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Over the last decade PDF has established a field office to carry out pertinent bioregional activities. We planted native trees in a barrio that was destroyed by mudslides, thereby controlling erosion and creating habitat for indigenous animals in a “wild park” only a few blocks from the city center. Since then we have continued to extend revegetation efforts every year on eroded hillsides along the Rio Chone. Saplings are grown in a large greenhouse and have been planted in more than two dozen sites. PDF also carries out an annual after-school Bioregional Education Program (BEP) for secondary school pupils. There are opportunities for future projects involving renewable energy, water supply, household ecology education, community education and outreach, and others. We are constructing the Bioregional Sustainability Institute to provide more advanced students with a Master of Bioregional Sustainability Certificate. Compilation of Project Plans, Dispatches, Announcements & UpdatesThis page is the central index to the materials which document the ongoing collaboration between the Eco-City of Bahia de Caraquez in Ecuador and Planet Drum Foundation, planetary citizens who may be separated by national boundaries but share a common devotion to a more natural agenda in our social relations. Below are brief descriptions of the Reports, Dispatches, Model Laws, City Plans, Education Plans, Mandates, etc. by year and also with links. The index of materials below shows the most recent items at the top. For a historical perspective, start at the bottom of the page and view the materials in reverse order.Quick Updates<<<===>>>Index, 2010Clay Plager-Unger and new Field Manager Orlando continue revegetation projects. The Bioregional Education classes will resume in May with three classrooms this year. [Top]<<<===>>>Index, 2009Peter Berg visited for the 10th Anniversary of of the Eco-City Resolution. Clay Plager-Unger currently continues as Project Manager. Jaime Andraide worked as the Field Manager during the first six months of the year. Ramon Cedeno Look continued as the main Bioregional Education teacher, but additionally classes were expanded to include two other concurrent classes taught by Paola Divita and Fabiola Coello. Index, 2008Clay Plager-Unger and Jaime Andraide continue revegetation projects, expanding the number of sites and the greenhouse. Clay also continues exploring the land for the Bioregional Institute. Ramon Cedeno Loor has a new Bioregional Education Class with students from the previous Advanced class acting as assistants. The Bioregionalism textbook is updated. There are many pictures of new and old sites and of the education classes. Peter Berg's Dispatches include Bahia's Eco-City Mandate 2008,
discussions about Ecuador's new constitution
and its “Rights of Nature,” In January Clay Plager-Unger came to
Bahia to be Planet Drum's Field Projects Manager and joined Ramon Cedeno
Loor, the Bioregional Education Manager. During this year Jaime Andraide, a
local who is an expert Ecuadorian forestry, became the Field Manager for the
Revegetation projects in Bahia. Clay worked closely with Jaime and included both
their work in his Reports. All Clay's and Ramon's Reports as well as
Peter Berg's Dispatches are indexed here. In March, 2006, Patrick Wylie replaced Heather
Crawford as Planet Drum's Field Projects Manager in Ecuador. Ramon
Cedeno Loor replaced Valentina Caminati as the new Field Bioregional
Education Manager. In November, 2006, Dan Robbins replaced Patrick and
he and other volunteers continued sending updates on the work in
Eco-Ecuador. Peter returned to the Eco-City project in
Ecuador in March and later in September, 2006. He sent dispatches to report on
the project's progress as seen through his eyes. Riccardo Clemente Heather Crawford began training to become the new Field Projects
Manager in February 2005. Kristen Lansdale joined her in April to head the
new Bioregional Education Program. Renée Portanova, previous Field Projects Manager, left at the end of
March 2005. Peter returned
to the Eco-City project in Ecuador in early February, 2005. His first
Dispatch arrived near the end of February. He sent four Dispatches during
this year. Renée Portanova arrived in Bahia in late January and after
working as a volunteer, became the new Field Projects Manager after Brian left
in May. Her and other volunteers' reports for 2004 are here. Peter returned in early June, 2004, to the Eco-City
project in Ecuador. He began sending dispatches soon after. The first
Dispatch is the often-reprinted essay Learning
to Partner with a Life-Place. Peter Berg and Elise Braaten collaborated on a neighborhood oriented educational
curriculum that will be launched June 2004 by Planet Drum Foundation
in Bahia de Caraquez. In January 2003 Planet Drum hired Brian Teinert as
the Field Projects Manager for the Eco-Bahia Project. He sent Reports of
activities during 2003 and part of 2004 We started out the new year with one volunteer, Simon Winch, working on the Eco Ecuador
Project. In early January Peter arrived, and about a week later Brian
Teinert, who has
been hired as chief of operations for Planet Drum's projects, arrived to carry on
the work. Peter was busy organizing the projects in Bahia and introducing Brian to
everyone. In mid-January Peter sent a comprehensive
dispatch which reviews Planet Drum's accomplishments
and visions over the past five years in Ecuador. He returned to Ecuador in
November and continued sending Dispatches. There are work opportunities that
include volunteer and paid positions for people who would like to
contribute their energy and time in collaboration with the Eco Ecuador
project. Peter Berg gave a presentation in Ecuador (21 Feb, 2003). This talk
represents the latest strategic thinking on creating sustainable
bioregional activities. Fall 2002 Ecuador volunteers included: Jeff Goddin, Kristen Ford, Chris
Haaf,
Sara Gomez (& Matt), Rita Higgins, Simon Winch, and others for short times (Justine
and Maggie, etc.) Jeff continued to send reports, and Kristin,
Chris, Sara and Matt, and Simon also sent reports. Several volunteers have joined Peter back in Ecuador to
continue the revegetation work amidst downpours and mud slides. These
Dispatches include a Statement of Intent to revegetate eroded hillsides,
and a Management Plan for Fanca Produce Composting. Peter returned to Ecuador to continue the work on Eco
City. He continued the tradition of sending back dispatches for his
faithful readers on the web site. An addenda to the Reports by Amy Jewel Amy Jewel worked in Ecuador this Spring (2001). She sent two reports that follow up on the events set in motion with the Eco
Committee's proposals and subsequent Public Meetings held in February.
Final version approved Feb. 15, 2001 by the Public Meeting. in English and
Spanish. An addenda to Berg's Dispatches Peter Berg returned to Ecuador in January and February, 2001, to continue work on
the Revegetation project and to participate in the growing Eco-Ciudad
movimiento in Bahia de Caraquez. These are his reports from the scene. The
series of meetings that Peter describes is important because it represents
the institutionalization of an ecological agenda that has developed over
the past two years. Peter also lays out numerous opportunities for individuals or groups to
contribute either through volunteer work, or donation of materials and
supplies, or monetary contributions to the success of this experiment in
creating green cities. Planet Drum Foundation launched an Eco-Bahia
Ecuador Support Group at an event in San Francisco December 8, 2000.
Representatives of the Ecuador consulate and Planet Drum welcomed the
gathering and reported on the progress in the Revegetation Project and the
Eco City planning. The success of the event was in no small part due to
the donations from local eco-friendly
firms, and the several volunteers
whose work provided a wonderful time for all. Claire Dibble sent two reports "from the
ground" on the Eco City hard work of planting the hillsides, frantic
about the coming rains and with fervent wishes that the native vegetation
will hold when the storms come this winter. Planet Drum staffers Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft returned to Bahia in early September 2000 for further
work in various areas of urban sustainability. These dispatches
tell the status of their efforts in the hillside revegetation, water
supply, alternative energy and other projects. The City of San Francisco adopted a resolution commending Ciudad Bahia
de Caraquez of Ecuador on becoming an Eco-City, or "Cuidad Ecologica". Carey Knecht writes, "I joined up with Planet Drum and the Eco-Bahia project because I was deeply
inspired by the task of integrating nature and a city. That is a task that
requires not only reforesting one hillside, but actually changing culture.
..." In Carey's reports from
February-March, 2000, we learn how she attempted to carry out this
vision. On his third visit to Bahia, in February 2000, Peter Berg opened Planet Drum's local office and inaugurated
the Revegetation Project, to restore the hillsides devastated by the 1998 El Nino
mudslides. Peter sent six dispatches that
reported on this work. In order to get a
first hand view of the situation since the Eco-Gathering, Peter made a second visit to Bahia
in August, 1999, accompanied by Judy Goldhaft, Planet Drum's Managing Director.
They wanted to survey the positive activities that the Bahians had already
started, what support they needed, and how
their projects could be tied to large-scale infrastructure improvements. The
resulting report by Peter Berg outlines the
Planet Drum proposal. Out of the meetings that Peter had in Ecuador came the following By-Law declaring
Bahia de Caraquez an Eco-City. We offer it here as a model that other municipalities may use in developing
language appropriate to their specific bioregions. Patricio reports
on subsequent activities after Peter left to return home at the end of
March, 1999. Includes photos of the first plantings in what would become
the revegetation project. Peter Berg went to Ecuador in February, 1999 to attend the International Eco-Gathering and
help the local ecologistas organize in the midst of natural disasters that have beset the
Bahia de Caraquez region over the past two years. We anxiously awaited for these
seven dispatches that Peter sent back over the two-week period. These reports
from 1999 illuminate the genesis of this unique collaborative effort.
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