International Field, Liaison Category

Emcee: Debra Poneman

Our next inductee is Mr. Ben Sandzer-Bell, Chairman of CO2 Bambu.

Born in France, raised in the Los Angeles area, schooled in Washington DC and Japan, Ben has lived and worked in Europe, the US, Japan and South America. He currently divides his time between Chicago and Nicaragua.

Ben worked 25 years as an aerospace executive for companies including Boeing and Chicago area AAR Corporation where he was Vice President of Strategy.

Ben is known for having led a green awareness movement for his aerospace company, which culminated in it becoming the first “Carbon Neutral” US aerospace firm through the purchase of carbon credits to source its energy from wind.

Ben is a frequent speaker on the topic of Green Aviation, and he launched his company CO2 BAMBU in 2006, which is a large bamboo-based reforestation project in Nicaragua.

CO2 BAMBU: Highlights

• CO2 BAMBU was started in Chicago, as a “triple bottom line” business, with a social objective of contributing to environmentally sound forestry practices, social integration and economic development, in Central America.
  
• CO2 BAMBU is preparing to do the “trade” in “Cap and Trade”, the carbon emission reduction mechanism that will be adopted by the Obama Administration.
  
• They completed a first pilot of 400 farmers in Nicaragua who planted 400 Acres of eroded soil with bamboo, to start a national campaign of reforestation with bamboo. The accepted national plan is to reforest 10,000 acres per year over the next 5 years.
  
• CO2 BAMBU contributes to poverty eradication by bringing to market low cost bamboo housing solutions, which have the added benefit of replacing traditional concrete, wood and steel structures that have significantly larger carbon footprints.
  

For these efforts and more we are honored to induct Mr. Sandzer-Bell into the Environmental Hall of Fame.