West Palm Beach, Florida

“Bamboo – Uniting the Continents” – The 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Bamboo Society, is being hosted by the Florida-Caribbean Chapter and Mounts Botanical Garden.

October in Florida is paradise at its finest with sunny days and cool evenings enjoyed in your bamboo garden, a must for all the bamboo aficionados to descend upon West Palm Beach and meet up with fellow lovers of bamboo.

Mounts Botanical Garden will be the venue location for speakers- presentations – vendors. Mounts is conveniently located near West Palm International Airport and a limited number of rooms have been secured at a special “American Bamboo Rate” at the nearby Marriott, West Palm Beach.
The deadline to book at the group rate is September 30, 2013. However, the deadline date applies only if all of our reserved rooms have not yet been booked.
If our reserved block of rooms are booked before September 30th, the regular room rate is more than double our group rate.
Please book your room(s) as early as possible.

Find all info here: http://www.tropicalbamboo.org/abs_conference2013_signup.htm

The ABS Board Meeting will be held Thursday October 10th at the Marriott. Hotel check-ins, Registrations and a Happy Hour Meet and Greet will also take place

Friday, October 11th will open the conference at Mounts Botanical Garden. Highlighted Presenters and Masters in the craft of bamboo will be Simon Velez and Marcelo Villegas of Colombia, South America.

Saturday, October 12th will begin with morning presentations and include an afternoon field trip to nearby Tropical Bamboo Nursery & Gardens for a bamboo tour and propagation workshop before the evening dinner party (Bamboopalooza!) held in the garden.

Exciting plans for an optional Friday evening dinner gathering and a fun excursion on Sunday are in the works.

Meeting Location: http://www.mounts.org/
West Palm Beach, FL

When
Thu Oct 10 – Sun Oct 13, 2013
Where
Mounts Botanical Garden, West Palm Beach, FL (map)

Tom Harlow’s Pictures from the ABS2012 National Conference:
https://plus.google.com/photos/114387865956301729476/albums/5794868394758305281

Gib Cooper’s Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151176348477002.479007.23857807001&type=1

Carole Meckes’s Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3868135141431.2139606.1220140981&type=3

These Soe Ker Tie Houses were built on the Thai Burmese border for Karen refugee orphans.

Plywerk Inc. is a small company in Portland that mounts your artwork on bamboo/maple panels. It started with a good idea 5 years ago, and has evolved into a blossoming bamboo business with 15 employees. The bamboo wave is upon us.

News Article: http://www.oregonlive.com/small-business/index.ssf/2012/03/startup_portland-based_plywerk.html

http://www.abc26.com/news/newswithatwist/wgno-bamboo-gardens-not-in-china-but-in-louisiana-20120320,0,7841903.story

Measure the diameter of each bamboo species in your area that measures over 1 1/2 inches. Measure at about four feet above the ground.

Data for the ABS Big Bamboo Contest must be submitted on or before August 1, 2012 for inclusion in this years competition, and a report to be available at the annual meeting.

Send your list of species and sizes to: frabin39@hotmail.com or mail it to : Frasier Bingham, 407 Lakeshore Drive, Bainbridge, Georgia 39819.

Lets make a go of this, Regards, Frasier

The article also cites another bamboo forestation project in 1996 by INBAR, which successfully reclaimed land depleted by the brick industry in Allahabad, India. In 2007, the project won the Alcan Prize for Sustainability for its lasting impact.

The certification has catalyzed the development of a revised carbon accounting methodology for bamboo in a unified effort between INBAR, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University (ZAFU) and China Green Carbon Foundation (CGCF) in order to ease the accreditation process for other organizations interested in getting paid to grow bamboo.

Watch a video on the Bamboo for Africa program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1FUk9-BUvU

Link to the article: http://forestindustries.eu/content/world%E2%80%99s-first-bamboo-carbon-offset-credits-issued-under-vcs

TruBamboo, a 9-year old company producing bamboo housewares, has recently hired Dan Demicell who doubles as the company’s General Manager and Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. TruBamboo manufactures their products in China from Moso using FDA-approved adhesives. They have an impressive list of international retailers including Publix, Target, Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Crate and Barrel. However, the company’s growth has faced headwind from a struggling US economy and as result has been forced to cut prices in an attempt to increase sales.