disappearing indigenous culture etc. The pattern is tragically obvious, the indigenous populations are vulnerable to exploitation at the very least and purposeful elimination at worst. Anything that can be done to strengthen indigenous self reliance is a positive thing. In our case, those little two inch plants that become twenty metre high bamboo clumps, will provide recurring income to indigenous planters for eighty years, ie three generations.
Ben
Obviously a momentous achievement. Even so, isn’t bamboo just feeding the human machine and only another weed like Buckthorn only much more useful for humans. What’s the true difference between an old-growth oak tree that takes a hundred years to get to the size of a 60 foot bamboo tree in 3 years?
Hi Trevor,
Thank you for your questions as it allows me to difuse some misunderstandings.
1. Bamboo is NOT a weed. This is a gross misconception because there are two types of bamboo “runners” and “clumpers”. While runners do behave like a weed in that they grow uncontrollably and expand in all directions, this is not the case with clumpers. Once clumpers are in the ground, they do not “jump the fence” and grow down the road, they are where they are.
2. Yes bamboo has many uses for humans. And yes in that sense it is extremely valuable. In the case of the indigenous people, beyond all the typical uses of bamboo as a substitute for wood, they also are a critically valuable source of nutrients because the indigenous population include bamboo shoots, like most Asian cultures, in their diet.
3. But no, it is not that bamboo is good for humans. Its main benefit is for the environment. One hectare of bamboo sequesters about ten times the amount of carbon compared to any tree in the first fifteen years of its life. As well, one particular challenge caused by climate change is the increase of flooding and bamboo is valuable as a way to control errosion and landslides.
4.The true difference between an old growth oak tree that “takes a hundred years to get to the size of a sixty foot bamboo tree in three years” is that once that hundred year old tree is cut down or burnt by fire, that is it. That tree is done. Bamboo on the other hand as a grass, is regenarative. You can extract the bamboo material for human use and NOT affect its biomass as each harvested culm regrows in one year. And in the case of fires which are, as demonstrated in California for example, an unfortunate recurrent climate reality, burnt down groves of bamboo are the fastest plant to regrow after a fire due to the underground rhizome system which is not impacted by the fire.
Bottom line, major difference between bamboo and a hundred year old oak tree. One is finite and the other regenerates ever year for its life span of eighty years.
Peta
Word! Any idea what the native plants were on the island before it was logged?
Yes, from what I understand there were multiple high value trees, some familiar to me like Oak, but others that I am not familiar with. All of them were first consumed by Japanese trading companies sucking natural resources out of Southeast Asia, and then came American mills that created a market for local loggers. Very little value added left in Mindanao, so the classic tale of global corps descending upon a resource rich island, plundering and leaving the land unable to protect or provide economic benefits to its people.
I can imagine that it must be a wonderful project to be involved in, Ben. And what a blessing it is to the lives of so many people, who can now engage in dignified work. Those clumps of giant bamboo are truly impressive.
Thank you Jolandi. Peta and I have seen lots of bamboo during our global travels and this species of bamboo is truly unique and it deserves its colloquial name as “giant bamboo”.
Ben
Do you also use the bamboo as a raw material for “bamboo” clothing?
Thank you for the question Helen.
No. Our focus is on replacing construction industry use of lumber ie deforestation, with bamboo which is regenerative. There are over 1200 different species of bamboo and the textile industry would use a different type of bamboo with different properties.
Ben
I am impressed Ben! It sounds like you are part of making a big difference in the lives of many people in Mindanao. And doing most of it from a distance is something I found not easy. Sure you’ll have great and motivated people at location to work with.
Anna, nice to read you here. Thanks for the comments. It is NOT easy to do this work from a distance, for sure. And the twelve hour time difference means that I often have early morning or late night calls, not ideal working hours, but such is the reality. Fortunately the chairmen of Councils of Elders that I am working with are all very computer savvy and we all use zoom regularly wtih good success.
Ben
What a fascinating project! You must be proud to be an integral part of it.
Darlene it is a fascinating project indeed and I am very proud to be an integral part of launching a bamboo economy, once again, but this time in Mindanao.
Ben
Wow! You guys are amazing! Even in such challenging and dark times, to be able to illuminate and change the lives of so many! Do interesting to learn about bamboo and how it grows. Sad about deforestation but great you can turn this around. Proud of you both.
Janice ALL credit goes to Ben. Of course it would have been easier to not persevere once COVID hit and to let the pandemic paralyze the project. But if you know Ben, you know how passionate and persevering he is!
Tragically deforestation is not likely something that can be “turn around” but these efforts can slow down the global rate of deforestation by reforesting with bambedoo in this particular geography, at a faster rate than the historic deforestation in this area.
Peta
Ben, your work is remarkable and I find it fascinating that you can manage all of this remotely. I pulled up a few articles related to the bamboo housing industry and was amazed at the possibilities. I am trying to undersand the financial support that is received from industry. When a company’s carbon footprint is too high, they can reduce the ‘profile’ by contributing funds to a group which uses those funds to support sustainable projects like yours. So, this doesn’t actually reduce their carbon footprint, it just looks like it on paper?? Correct my understanding if I have summarized in error. I truly want to understand.
Also, bamboo grows really well in Florida, just saying. Maybe we can replace the sugercane fields with it and our rivers will no longer be subject to toxic runoff. How do bamboo houses hold up in a hurricane?
Take care and thanks for the update. I have been following you guys on Instagram, but miss your regular posts.
Suzanne thanks for your comments and question about the carbon offest concept because it allows me to address a frequent misperception.
Here is the thing to understand that is key. All carbon emissions are global and all carbon sequestration is global. There is not a Filipino “air space” or a U.S. “air space” that operates in its own vacuum. Just as a manufacturing company that has three factories with three different processes in three different countries, would have separate local foot prints, but on the agregate, a corporate global footprint, so it is the case that enabling a reforestation project through the purchase of tons of carbon emission reduction is in fact contributing to a net improvement in that company’s impact. A major criterion for verified carbon impact is the concept of additionality. This means there is a rigorous process to confirm whether the expected sale of carbon offsets is an integral part of decision making and financing for a reforestation project. In our case, it is very binary. If we did not have sales of the carbon emission reductions that will result from our bamboo plantation activities, the project would just not happen, therefore the bamboo biomass would not happen, therefore the global carbon footprint would not be reduced by the corresponding amount of tons of carbon sequestered by our project.
What matters therefore, is that some entity, typically a polluting entity, like the last airline you took, the last car you bought, the refrigerator and A.C you are using etc, has a NET carbon impact on our planet. Those who fund such reforestation are absolutely having a positive effect, even if they also emit carbon as part of their other industrial activities.
An environmental activist may deplore consumerism and the increase in global demand for product that consume energy and emit carbon, but curbing consumerism, though a lofty goal, is entirely outside of my realm of impact. Conversely we can all do some things to reduce our personal consumption and to increase carbon sequestration by contributing to forestry projects.
Ben
P.S. Re your question re bamboo houses and hurricanes. Our World Bank program in Nicaragua years back had specific requirements with regard to hurricane resilience. In fact, the trick to hurricane resiliance has little to do with bamboo but has to do with the method by which the roofing system connects into the wall system which connects into the foundation. So it is a design thing, not a bamboo thing. Where bamboo directly has a disaster resilience characteristic is in the case of earthquakes as the inherent flexiblity of bamboo allows bamboo structures to abosrb the shock of earthquakes, to bend with the earths movement without damaging the structure. This was evident in Colombia’s bamboo country when a devastating earthquake destroyed most standard construction and in some areas only the bamboo structures were left standing.
Ben, thanks for the additional information. It has helped me to better understand the concept and have a deeper appreciation of the work being done. Also, I suspected your answer re: hurricanes. I saw first hand the devastation to homes with substandard roofs during Andrew. Those codes have changed dramatacly, but still…just the right conditions. It makes sense that bamboo would fair well in earthquakes. I really enjoyed this update and look forward to hearing more from you guys.
Too nice to learn about the fruits of your labor and the help you are giving to the Mindanao indigenous people! Congratulations! The bamboo world is certainly an adventure for you and Peta. I like the application using the carbon offset program and having the start up funds to give the farmers a starting chance. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Gib!
You don’t know how often we think about you and your early exploration adventures into the bamboo jungles of Nicaragua. Thank you for being a crucial part of the CO2 Bambu team and adventure.
While the carbon offset income is not huge it is enough at the current global market price, to pay for the plant, planting and land maintenace and still leave some carbon dividend for the planting farmers. As you know, it is hard for a farmer to think six years out, so being able to infuse some cash after year three, in the form of a carbon dividend, is meaningful for most farmers.
Ben
This is the coolest thing ever. Every aspect is awesome. Congratulations, Ben. I’m honored to know you.
Well thanks Sharon!
I don’t remember if you were exposed to the bamboo business when you came to live in Nicaragua? It’s a very cool full circle return to our initial vision, albeit in a different geography.
I have got to make a comment that will only make sense to YOU though. You will appreciate that perhaps in light of your relationship with chickens… One of the groups that we aim to collaborate with is a vast network of chicken farmers. There chicken farms are not the restrictive prisons that are prevalent in the U.S. where chickens are physically constrained. Instead, there are large bamboo structures within which tens of thousands of chickens are grown. Yes at the end they are part of the food supply chain but at least their existence is less stressful than so many other chickens grown as food.
Chicken farming requires farmers to maintain a bio security sphere where no food crop is grown. However, planting bamboo is absolutely appropriate because it maintains the biosecurity sphere in tact while providing chicken farmers material for them to reconstruct their bamboo structures every eighteen months. To date we have identified 170 such chicken farmers who have expressed interest in participating in the bamboo economy.
Ben
In a bad news world, this post gives me the feel-goods I very much needed. Thank you so much Ben (and Peta) for the great work you are doing!
Deb
Nice! This wan’t designed to be a “feel good” antidote for our dark times, but great if it feels that way.
Ben
What an inspiration your work with bamboo is! Such a thoughtful, heartfelt commitment, in action. Thank you for that and for this view thru the window. As usual, your pictures are so eloquent.
Is bamboo really a grass then? I heard about grasses (prairie grass or lawn grass) that it will happily propagate in two ways — through rhizomes if grazed (or mowed!), and by setting seed if left alone.
Does bamboo do this?
Thanks Johnny. The photos were taken by a young local photographer to help us build the case when approaching donors to help finance the project. He did a terrific job.
Yes, bamboo is a grass. Bamboo propogates through a number of available materials, rhizomes being one of them. In the case of this particular species, there is an easier way, which is to cut small branches from the top of the culm and then replant these. Bamboo flowers only once every eighty years or so, but when it does flower, the seeds propogate themselves and more importantly for some species the seed restarts the clock… for a new cycle from birth to death, of about eighty years.
Ben
Great work! I’ve read about bamboo in construction for years. I was considering a bamboo floor when we renovated our apartment in NYC since it’s so scratch-resistant. I didn’t even know how it grows faster when it’s cut. These are the solutions we need.
Thanks Aixa for your feedback. Bamboo is great for flooring. Often lower cost than wooden flooring and very attractive as well and of course way more sustainable than wood.
Bamboo is an increasingly recognized sustainable material as evidenced by this years largest ever market for all bamboo products, reaching a global total of 78 billion dollars for the year. As the demand grows for bamboo materials, so will bamboo plantations be financed, thus helping slow down the rate of deforestation, hopefully.
Ben
Thanks for sharing this insight into your job function and achievements, Ben. Incredibly fascinating and I keep thinking “Good on you” and “Good for you”. Such a difference you are making on a local and a world scale. Not only environmentally, but socially and financially as well. Astounding project and I can totally imagine working this job is satisfying on many levels. Am I glad you made it to the Philippines in the nick of time as well. Especially since you could have decided not to go. I remember it being a bit of a dilemma back in February. Good decision!
By the way, “grounding” in the literary world means to establish your story well enough so the reader can follow along easily. As in, grounding the scene, so the story is grounded and therefore the reader as well. I just learned that from my editor. 🙂
Thanks Liesbet.
I tend not to share a lot of my work focus because what is exciting to me might not be exciting to others, but seeing as we have reached some significant milestones, the fiming felt right. You are correct that in February it was already somewhat of a touch and go situation and Peta was definitely a bit concerned that I might not make it back to Viet Nam. Now of course, just a week later, exactly THAT scenario happened, as you know, when we were in Sri Lanka tying up lose ends. So yes, it was a bit of a gamble, but in this case it paid off and it’s clear now why it was totally worth it.
Thanks for one more definition of grounding, hope our writing was grounded then, as a literary product.
Ben
Congratulations! What a wonderful initiative. It is good to learn about the carbon offsets-based financial support…was not aware of this. Nor was I aware that bamboo grows that quickly: 20 m in three years..extraordinary! I know very little about the island of Mindanao except what I’ve read in past news stories about conflict/terrorism activities. Nice to hear some good news and learn about the positive effects these kind of projects can have for the local people and economy. Thanks for sharing this interesting update.
I hope grounded in Mexico isn’t too bad for you guys. Scary the stats we’ve been seeing. All the best to you and Peta!
Cheers,
Caroline & Mike
Thanks Caroline.
You are correct in noting Mindanao’s violent history. It was after all the South East Asian base for Abusayef, argueably one of the most radicalized Islamist groups in South East Asia. However, that conflict has been “resolved” in a military sense as a result of President Dutarte’s drastic military measures against armed Islamists on Mindanao island. Today the broad middle band of the country is trying to re enter the economic mainstream and return to its historical role as the bread basket of the Philippines. How this recent violent history impacts us is this: We have heard that some communities are trying hard to rehabilitate what are called war returnees. There is much hope that the bamboo economy will be one of those rising tides lift all boats kind of situation.
As for being grounded in Mexico that is Part 2 of this post. However, we are pleased to say that there have been very few cases of covid in our community so far. Since the barriers were taken away July 1st, we have heard of only three cases. Hoping it stays this way. The cities of course as you have read, have very high numbers, much like cities in the U.S.
Ben
Ben
It’s great to see things going so well. But I always feel like such a slug when I read about the incredible things you both do.
Stay safe.
Steve
That’s funny Steve. Slugs are people too haha.
Ben
Hi, Ben and Peta – I learned a great deal through this post. This project is exciting and meaningful with HUGE longterm impacts on so many different levels. I will now make it my mission to read more on this topic. I look forward to learning more.
Thanks Donna. Welcome to the world of bamboo.
Ben
I loved reading this blog about your work ,it is so interesting ., I now understand carbon offset and I love the promoting of bamboo , the growing of it , the uses of it and the reforestation of barren lands . Good on you and thank you for explaining all of this .
Thank you Erica for stopping by and welcome to our Green Global Trek. Glad that you enjoyed this post so much and are so enthusiastic about bamboo. If you are interested in more , we had a fascinating bamboo adventure in Nicaragua for six years, and Haiti as well, and you can certainly scroll through our archives to find those if that is of interest.
Ben
Thanks Ben. I love good news stories and this one has layers of both economic and environmental 🙂
I’m simply amazed at the speed these trees grow. What an awesome sight it will be to eventually see these denuded hillsides reforested.
Glad to be included in the “good news” story category”.
Actually, there are even more layers of good news beyond those already stated. For instance, one of the very serious threats emerging from climate change is the shortage of water. This is a global phenomenon, highlighted a couple years ago when Cape Town, South Africa was the first major city to have widespread water shortages. The same is true in Mindanao where during the drought season flowing rivers run dry. One of the collateral benefits of planting bamboo is that if bamboo clumps are planted strategically along river systems, they contribute to the retention of water inside the giant bamboo culms, which become seventy percent water content and then slowly release that stored water into the earth when the terrain dries up. The net result is that the quality and quantity of water is improved by bamboo.
For the sake of accuracy, bamboo is not a tree, it is a grass. And yes it is the fastest growing plant on the planet.
Ben
This whole story warms my heart.
Everything about what you’re doing Ben is right – right for people and right for the planet. Thank you.
Thank you Alison.
I am particularly pleased with being able to facilitate positive impact for the indigenous people of Mindanao. They are so often marginalized and yet they can hold the key not just to local sustainable development but to sequester carbon emissions which is ultimately a global game.
Ben
Ben and Peta, what a fabulous initiative and story. I enjoyed the ‘movie’ too. Have learnt much reading this post, and also from the comments and your generous responses. Contributing to communities and their wellbeing from afar is a testament to your ethos and I am heartened to know what you are ‘actually’ doing while watching Mexican sunsets, performing yoga asanas on the beach and frolicking with your growing family of dogs!! A life well lived. Blessings to you both. And on behalf of the planet, thank you. xxx
Thank you Tracy.
You actually hit the nail on the head. I am usually loathe to put updates from my professional activities until I have something tangible to show. But I do occasionally get uncomfortable with the resulting image as you aptly describe.. of a life that revolves areound sunsets, yoga, the beach and frolicking with puppies. These are the moments that frame all the hard work. I have often mentioned to Peta that this presents a rather skewed perspective on my reality, because I work damn hard and long hours outside of Asanas and time on the beach. So yes, it feels good to put a bit of professional context for half of my professional endeavours. The other half of my professional activites are in the category of defense and international security… way less interesting for a blog post!
Glad you enjoyed the video, If you liked this one about our work in Nicaragua – you might enjoy this video about our work in Haiti to bring bamboo to the island for post earthquake reconstruction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slSLBrvhvYg
This is fascinating to me on so many levels. From a very personal standpoint, we have a large amount of clumping bamboo on our property here in Houston, and it is a full-time job keeping up with its growth. There are times we will spy a little 1″ shoot, think “we’ll cut that one off this weekend,” and then a few days pass, and that little thing is almost a foot tall! So I surely understand the regenerative and fast-growing aspect pf bamboo!
The carbon sequestration aspect happens to be another area I am rapidly learning about as our almost new son-in-law works directly on carbon offsets for an agriculture tech company here. It took me a while to totally understand the idea, but I do now, and your answers in other comments above provide further enlightenment. The only part that is different about your project is the added value to indigenous communities, which is more than just icing on the cake. Congrats to you for persevering from afar; your work is so valuable and so appreciated!
Hi Lex
Thanks for eye witness first person account of the fast growing shoots of bamboo. There is another interesting aspect of bamboo, which is, that little shoot that grows to human height in a few days is also interesting because it emerges from the ground at its full diameter. It grows in height but not in circumference. That is a unique feature of bamboo.
I think I may have bad news for you… if you are waging a continous battle with an ever expanding bamboo on your property, it is highly likely that it might be a runner bamboo rather than a clumper. This is the big distinction that is often overlooked by those who plant bamboo and can have disastrous results.
Hear hear for your son in law, and for his work around carbon offsets. I truly believe we are at the very beginning of a future world when positive and negative impacts on the planet will be adequately priced and the world of finance will help shape our behavior. This means that carbon emitting activities will become correctly priced such that polluting products will include the price of the carbon emission impact and conversely carbon sequestering activities will be rewarded financially. About fifteen years ago the price per ton of carbon sequestered hovered around thirty dollars per ton. Today, it is around three dollars per ton. This is because of an imbalance between supply and demand but I firmly believe that the price the world will pay for “good deeds”, will significantly increase in the years to come. What this means for us, is that we will be able to share a higher carbon dividend with indigenous bamboo farmers.
Ben
This was interesting to read and glean your perspective/knowledge. The pictures of the tall bamboo are amazing.
We bought our house in Maryland 2 1/2 years ago. When we first saw the property we cringed because we saw that someone, at some point, had planted bamboo on one side of the yard and there was a LOT of it. Yikes! Did we want to deal with that? Turns out we found more we loved about the house/property and decided to deal with the bamboo.
It grows crazy!! My husband has managed to get it under control and keeps it that way. It’s very pretty and provides privacy between yards, but he has to stay on top of it. The roots run far and wide. In 2019 we were in Europe for the month of April. When we came home, 1/3 of our yard was a newly grown bamboo forest, all of the stocks were at least 5 feet tall. We were stunned how fast it had grown and how widespread. It took days and days to get it back under control again.
One other funny thing about bamboo… our neighbor has a fire pit and he on occasion throws dry bamboo poles into the fire. I bet you know what happened, right? I happened to be outside in our yard when the first pole popped, I thought someone had shot a gun, I must have jumped 3 feet. It’s my understanding that air gets trapped between the spaces in the pole and that’s what makes the explosion.
Some crazy wonderful stuff, bamboo!
Hi Patti,
Great story about the bamboo spreading during your absence and having to stay on top of it. Yup, am afraid that bamboo “runners” are not very domesticated and will go where and as they please. Sorry to hear about the ongoing battle to keep it at bay. It sounds like it’s your own “Myth of Sysyphus”. If Greek mythology ain’t your thing, check it out… you’ll see the corrolation. Hate to break the news but over the long term, bamboo wins…
And great story about the pop. Yes, these air pockets have fantastic virtues, such as allowing bamboo poles to float, which is awfully convenient if you live, say in Cambodia, and your community is submerged under water a great part of the year. Bamboo’s floating properties make it the technical solution of choice to live on floating homes.
Not so great, except perhaps on July 4th, for bon-fires. That said, and this may be more info that you are interested in, but if your neighbor is able to use an axe or machete, it is easy to split the poles by knocking through the nodes. The reason I say this is that if, once open, they are put in the fire, they become “charcoal” – a great sustainable alternative for charcoal for BBQs…
Thanks for bamboo anecdotes,
Ben
Thank you for sharing the information, the pictures and the video. It is wonderful work and as others have said, something very positive in the midst of all the negativity in the news and social media. I look forward to reading more. Thanks so much.
Hi Michele,
Thank you for your enthusiasm. I had not anticipated the angle of a positive in the midst of negativity. But yes, that it is. thanks for keeping up with this evolving story.
Ben
Ben bravo to you for making such a massive difference for these people and the land! Thankfully you were able to get things well underway prior to the pandemic. It is stories such as these that give hope in these times that weigh heavy on the world. I look forward to reading updates in the future!
Thanks Sue. Funny how what would normally be an interesting update about a cool environmental impact story takes on a whole new “feel good” dimension when compared to the daily heap of crazy and negativity. It was’t planned that way, but glad it comes across as a reminder that it’s not all bad and dark and crazy out there. Next challenge will be to beat the clock, or rather beat the calendar as time is short to put all 130,000 plants in the ground. We need to identify 650 hectares of land, about 1400 acres and there is a heavy administrative burden to show proof of land ownership on the part of planters. This story is therebore but round one.
Coming up: fielding dozens of scouts to go identify viable areas for bamboo groves amongst ancestral lands. I am going to try to converge the two very different worlds of indigenous community practices, with the high tech use of satelitte imagery to try and facilitate the identification plots of land with the right “signature”. This coordination of high tech and ancestral knowledge should yield good results.
Ben
I have heard terms like “carbon offset” and “carbon trading” a million times, but never really understood what it all meant or how it all worked in practice. Not only did you explain all of that so well, but I now have a new appreciation for bamboo. And what an incredible plant it is! It must be so gratifying to be part of such a meaningful, impactful project – environmentally, socially, and economically. Very inspiring and, as so many others have said, a nice bit of light at a really crappy time. Thank you for sharing all of this and educating us. It’s one of the most uplifting things I’ve read in a while.
Wow, thanks Laura. So glad this provided the most necessary “lift”. I guess I’d better publish a few more updates between now and November 3rd, when the U.S. finally rejects Trump at the polls.
What is so interesting to me is how we experience such good news stories differently. In Mindanao, the launch of a bamboo economy is indeed felt as a good news story, but this is not against the backdrop of the pandemic or of the daily dose of crazy coming out of the US Administration – it is a good news story after 2 decades of islamic terrorism that has rocked the island. Mindanao is about 2/3 Catholic and 1/3 Muslim. The disenfranchised muslim community has expressed its long held frustrations through violent acts, kidnappings, bombings and graphic acts of violence that Peta does not want expressed here, but let’s just say that these were grizzly times indeed for 2 decades in Mindanao. To have a chance to create a bamboo economy that will give farmers dignified work and income and at the same time offer a venue for war returnees to lay down their weapons and grab a hoe is gratifying indeed. THAT is where the good news story on the ground in Mindanao.
Ben
SO wonderful to read of this wonderful venture Ben. I’m going to go back and all your responses to people’s comments. We had bamboo growing against a hedge in our ‘old’ home in Johannesburg. I cut some of those long branches down to a predetermined size and used those pieces to fashion an enclosing in my secret garden. It made such an impressive statement to me.
Many congratulations to you and your team and here’s to ongoing success to the people and the environment.
Thanks Susan for the positive feedback.
Bamboo makes a wonderful green privacy wall, as long as one uses clumping bamboo and not running bamboo.
The challenge now will shift from the growing of plants in nurseries to identifying parcels of indigenous land that we can reforest and that meets all the requirements to participate in carbon offsets. What we do this year will set a precedent hopefully for an even greater reforestation project next year and the years that follow.
Ben
ps your photos are wonderful too …
Thank you They are not mine, but were taken by a young local photographer. He did a great job.
What a fascinating story… bravo for making such a positive contribution to not only the people of Mindanao, but earth’s atmosphere – how great is that!
I had three questions as I was reading this: I saw one of your replies that said that bamboo does a great job of sequestering carbon, but does it also preform well releasing oxygen? Can birds and animals use the trunks for habitat? How does bamboo preform as erosion control? (I hope you don’t mind the questions… it’s just how my brain works 🙂 ).
Hi Janis,
Thank you for your comments and questions. Here goes:
1) Re Oxygen: yes – Bamboo is a crucial element in the balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A grove of bamboo release 35% more oxygen than an equivalent stand of trees.
2) Biodiversity – I am not aware of anyone living INSIDE the culms as these are essentially hermetic. That said, like any reforestation or plantation, there is always a biodiversity element that follows increated biomass of any tree or grass. So yes, there will be a whole ecosystem of animals living off and in the bamboo groves. The main reason for this is that the leaves of the bamboo are extremely rich in nutrients, so insects each the leaves, birds eat the insects, larger predators may come to feast on birds.
3) Erosion control: so as much as you can see the enormous biomass ABOVE ground, there is an almost equally large biomass UNDER ground (actually it’s about 60%). That underground root system, called the rhyzome has a unique feature which makes it a formidable ally against landslides and erosion in general. The rhyzome, is “programmed” to find OTHER bamboo clumps in its vicinity and they reach out toward each other under ground. This means that one clump that may appear distinct at one point, with another one that may be 30 feet away, will actually start to become ONE plant as their underground root system joins hands. This acts of joining hands means that not only the soil around the immediate clump is protected from a dense web under the clump, but this web extends far and wide toward other clumps. This results in a large underground tapestry of rhyzome roots and that is what keeps the soil from eroding.
Thanks for the questions, Janis. Hope that deep dive into Bamboo-land is helpful.
Ben, I really apreciate all this information about Bamboo and how it can be so useful for its positive effect on reducing carbon emissions, among its many other uses. It really is an amazing plant, I had no idea. It must be so rewarding to work on such a meanful project? something that can really work towards making a very positive inpact in the health of our planet. I am glad you are able to work remotely from your little piece of paradise in Mexico, eventhough it is not ideal. Beautiful photos, I am now looking forward to the next installment.
Hey Gilda,
Glad you enjoyed. Yes, without wanting to sound like an evangelist, bamboo is very much one of the key solutions we have at our disposal to make a dent on carbon emissions. Unfortunately, there are big lobbies aligned with the lumber industry as well as a natural bias born out of ignorance about tree reforestation. The difference in carbon sequestration between trees and bamboo is no contest, bamboo wins every time. Stay tuned for the next milestone, which will be planting 650 hectares or over 1200 acres with 130,000 plants. As things are shaping up, it looks like we will be working with multiple indigenous tribes. Should make for great pics.
Ben
Very interesting and oh so complete explanation of your bamboo work. I enjoyed reading all the comments and responses as well.
You are doing impressive work, my brother!
Love you for everything ❤
awww… thanks Soph…
And you get the grand prize of the first person in the family to read and comment. Now next time somebody asks “what is it you actually do??”, I’ll tell them… ask sophie!
OK probably more about bamboo than you ever wanted to know, but… the indigenous angle adds yet another interesting dimensions that make this a super cool project.
ton frere…
Bisous
What a fantastic project with so much beneficial outcomes for everyone. Well done!
Thank you!
Ben
This is wonderful. There are few things that have absolutely no downsides, but planting bamboo seems to be one of them. From reforesting the land to providing the indigenous peoples with decent work—and carbon offsets as a huge incentive to provide funding while cleaning up our air—this is so inspiring. And exactly what we need right now in the midst of these challenging times. Thank you for the good work that you’re doing that benefits all of us.
Well thanks Laurel. Glad you like this update of my Philippines adventures. What is of course so interesting is the notion of “in the midst of these challenging times”.
We, in the West, are focused on several current crises – the Covid crisis of course, but also the societal crises, both political and social, about how to respond to the pandemic and how to get the “shut down economies” to re-open safely.
But of course if you consider life from the perspective of the indigenous tribes involved in our work, the “challenging times” refers to something different. if you take the “short” view of the last 20 years, then the challenging times refer to the disruptive civil war that has claimed many lives and has kept Mindanao from participating in the dramatic economic gains made all over Southeast Asia over the past 2 decades.
And if you take the longer view, as our indigenous colleagues are prone to do, they their “challenging times” has to do with 7 decades of marginalization and deforestation that has rendered their forests, the very heart of their societal and economic systems, almost inexistant. From their perspective, “challenging times” refers to a daily grind to reduce poverty and hunger. Covid is a crisis, but just one more thing to deal with, as hunger and poverty were there before and will be there even after COVID is brought under some kind of control. Now that Mindanao has been almost fully deforested, what remains is vulnerability to extreme weather events that are occurring ever more frequently and with ever more force.
So yes, “challenging times” indeed. On multiple levels and with differing “angles”.
The good news is: bamboo solves it all – including the issue of disaster resilience and reintegration of “war returnees”…
Ben
This is such a great initiative, Ben! For the longest time, I overlooked the versatility of bamboo, until I went to Hong Kong and saw those sets of bamboo scaffolding that have helped build the city’s high-rise buildings. They’re even more resistant to typhoons than regular metal scaffolding. Since the first time I learned about carbon trade I have always been intrigued. It would be great if countries with vast rain forests like Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Paraguay and others really use this scheme to leverage their position in the world’s economy, as opposed to following the footsteps of those that have had their forests cleared for industries. I really hope that bamboo can significantly improve the lives of those people in Mindanao, so others in the country and beyond can learn and do the same thing.
Bama thank you for your thoughtful comments.
Nice to read that you have become bamboo convinced, since Hong Kong.. The more one looks at applications for bamboo around the world, the more astonishing it becomes to recognize the very wide range of uses for this strong, flexible grass. From construction to textile, to bio fuel, to any kind of decorative elements that are an alternative to wood, to bicycles, charcoal and so many more.
Quite right about the opportunity for large countries like Indonesia and Brazil that have suffered years of deforestation, to turn to bamboo for reforestation and carbon offsets. Both Indonesia and Brazil have very large bamboo called Guadua which is native and would have significantly better carbon sequestration results than any tree based reforestation they may be considering. In the case of Brazil, as the recent mega fires show, man”s best attempt to reforest with trees could be brought to zero at the next large fire. Not so for bamboo whose underground rhizome system would be the very first plant to grow back after a destructive fire. So what are they waiting for? That is a question for which I do not have an answer. It seems so obvious to me.
Ben
I have learned an immense amount from this post. I don’t know if I ever knew what you did, but now that I do, it’s impressive. I love that you know how to grow and harvest bamboo, but your renewal efforts and your training is what is so very needed now. Thank you for using your knowledge and your love of people to move in so many right directions. And thank you for helping people know what to do to sustain themselves in the future. I’m an admirer of yours, for sure.
Well thanks, Rusha… appreciate the accollades!
Reforestation in general is the existential challenge of the day, given where we are on the carbon emission reality… but it’s also particularly cool to be able to use tools, such as bamboo, that have both a massively better carbon sequestration impact AND can translate into so many products… Since imagining a world of lesser consumption is, sadly, a mirage, the next best thing is to satisfy the ever growing consuming needs of a growing global population by optimizing this amazing regenerative grass.
And the fact that we can do this in collaboration with indigenous populations that struggle to enter the global economy to address their day to day life needs, that’s the cherry on top!
Crossing fingers that external forces, such as Covid, do not derail all these efforts. I intend to be, like bamboo, flexible but resilient…
Ben
Ben, I am grateful for the work you are doing. As was stated above, global warming, climate change and loss of species diversity are global existential crises, and CO2 sequestration via reforestation is one of the key tools we can use to impact emissions. Your work is critical, timely, and important. I love the way that so many environmental, economic, and social justice elements are woven together in this initiative: reforestation, carbon sequestration, employment and economic sustainability for people living in poverty, indigenous rights, opportunities for women, transfer of capital from corporations/the developed world via carbon offsets, and so on.
While many North Americans wring their hands in despair, unsure of how to take action on the climate emergency, or funnel their efforts into small acts like refusing plastic straws, you are taking practical and effective action on a large scale. You are an inspiration to me!
Which carbon offset platform funds your Mindanao bamboo initiative? Since becoming aware of carbon offsets and how they work a few years ago, I have purchased carbon offsets through Gold Standard to offset the emissions from every flight I have taken. Is your project listed on Gold Standard?
One other point of interest: we have bamboo flooring throughout our home (in western Canada) and we love it.
Jude
Thank you Jude. You obviously fully “get” the scope of what we are trying to do and the multifaceted-ness (if there is such a word) of this project. Work in progress, of course.
The sale of carbon offset credits will be through a different standard, called VCS – the Voluntary Carbon Standard. Each standard has its own peculiarities and VCS is a good choice for us as it had precedent with bamboo related methodology and the company that created this standard, Verra Inc., seems to also “get it” and want to bring to market other types of pertinent standards. For instance, while it is now common place to monetize carbon removal, thereby making it possible financially for important reforestation to take place, a parallel “currency” does not yet exist for water. And yet, we all know that there is a harsh trajectory for water depletion in our collective future (and for some countries already today), thus there OUGHT to be a way of incentivizing the planting of biomass that has a positive impact on the quality and quantity of water. Bamboo does that. Bamboo culms act like mini water “savings accounts”. When the soil is moist, the culms absorb and retain up to 70% of their mass as water. And then when a drought season starts, the under-ground root system, called the rhizome, starts to signal the culms to slowly release their stored water banks. This, practically speaking, results in rivers that continue to flow longer, drought that is postponed… Long way to say that this whole area of “standards” that can be used to help deploy large scale financing is an important one.
Our project will thus be registered on VCS, not Gold Standard. The first priority is to launch the project de facto, and then as soon as we are on the other side of our first annual planting campaign, the work will start to get to VCS registry in 2021.
Hey keep buying those bamboo floors – tell your friends! The more demand for bamboo flooring, the better for me. A growing world demand for all things bamboo just makes my job easier to make the case of bamboo agro-forestry.
Thanks for the enthusiasm about our project!
Ben
I love this post!
Thank you!