Collaboration for Long-Term Sustainability
Compilation of Project Plans, Dispatches, Announcements & Updates
This 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.
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.
All Dispatches (from Peter Berg), Reports (from Clay
Plager-Unger) and Bioregional Education Reports (from Ramon Cedeno Loor)
are indexed here.
Reports, 2006
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.
Dispatches, 2006
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.
Reports, 2005
Riccardo Clemente
held Solar Energy workshops and built a Solar Hot water with local
contractors Heater in January.
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.
Dispatches, 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.
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.
Ecuador Reports, 2004
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.
Ecuador Dispatches, 2004
Peter returned in early June, 2004, to the Eco-City
project in Ecuador. He began sending dispatches soon after.
Ecuador Reports, 2003
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
Ecuador Dispatches, 2003
February, 2003. Peter Berg has sent a comprehensive
dispatch, first of 2003, which reviews Planet Drum's accomplishments
and visions over the past five years in Ecuador.
November, 2003 Peter Berg sent his first dispatch from a new visit to
Bahia de Caraquex, Natives
are Harder
<<<<====>>>>
Jobs Listing
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.
<<<<====>>>>
Guayaquil Green City 2003
Peter Berg gave a presentation in Ecuador (21 Feb, 2003). This talk
represents the latest strategic thinking on creating sustainable
bioregional activities.
Ecuador Dispatches, 2003
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 has been busy organizing the projects in Bahia and introducing Brian to
everyone. On the side, he composed these dispatches.
Reports from Planet Drum Staff 2002
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.
Dispatches from Ecuador, 2002
Several volunteers have joined Peter back in Ecuador to
continue the revegetation work amidst downpours and mud slides.
Dispatches from Ecuador, Aug/Sep
2001
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.
Reports by Planet Drum Staff, Spring
2001
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.
Dispatches from Ecuador, Jan/Feb 2001
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 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.
Model Law for
Eco-Municipalities
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.
Letter from Patricio Tamariz April
1999
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.
