Office Holders
Project Director: Bruce Gardiner
Bruce was born in Scotland but has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years. A graduate in Sociology, he later became an electrician and licensed electrical contractor. After 25 years of contracting, including a decade of installing solar electric systems, he retired in 2007 to follow his passion of bringing renewable energy to developing countries. Over the years he has volunteered in North Yemen, Nicaragua, Thailand, Haiti, Tanzania, Laos, Vietnam, Madagascar, and Myanmar. Other countries visited include China, Mongolia, India, Peru and Cuba. Bruce believes that "we're all in this together"; that all humanity shares a common fate, that wealth in one place is related to poverty in another, and to survive the coming challenges of climate change and peak oil, we all need to learn about each other and to equitably share the bounties of this unique planet. Bruce founded Solar Roots in 2010. |
Board of Directors:
Thida Win
Thida was born in Kawlin, Myanmar. She graduated from Mandalay University with a BSc in Physics in 1997. For many years she was a teacher in a monastic orphanage school. Being brought up in a small village, she has always had a desire to help farmers learn new methods and improve their standard of living. Joining Solar Roots in 2015, Thida has encouraged us to include new trainings on Natural Farming techniques such as biochar, mulching and compost. These demonstrations have proved very popular and are now a large part of our program. Being a Myanmar speaker and completely integrated into the culture, she is an invaluable liaison with local communities. |
Chris Polk
Chris is a native of Berkeley, a product of Berkeley public schools, Berkeley High, and UC Berkeley (BA in Architecture). In the 70s he lived in a small village in Guatemala, doing reconstruction in the wake of the 1976 earthquake. He built a Lorena stove in the village school, an early version of the wood conserving stoves being promoted today. In the 80s, he participated in the Bay Area Construction Brigade to Nicaragua, building housing for rural cooperatives. He has been a contractor for the last 25 years in Berkeley, focusing on energy efficiency and natural materials. He built the first Passive House remodel in California, and recently completed a straw bale cottage in Berkeley. |
Eric Svahn
Eric is from New Jersey and has lived in Berkeley since 1974. He has been a carpenter for most of his career, working for himself and also through the Carpenters Union hiring hall, but is retired now. For 20 years he worked at UC Berkeley doing laboratory and office remodeling. He was also the Union shop steward and a safety officer for his unit throughout most of his time there. During the mid '80s he also participated in the Bay Area Construction Brigade to Nicaragua, helping to build housing there. For many years he was also a union activist in the Carpenters Union working to promote democracy in the Union and preserve and protect worker's rights. |
Isa Ferrall
Isa is a native of North Carolina but has made Berkeley a home over the past few years. She is currently a PhD student at the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California Berkeley where she studies decentralized solar systems for energy access in East Africa. The picture on the right is from a solar training she attended and assisted with at the Strathmore University Solar Energy Research Center in Nairobi, Kenya during the summer of 2018. She has also worked on solar for rural electrification and development in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Tanzania. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, and rock climbing. |