The co-founder of Bamboo Living, David Sands, just returned from the International Bamboo Symposium in Colombia and the National Bamboo Seminar in Brazil where he was featured as a speaker at both events.

Sands, who is a custom Hawaiʻi architect, presented a strategy for using bamboo construction and bamboo-based building materials as an important tool for fighting climate change.

According to the Hawaiʻi-based Bamboo Living company, every acre of bamboo put into production saves up to 12 acres of trees from being cut. The company also cited deforestation as a major cause of climate change.

According to Bamboo Living, bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant and as such could be the fastest natural way to get carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. “The increased level of CO2 in our atmosphere is the driver behind climate change; therefore, bamboo has an important role to play in protecting us from the severe weather and ocean level rise impacts of climate change,” company representatives said in a press release.

Bamboo Living celebrates 20 years of construction in bamboo this year, and touts itself as “the first and only company in the world” to obtain building code approval for bamboo construction in the US.

Bamboo Living buildings, designed by Architect Sands, embody a “graceful tropical estate aesthetic yet have withstood multiple hurricanes with 173 mph winds,” company representative said.

Sands is also the chairman of Bamazon, a Brazilian company that is a recently formed joint venture with partner Mark Neeleman, cofounder of Azul Airlines, Brazil’s third largest airline. Sands co-founded Bamazon and Bamboo Ecologic Corporation, the US partner in the joint venture, as a means to implement his carbon sequestration strategy.

According to Bamboo Living, Bamazon recently signed a supply agreement for bamboo with the largest sustainably managed forest in Brazil with over 500,000 acres of Forest Stewardship Council and Rainforest Alliance Certified forest.

Bamboo Living has designed and manufactured over 350 homes and numerous resorts in Hawaiʻi and around the world.

Photo credit: Bamboo Living.

Photo credit: Bamboo Living.

Photo credit: Bamboo Living.

Photo credit: Bamboo Living.

David Sands. Photo credit: Bamboo Living.