Pacific Bamboo Resources

We are proud to introduce the members of our International Advisory Board.

• China

Dr. Gui Renyi
Department of Silviculture
Institute for Bamboo
Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University

Dr. Gui Renyi is Associate Professor at Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University in Lin’an, China. His work involves aspects of bamboo breeding and plantation management in one the most important bamboo regions of the world.

He also offers research and consulting work for the Bamboo Research Institute (BRI) of Zhejiang Forestry University, and Zhejiang Bamboo Industry Scientific Innovation & Service Center. Bamboo Research Institute was founded in 1990s and has contributed to bamboo industry development in Zhejiang and Fujian provinces. Zhejiang Bamboo Industry Scientific Innovation & Service Center was founded by the Zhejiang Provincial government in 2006 and effectively coordinates and integrates bamboo research resources in Zhejiang and for benefit elsewhere.

He is a graduate of Nanjing Forestry University.

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Dr. Hou Yong

Dr. Hou has studied renewable energy and social sustainable development for many years. His work includes technical and economic analysis of renewable energy, especially of biofuels and solar energy, with respect to its characteristics, dynamic processes and related opportunities for innovation. He has published many academic papers in journals and engaged IEEE international conferences regarding management science of energy and environment.

Yong graduated from University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. Before returning to university for his doctoral degree, Yong worked as an electronic engineer for 8+ years and successfully founded and managed a computer service company in Shanghai, China with an annual revenue of $13 million. From 2001, Yong chose to step beyond this business to pursue renewable energy systems and industry development and connect more deeply efforts to resolve issues of environment and global warming.

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• India

Mr. Arun Kumar

Mr. Arun Kumar has been working as an information manager and editor for the past three decades with various organizations in India, his native country, and other places. Mr. Kumar’s association with bamboo started in 1995, when he was hired as a consulting editor with the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR), then the Bamboo and Rattan Research Network of the International Development Research Centre, Canada. He worked with INBAR for a number of years drafting INBAR’s first publication policy, and editing and supervising the production of most of INBAR’s publications till mid-2000.

Since 2000, Mr. Kumar has been working as a freelance editor and publications consultant, based in Bangalore, India. He is currently heading the INBAR-CIBART Documentation Centre, set up jointly by INBAR and the Centre for Indian Bamboo Resource and Technology (CIBART). He was one of the reviewers of the global assessment report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

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Mr. Krishna Kumar
Senior Scientific Officer
National Mission on Bamboo Applications

Mr. Krishna Kumar serves within the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and is engaged with assessment, quantification and monitoring of vegetation areas (especially bamboo), using remote sensing and GIS/GPS techniques. This work involves experience with projects of Information Technology for Sustainable Agriculture, utilizing the modern tools of networking, programming, data capture (remote sensing and ground based), data analysis and modeling based on GIS.

Mr. Kumar is presently working on construction & structural applications of bamboo, particularly on advancement in structural engineering and the development of bamboo composites for lightweight, durable and aesthetic construction for many applications. This work promotes the use of bamboo and bamboo-based composite materials for different construction techniques and setting of benchmarks of quality of construction, functionality, strength, safety and aesthetics.

His academic studies have included bachelor of science & computer applications and masters of computer applications & business administration.

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• Philippines

Mr. Rogelio N. Bibal

Mr. Bibal is a community leader of Baguio City, Philippines and Recipient of the 2004 National Farmers Award for Panay Integrated Model Farm of Western Visayas. A graduate of the Central Luzon State University majoring in Inland Fisheries Management and Aquaculture, he is a farm scientist whose studies pursue sustainable agriculture models and methods including bamboo cultivation and usage.

Mr. Bibal is an inaugural Board member of the Bamboo Network of the Philippines (BamvbooPhil) and has represented PBR at the 2009 World Bamboo Congress, convened in Bangkok, Thailand and numerous other events and gatherings throughout the region.

An accomplished visual artist, Mr. Bibal has served as Project Coordinator in the Technology Resource Center in Makati, Project Officer and artist in a mapping and planning project of Benguet, and as art consultant for product design and development of handmade paper with Plan International, Baguio and the Philippine Ecological Network.

His artistic creations frequently showcase innovation and expressive usage of bamboo materials.

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We are proud to introduce the members of our Northwest Advisory Board.

Brian Arnold
Project Manager
Schultz Miller, Seattle, Washington

Brian manages the construction process for complex, custom residences as a project manager for Schultz Miller, a general contractor based in Seattle. He is involved in the process of architecture, engineering and interior design, working with consultants, vendors and contractors worldwide.

As a committee member of the AIA Seattle Custom Residential Architects Network, Brian is dedicated to promoting public awareness of the value of working with an AIA architect for residential design projects.

Brian is also a member of the Congress of Residential Architecture, a grassroots organization of builders and architects dedicated to improving the practice of residential design and construction in the Pacific Northwest.

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Paul Crane, ASLA, B.L.A., M.A.
Environmental Planner, Sustainability Coordinator, Landscape Architect
City of Everett, Washington

As a licensed Landscape Architect, member of the American Society of Landscape Architects, and a past member of the American Planning Association, Paul brings over twenty years of regional and international professional design and planning experience in the private and public sectors. His work has included comprehensive environmental analysis and design solutions for: Ecological, Terrestrial and Cultural Restoration Plans, contributing to Environmental Impact Statements / Biological Reviews and Assessments, permit applications, industrial facility master plans, commercial development, endangered species habitat related projects, conceptual land development plans, complex interagency and tribal land use negotiations, permitting applications, project collaboration and mitigation design.

Paul wrote the City of Everett LEED/LID draft ordinance and co-authored the final ordinance that requires all new city buildings to meet LEED Silver standards.

In 1995 and 1996, Paul received the King County Economic Development Council Diamond Award winner for Site Commute Reduction, Boeing Renton Facilities. Has was honored by former Seattle Mayor Paul Schell for work as Chairperson of the I-90 Development Advisory Committee and-Co-Author of the I-90, Seattle Corridor, Development Policies. And, received a Design award for the first bio-engineered bank restoration design on the Duwamish River, City of Tukwilla.

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Kirk is a small forest landowner with a 30-acre tree farm near Oakville, Washington where he manages a regenerating forest and develops experimental agroforestry systems. Kirk has worked on strategies for combining rural economic development with environmental enhancement in the Pacific Northwest for over 10 years. In 1996 Kirk founded Permaculture West, a non-profit organization that provided educational and training programs on sustainable forest and farm management for private landowners.

In 1999 Kirk worked with a private fisheries consultancy on Critical Areas Ordinance issues pertaining to farming and riparian areas in the Skagit Valley. In 2000 Kirk helped found the Small Forest Landowner Office in the Washington State Department of Natural Resources where he assisted family forest landowners across the state in finding financial and technical assistance. Kirk graduated from The Evergreen State College in 1995 with a B.S. in Sustainable Resource Management. His professional affiliations include the Washington Farm Forestry Association, Forest Guild and Family Forest Foundation.

Read Kirk’s article describing his bamboo agroforestry farm projects at the Wild Thyme Farm in Oakville, WA.

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Ron Harris-White, M.P.A.
Managing, Special Projects
Seattle Parks & Recreation
City of Seattle, Washington

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Derek Hoshiko
Co-founder, Web Collective, Inc.
Board Member, Seattle Good Business Network

Derek worked to create BALLE Seattle, the local network of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, and has more recently collaborated on the emergence of the Seattle Good Business Network.  He is also a co-founder of Web Collective, Inc., a  Seattle-based employee-owned cooperative.

Derek considers himself an activist entrepreneur and believes strongly that business can be successful and infused with values. He strives to create lasting change in himself and in the groups, and organizations he touches through daily practices aimed to increase consciousness in every action.

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Kay Howe
Director, Community, Arts, Recreation and Education (CARE) Coalition

Kay brings a wealth of experience as an organic farmer, migratory beekeeper, alternative builder, educator, community activist and artist.  Spanning communities and cultures from Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest and northern California, and forests of Borneo and Indonesia, her teaching and expertise engages groups and communities on projects of environmental education, ecological restoration and sustainable community development.

When not working with NGOs and schools in Indonesia, Kay directs the development of the CARE Coalition, based in Concrete, WA. CARE works with local PNW communities, with an emphasis on youth involvement, to provide facilities and opportunities for the arts, recreation, education and sustainable development.

Read more about her work here.

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Ben Kaufman
Principal, GreenWorks Realty

Ben is the Founder and Designated Broker of GreenWorks Realty managing over $60 Million in real estate transactions. Ben uses his vision and passion to promote GreenWorks Realty’s mission to improve the livability and sustainability of our community.

Ben holds a BA in Urban Planning from the University of Washington, a Professional Commercial Real Estate Certificate from the University of Washington, a Permaculture Design Certificate from Crystal Waters, Australia, and a Certified New Home Sales Professional Certificate. Prior to founding GreenWorks, Ben co-founded Co-Opportunities Northwest, a 2001 conference to identify and advance emerging trends in sustainable community development in Puget Sound and participated in the Governor’s Sustainability Roundtable in 2002.

Ben has been active in low impact land development and marketing and selling real estate for 15 years and recently retired as the Treasurer of the Northwest Eco-Building Guild and is the Board Chair of the Seattle/King County Built Green program and a board member of the Master Builders Association. Ben is also a manager and investor of a recently permitted 32-home sustainable community development in Newcastle, WA.

Ben’s recent achievements include drafting the Environmental Certification checkbox additions to his local MLS (Northwest Multiple Listing Service) and authoring the first study using MLS data to compare environmentally certified homes to non-certified homes in the United States. Ben also helped develop GreenWorks Realty’s 14 clock-hour state approved class, Green Agent Essentials, for local Real Estate Agents. The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish County recently awarded Ben with a “Built Green™ Pioneer Award” at the 2009 Built Green Conference in Seattle.

Ben’s other passions are ski mountaineering, rock climbing, and time in nature with his wife Heather.

Email

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Patrick Mazza
Research Director, Climate Solutions

Patrick has written on ecological sustainability issues for nearly three decades as an environmental journalist and technology policy analyst. A founding member of the Climate Solutions team, Mazza has written a number of papers aimed at improving public understanding of climate change science and accelerating clean energy development.

Patrick’s key papers on emerging clean energy systems include The Smart Energy Network: Electricity’s Third Great Revolution; Powering Up the Smart Grid; Carrying the Energy Future: Comparing Hydrogen and Electricity for Transmission, Storage and Transportation, and The New Harvest: Biofuels and Wind Power for Rural Revitalization and National Energy Security.

He is author and co-author of many publications, including with Guy Dauncey Stormy Weather: 101 Solutions to Global Climate Change (New Society, 2001) and more recently, Building the Biocarbon Economy: How the Northwest Can Lead.

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Melanie Mercer, M.A.
Development Associate, Pacific Northwest Region
The Wilderness Society