Ecuador Dispatches, September 2000
Planet Drum staffers returned to Bahia in early September 2000 for further
work in various areas of urban sustainability. These are the latest dispatches
telling the status of their efforts in the hillside revegetation, water
supply, alternative energy and other projects.
Index of Sep 2000 Dispatches
[Most recent dispatches at top of list]
<<<<====>>>>
September 27, 2000
By Peter Berg
When we started the planting project in Maria Auxiliadora, it was clear
that this could be a testing ground for ideas about recovering eroded land
with major potential locally if not throughout coastal Ecuador. Here are
some of the factors that make work on only a few hectares of earth so
significant. To start with, it consists of either denuded small cliffs or
piled up mounds of mainly sub-surface clay soil remaining from nearly the
worst kind of mud slides. Whatever works here can work anywhere where
there are conditions as bad or in less disturbed places along the coast.
The only exception is extreme land slippage that has left perpendicular
faces ten to nearly a hundred meters high that require terracing (or might
be better left to wear down and round out on their own over time). The
land area that needs attention and is treatable with our revegetation
method may be as much as one-third of the entire coastal region of
Ecuador.
All of the plants used in the project are natives of the indigenous dry
neotropical forest. None of them came from more than a few miles distant,
so they are as well adapted to the site as possible. They were chosen to
represent each stage of natural succession in this forest system. Paja
macho grass is one of the primary plants, algorrobo and muyullo bushes are
from the second stage, and Ferdnan Sanchez, guayacan and hobo trees are
found in the climax forest. Some other brush and trees species including
cascol will continue to be planted during the next rainy season starting
in December. Plants from each stage play a different role in erosion
reduction. Paja macho grass causes rain to run off the steepest slopes to
help prevent water absorption into the soil, algorrobo and muyullo can
also grow in steep areas and they send down roots to grip the ground, and
Ferdnan Sanchez, hobo and guayacan trees put deeper roots into the subsoil
as they mature over the longest period of time for any of these species.
The forest that results from the mixture as soon as five years from now
(plus native volunteers such as the vigorous frutillo trees that already
dot the project site) will be a rich habitat for native birds and other
animals. (It seems a difficult stretch of imagination at this time, but we
will actually need to thin out some growth by then.) The whole ecosystem
will be an effective and interesting variation on the dry forest theme.
Then why isn't this called "reforestation"? Why insist on
calling it "revegetation" instead? The reasoning behind a
seemingly regressive choice of terms is that the natural indigenous forest
here is a wondrously diverse phenomenon. It can shift with near abruptness
from tall trees on the wet side of a hill to thorny brush only a few feet
across a knife-edged ridge to the dry side. The forest floor can range
from bare dust to spongy humus within a couple of steps. Tree species may
be stunted in one spot and overly large in another. Fern-like plants
requiring relatively high levels of moisture grow close enough to be seen
in the same glance as pole-shaped cacti that use little water, creating an
unnerving visual effect of mixed-up biomes. There are slender vines with
thorns growing on the sides that resemble spear points and are wider than
the diameter of the plant. Elegant white tree snails the size of cockles
climb along stems and branches everywhere. Lines of leaf-cutter ants each
bearing similar sized green pieces that are larger than themselves march
along like members of a flag-carrying precision musical band performing in
a stadium. Any attempt to duplicate what can be found in a few hectares of
native forest would have to be enormously painstaking and most likely
prohibitively expensive, if it could truly be accomplished at all. If one
can't actually recreate this remarkable forest, why puff up the endeavor
with the high-sounding term "reforestation"? It's like the
eco-hucksterism behind "ecoforestry" when it is used to describe
nothing more than plantation scaled agriculture with exotic commercial
species mimicking types found in different stages of natural succession
(tall coconut palm trees with shorter coffee plants with ground level
berries, or some similar concoction). Planet Drum's project is more
sensitive to native features than most planting efforts, and if its
methods were followed in all of the applicable eroded places they would
succeed in helping to eventually regenerate a significant part of the
indigenous coastal forest. But we will continue to be respectful of the
real thing and simply call it revegetation.
Yesterday (9/26) city engineer Ivan Aguirre drove me around the base of
the hills through Astillero barrio and Leonidas Plaza to make an initial
survey of land slippage from El Nino rains and the earthquake. We started
at the back of Armada (Navy) headquarters on a street named 3 de Noviembre
where Astillero begins. This spot also marks the end of the La Cruz area
that is the most threatened location near downtown Bahia de Caraquez. and
was rejected as a site for our revegetation project because the likelihood
of losing the entire hill top and sides in the next major land
perturbation is extremely high. It is a similar if less dramatic situation
at the highest point about 75 meters above the Armada building. The
purpose of the survey was to determine which areas could be treated
through the means used in Maria Auxiliadora. I judged the upper part as
not possible through planting alone and the lower as possible but
continuously imperiled by land slides above it. The total area for both
parts is about a hectare (2.47 acres). The next section along 3 de Noviembre
extending to a short street named Eugeno Santos and comprising about a
hectare and a half is nearly perpendicular from top to bottom and was
listed as not possible. In support of this determination, there are no
houses above the string of them immediately bordering that side of the
street. Just as my hopes for transposing our method from Maria Auxiliadora
to this barrio were failing, the next 4 to 5 hectares of hillside along 3
de Noviembre from a point before an unnamed side street with a pumping
station on the corner to the beginning of a curve in the road beyond is
completely remediable by planting native species alone. Similarly mixed
prospects continue to the end of Astillero and the beginning of houses in
Leonidas Plaza.
The main road turned left onto Sixto Durn Bellan boulevard but we took
a right and went on a dirt road to the top of a hill. Most of three to
four hectares on both sides were treatable through planting until the
crest where a perpendicular cliff rose from the roadside for twenty meters
above us. The opposite side of the road was at a slightly upward angle
that seemed to just drop away. Ivan got out and gestured for me to join
him there. The ground at our feet was step-like from land subsidence.
Suddenly the ground ended at the lip of a cliff that fell away more than
125 meters below us revealing all of the Astillero section we had just
driven through. It was a genuinely astonishing moment. Not only could we
clearly see the precipitously steep conditions that we had strained to
judge from below, but we were humbled by the magnitude of fallen earth
that started its slide two years ago from the point where we were
standing. "Did you hear it?" I asked Ivan. "What did it
sound like?" "Oh, at first it was so loud!" He put his
hands over his ears and made a hoarse creaking sound. "Then it went
shwoo-schwoo-schwoo for a long time." Now his hands repeated pressing
down movements in front of him and I could feel what he was describing in
my stomach as though I was on a roller coaster.
We drove back and through the flat El Toro neighborhood that is
actually the flood plain of a large creek that begins inland and sent a
flood of mud to level houses here before ending as new landfill in Rio
Chone. The survey should eventually include the whole creek watershed
coming into the river, and the rest of Leonidas Plaza to Kilometer Ocho
which makes up the greater planning area of Bahia de Caraquez. For now
there is sufficient evidence to begin making funding proposals for
revegetating a significant part of the potential slide area above the most
heavily populated sections.
A note on cultural adaptation as a two-way street. Yesterday a waiter
at El Capitan restaurant, an open-sided place on the bay front Malecon
favored by locals that specializes in hearty chicken dishes of several
types, gave me a choice of the typical fruit punch that is included in the
almuerzo lunch special or bottled water. Having just gotten over a
gastro-intestinal episode, I chose pure water and expected to pay extra
because anything not included in an almuerzo is usually charged
separately. I was happily surprised to only be billed the normal amount.
Today at another place named El Pepoteca, I passed on a beef almuerzo
offering and the waiter who knows me immediately suggested substituting
fish for the same reduced price. Normally no substitutions are possible.
They may seem small and inconsequential, but these gracious adjustments
in my favor were the opposite of what defensive visitors believe thinking
everyone is out to rob them. I was prompted to consider how many ways the
residents of Bahia have had to alter their expectations to deal with me,
other gringos, and even Ecuadorian outsiders. Speaking some English,
listening to bad Spanish, explaining conditions such as unreliable
electricity which they take with cooperative good humor, apologizing for
the lack of unfamiliar things that strangers might feel are essential,
tolerating loud laughter and finger pointing, or ignoring lack of
appropriate respect, or accepting inappropriate dress, or
.how many
other concessions are there? It is undoubtedly a longer list than the most
finicky outsiders can produce to complain about.
Which brings up the other side of cultural adaptation. It takes a
thorough regimen of new practices for newcomers from developed countries
to avoid becoming sick from contaminates in public water supplies. (See
the US Center for Disease Control web site for details that guarantee
Ecuador's safety from being overrun by hypochondriacs.) Not drinking
unboiled water and sticking to beverages that come from sealed containers
are obvious measures. Raw fruits and vegetables are suspect unless they
have a fairly thick outer skin that can be peeled away. Fresh salads are
notorious for causing problems. Whether or not brushing teeth is done with
bottled water depends on personal susceptibility. In case all of these
fail, it's always wise to carry a little of your own toilet paper.
<<<<====>>>>
September 22, 2000
By Peter Berg
Each trip to Bahia de Caraquez starts with ideas about what will happen
that become transformed in profound ways before the visit is over. Two
mutations in plans have occurred so far this time. Our revegetation
project has morphed into a proposed city park, and what began as a
tentative outline for an overall ecological city plan has become an action
document.
Vicente Leon of the city planning department visited Maria
Auxiliadora's erosion control cum urban wild corridor site with me
and together we walked out the courses for paths in an eventual park. A
high trail follows the ridge line and joins a lower trail running through
revegetation areas that will feature identification placards for native
species that are found or were planted there. Secondary paths from the
lower trail will loop over to ruin sites consisting of part of an
overturned house, a broken cement staircase, and a solitary leaning wall.
Vicente is preparing an official planning map for the Forest in the Ruins.
Planet Drum assistants Claire Dibble and Tony Mattei have started to
assess jobs such as clearing brush, building steps, grading parts of
trails that run across slopes, and using crushed rubble to cover paths in
some places.
Chief city planner Ramon Farias has agreed to help draft a proposed
ordinance authorizing a city park at the revegetation site. Jacob Santos
and I wrote a set of "whereas" points and a geographic
description of the park to go into the proposal. We expect the ordinance
to be batted back and forth several times between planning and legal
departments, and between them and the city council before it is approved.
Whatever happens next, this process has moved through the bureaucracy with
unexpected speed thus far.
The main reason for the park's easy success with the planning
department became clear during a dinner meeting Flor-Maria Duenas
generously hosted at her Casa Grande home that included the new mayor,
Patricio Tamariz, Nicola Mears, Keibo Oiwa (leading a group of 20 or so
Japanese student eco-tourists) and all five Planet Drum associates who are
here now. Ostensibly, we were there to review and modify the ecological
city plan outline that I had written which Jacob and Patricio had
translated into Spanish for this gathering. The mayor led us elsewhere
instead when the question came up of how community participation which is
essential in formulating a final plan document might evolve. He elaborated
on differences between the indigenous mountain people who started with a
thorough ecological plan that was worked out through community assemblies
in Canton Cotacachi (but has yet to be applied much to cities there), and
coastal people such as Bahians who are less culturally homogenous and in
his opinion more conflicted and less cooperative. (This contrast of
cultures between the mountains and the coast is at least as old as the
modern nation of Ecuador and continues to represent a formidable hurdle
for consensus on many issues.) Mayor Viteri next turned to the subject of
developing participation through each barrio in Bahia as well as elsewhere
in the municipalidad and suggested that there needed to be new voices who
were genuinely enthusiastic about urban sustainability practices and
issues. He accepts the need for citizen cooperation in designing a Bahia
de Caraquez eco-ciudad plan but feels that it has to come about through an
appropriate means, and told how he brought in a consultant to help devise
a program to accomplish this. The mayor is committed to fulfilling Bahia's
Ecological City Declaration of over a year ago. The planning department
staff has been so cooperative about the park because it was quick to sense
his dedication.
When we had a chance to speak alone after dinner, Mayor Viteri asked me
to become the principal ecological advisor to his office. The next day he
introduced me in this capacity to planning, public works, and sanitation
department heads, encouraged their cooperation with any requests for
information or assistance that I made, and promised to make a copy of his
new community participation program available before I leave at the end of
September. He also drafted a letter of introduction to agencies and groups
outside Ecuador for purposes of gaining their support as his
"International Environmental Public Relations Representative."
It's an honor whose full meaning is taking time to sink in, but so far
I've agreed to search for a bilingual environmental planner and a grant
writer for the city, and to start seeking financial support for ecological
projects from the Ecuadorian communities in San Francisco and elsewhere.
A surprising outcome of the present high level of official regard for
ecological priorities was a request from the National Police commandant in
this district to assist in designing traffic solutions. Bahia clearly
doesn't have the formidable problems of larger cities, but after driving
around one morning to test the actual conditions I saw a definite need to
create special lanes on the busiest streets for triciclos and bicycles.
There should also be crosswalks in a half dozen places to safeguard and
encourage pedestrians. These are minor proposals that can be found in many
places and only required transposition to Bahia. Major Medina, who
accepted my hopeful characterization of him as a peace officer rather than
merely a law enforcer, was delighted with them and literally saluted by
snapping his hand up to his hat visor. He has ordered painting lines on
the appropriate streets., so we'll soon see whatever variations are sure
to come into the Bahia versions. "Traffic calming" is one of the
transportation points in the ecological city plan (see Ecuador Report 2)
and it is truly astounding to me that although only written a week ago,
the plan is already bringing about changes.
Landscape note: Judy and I rode a bus that played salsa music for
twenty or so miles to San Jacinto, a small fishing town in Canton Sucre
that has some modest vacation accommodations on a long white sand beach.
Fernando Moreno operates a human scale guest facility with rented cabanas
there and previously offered to take us around to see significant features
of the area. Before long it became readily apparent that Fernando is an
intellectual with unique perspectives. Once a law student, then a
psychologist, and later an ergonomist studying work patterns and
conditions, he now considers himself to be an ecological
"warrior" who has found the place to make his stand. Oblivious
to the quizzical stares of small farmers along the dirt road we passed
through, he brought us to an enormous ceibo tree with a dozen main trunks
that were each the size of normal members of this elegant species.
"It must be eight hundred years old," he half-whispered.
"Those are several hundred years." He pointed to others nearby
that were only half as large but significantly bigger than any I had seen.
Fernando led us up a steep hill where the view became grander with each
step. We faced the Pacific and a beach twelve kilometers long strung
between a river mouth with a mangrove reserve and a nearly perpendicular
high cabo (cape). The interior land was marked with flat shrimp rearing
farms and salt ponds that filled with underground sea water intrusion and
dried out leaving piles of shimmering white salt. It is sandy, dry, spare
country resembling parts of the Mediterranean shore or southern coast of
Australia that only has a green appearance when seen from above looking
down on the canopy of trees. We also saw distressed open areas where all
of the trees had been cut and most ground vegetation stripped by grazing
animals. The most unusual land forms to be seen from the height of our
hill top were small rises that seemed to proceed in rows through places
that were flat otherwise. Fernando explained that these could well be
tolas (mounds for burials or other purposes) from some period of the past
millennia of "ancient people." A flat area dotted with ceibos
that stretched between sets of tolas he called "the archeological
plain." I asked if it had been dug to establish its authenticity and
he shrugged off the question. "It doesn't have to be opened up to
prove that artifacts are there. They are everywhere in this area anyway,
but that spot should have fantastic remains." We walked down, saw the
"oldest ceibo in the world" a last time, and drove to the
archeological plain. "Who owns this land," I asked. "A
woman who keeps a goat herd. See how low the grass is gnawed."
Immediately bordering the fenced off field was a popular dumping area for
garbage. A new midden in the site of an ancient one. We gazed across the
plain and in the middle saw a mound about thirty feet long that had been
raised ten feet. Several ceibos were growing from the top of it, but a
thousand to three thousand years ago it could been a bare fresh grave for
a leader of the coastal people who left countless remnants of rich lives
that are now barely understood. The next day we had the good luck to once
again meet Javier Veliz, archeologist for the Museo Nahim Isaias B. in
Guayaquil, one of the few people who has specialized in studying the
prehistoric cultures of Manabi (the district where Canton Sucre is
located). He described one group that had lived south of where we visited
that was remarkable for its humanity as rendered in pottery figures and
drawings. Not just animated faces and moving bodies, he insisted, but
behavior that would even be instructive to people today. "A man
cradling a baby in his arms and looking at it with a particularly tender
expression."
<<<<====>>>>
September 16, 2000
By Peter Berg
Bahia de Caraquez is a small city but its regional importance magnifies
its size. How small depends on the particular perspective that a question
might require. How many people? Twelve thousand or three times that
depending on who is answering and why the number is important. (World
Watch Institute uses 25,000 population as the standard for defining a
city, so Bahia qualifies at the high end of the range.) The low figure
accounts for year-round residents and the smallest geographic area. The
higher limit includes both renters and seasonal second home owners as well
as homeless or invasion (squatter) populations, and covers territory eight
kilometers out from the city center. (The homeless/invasion throng was
growing faster than any other group during the mud slides and earthquake
two years ago, and is still growing although slower.) If the subject is
how many people use or frequent Bahia, the number swells considerably
because it is the municipal center of an entire canton (large county) that
holds several urban parochias (suburban towns). It is the terminus of a
four lane highway, a port for the ferry and water taxis across Rio Chone
bay, a center for manufacturing and shops, a haven for professionals, and
a destination for thousands of both Ecuadorian and gringo tourists.
Altogether they might push the number upward at times close to six
figures. Its residents are unquestionably proud of the city's desirability
and their unofficial civic motto which appears on various signs is,
"Bahia, no tiene copia
cuidala! (Bahia has no equal
take care
of it!) Evidence of fidelity to this sentiment can be found in everything
from clean streets to generally well-maintained houses, and in a certain
self-assured attitude.
<<<<====>>>>
One of the traditional mainstays of Bahian life is triciclos, tricycles
with a railed cargo platform between the front two wheels and a driver's
seat forward of the rear one. They are work machines for an incredible
array of uses, and their drivers are both strong and ingenious. Their
anarchistically different colored frames and fenders (some still green
from Ecological City Declaration Day in 1999) are commonplace in central
Bahia and can often be seen peddling slowly throughout the city. They are
capable of carrying a spectacular array of loads. People use them as taxis
either as single passengers or in small groups, sitting erect as gymnasts
on a center board placed between the side rails, gliding by effortlessly
and decorously. The machine's inherent heavy duty character is exhibited
by massive piles of heavy cement bags or large black water barrels taller
than the heads of their sweating drivers who must stand to gruelingly
pedal even in flat places looking like their sporting counterparts
climbing a mountain in the Tour de France. Anything can be carried on a
triciclo it seems. Mirrors, toilets, bureaus, tables, chairs, altars, and
everything else that can fit through the door of a house passes in frozen
surrealistic moments. Stacks of lumber are balanced in ten deep V-shapes
with the acute angle facing forward and two sides framing the driver in an
exact construction that seems at least the equal of any that will be made
from them. Decorative iron work may enclose the driver in a cage that
protrudes forward and back of him. A few days ago I saw a cargo which
convinced me that everything I had seen before was merely an introduction.
Proceeding along in its own solemn and timeless space, a triciclo with a
silver-handled gray coffin centered on its top rails, head and foot
extending outward on both sides, calmly passed down the main street with a
row of blocked traffic following behind.
<<<<====>>>>
High and low cuisine notes. We've put off buying cooking gear because
our assistants who arrive today should approve of the things that are
obtained for use during the months after we're gone. This left two
options, eat out or make things that don't require cooking. There's a
definite stand-out among restaurant offerings. It is a version of the
traditional camaron (shrimp) ceviche that is served at Herradura's hotel
restaurant by creator and owner Miguelangelo Viteri. Ceviche is fish,
shrimp, clams, squid, or all of those mixed together that's been cooked by
the action of a solution of lemon or lime juice (Bahians boil the seafood
briefly). To this basic mixture Viteri adds a number of finely chopped raw
vegetables (onion is the only one I'm absolutely sure about), spices and
some mystery ingredients to formulate a flavor that is zesty in an unusual
way but also tropical tasting enough to want to drink straight. The finger
size camarones are perfectly fresh and firm.
Judy and I have developed some favorite emergency rations that turn out
to be triumphs of low cuisine. Avocados and papayas keep for a couple of
days in the fridge and we make local bakery roll sandwiches out of them as
small meals. Papaya aged a few days to a soft texture is especially good
this way, but the hands-down prize culinary discovery is pineapple
sandwiches. Why these haven't gotten the attention they deserve is an
oversight of civilization scaled proportion. I first tasted the singular
magnificence of chunks from whole pineapples in bread when Carey brought
me a loaf of San Francisco sourdough when she arrived here. Seizing on
something to eat with it, I pulled a four day old, aromatic and candy
sweet specimen of the noble bromeliad from the fridge, peeled back some
skin and cut a slice to insert in a torn-off handful of sourdough. Since
then these sandwiches have been made from fresh as well as aged
pineapples, and the effect is fundamentally and spectacularly the same.
Have faith that this isn't a case of malarial delusion, and I'm not
regressing to childhood in the way of some people who dive into a nearly
bare pantry and come out raving about puerile combinations of peanut
butter with onions or tomato sauce. Canned fruit won't have the same
flavor and is not advised. Judy favors mixing in ripe papaya, but save
that for advanced variations. Start with nothing more than a whole fresh
pineapple and a well-baked loaf to put an end to unwarranted gustatory
deprivation.
<<<<====>>>>
September 14, 2000
By Peter Berg
September has been overcast nearly every day since we arrived nearly
two weeks ago. Some locals have taken to wearing sweaters and jackets and
making mock shivers when the say 'Esta frio (It's cold)!" But most
continue to wear T-shirts as Judy and I do who feel that it's pretty
reasonable weather for San Franciscans. It reminds me of the opposite
sweating and immobilized reaction that I have to January's heat which most
residents tolerate sufficiently that they can still walk around. This grey
weather is actually incomparable for working outside. If it lasts a few
weeks after our assistants arrive tomorrow, we'll have an easier time
accomplishing some of the heavy labor involved with moving fallen brush
out of the way to dig steps for paths that will run through the
revegetation site that we now call Bosque en las Ruinas (Forest in the
Ruins).
Jacob Santos and I met with the agreeable city planner Ramon Farias to
create a procedure for writing the first draft of a new ordinance
officially establishing Bosque en las Ruinas as a "wild
corridor" city park in Maria Auxiliadora barrio. Hopefully, Jacob and
I can do this within a week and present it for his review, after which it
goes to the city council. There's a new national civil defense disaster
preparedness map of earthquake and mud slide prone areas in Canton Sucre
where Bahia de Caraquez is located. Three increasingly dark shades of red
show danger levels from low to high threat (amenaza alta). Maria
Auxiliadora is darkest red, affirming that the choice we made intuitively
to initiate erosion reduction work there was correct. By recognizing that
the site has the highest peril in a geological catastrophe, this report
has handed us one of the main arguments we will use to support the
ordinance. Namely, there is no more appropriate use for the land than a
park because it is too unsafe for houses or other construction. Additional
arguments will include the revegetation work to restore native habitat and
species that has already been done, the instructional value of plaques we
intend to make for identifying plant species along walking paths, the
lasting tribute that the stark ruins will represent for the sixteen people
who died there, and the symbol that the Forest in the Ruins will represent
for the community's overall efforts to overcome adversity There need to be
precautions about avoiding parts of some ruins because they contain hidden
holes that were formerly underneath or beside fallen houses. It was
stepping in one up to my crotch and the lost leg dangling without touching
bottom that made this point glare like a white plaster cast. I quickly
explained to Ramon that the entire site didn't need be put off limits
because of a few small areas that could be avoided by our paths and
marked, filled in, or fenced. Even ancient ruins that get thousands of
sight-seers have restricted areas. I requested that someone from the
planning department make an examination to identify the potentially unsafe
spots, and I will accompany his assistant to do this tomorrow.
When meeting with the new mayor Leonardo Viteri ("Dr. Leo")
about the proposed park ordinance, I optimistically suggested that his
fresh four-year term of office could begin with a thorough-going plan to
fulfill the mandate of 1999's Ecological City Declaration. (See
"Model Law.") The plan would cover changes in fundamental areas
such as water, energy, transportation, and others over short, medium and
long range stages of time. He suggested an informal dinner meeting within
a few days with some principals in the eco-ciudad process to get different
perspectives. It could take place as early as next week so I've begun
distributing a suggested framework for the plan that follows. It's meant
mainly as a quick introduction to the discussion and as a guide for
eliciting suggestions and comments.
An important confession to readers. Drawing up a list of desirable
alternatives to the present grossly unsustainable condition of cities is
nearly as easy as getting mad in a traffic jam. It can also be as
unworthwhile. Any plan eventually involves many more people than the
initial planners. Unless the majority of the residents in Bahia,
regardless of their social or economic positions, welcome and animate this
ecological wish list, it won't be realized. The greatest obstacle is
exclusion.
Prepared by Peter Berg, Director
Planet Drum Foundation, September 11, 2000
I. Introduction The need and purpose of a plan to create an
ecological city.
A) Need
1. Ecological City Declaration
2. Understanding, coordination and participation with all
ecological endeavors
a. Projects and activities government and private
b. Public participation consult and assist in developing
various activities and projects. Public information government,
schools, media, visitors, etc.
B) Purpose
1. Guide activities toward shared goals (present and proposed)
2. Create timelines
3. Stand as a document of intention
II. Areas of consideration.
A) Statement of inclusiveness and invitation for additional
activities
1. Request new public and private efforts
2. List needed and potential new activities
3. Regular updating of plan
B) Plan format requirements
1. Geographic scope
2. Listing of existing projects and recognition in appropriate
sections
3. Timelines need to be developed short, medium and long term for
each item
C) Water
1. Supply
2.Testing and treatment
3. Distribution
4. Conservation, reuse, recycling, and waste
D) Food
1. Public garden spaces
2. Private small farm and garden spaces
3. Availability of tools, seed, compost, and instruction
E) Energy (public, industrial, agricultural, and household)
1. Conservation and cost reduction of existing types
2. Renewable forms
a. Determining appropriate types
b. Developing plans for sharing of new production
c. Construction and installation of renewable forms
F) Transportation
1 Evaluation and suitability of various private means (cars,
bicycle, etc.)
a. Priorities for alternative fuels
b. Restrictions or encouragement of use
2. Evaluation and suitability of public means (buses, taxis, etc.)
a. Priorities for alternative fuels
b. Restrictions or encouragement of use
3. Re-design of highways and streets for traffic reduction, traffic
calming, etc.
G) Recycling
1. Zero garbage policy
2. City-wide recycling program
a. Industrial and agricultural
b. Offices and businesses
c. Household
d. Roadside and beach clean-up
3. Government office and operations recycling system
4. Public uses for reused and recycled materials
a. Evaluation and ordering of municipal stocks and equipment
(paper, furniture, construction items, etc.)
b. Encouragement of local remanufacture businesses
c. Compost
H) Sewage
1. Public biological treatment facilities
2. Private alternative facilities
I) Wild habitat and species (ecosystems)
1. Bioregion and watershed mapping and inventory
2. Habitat and species protection
3. Habitat and species restoration
4. Field programs (observation, experience, education, etc.)
J) Human resources
1. Volunteers
2. Skill bank
3. Special mobilization
4. Employment counseling and service
K) Education
1. Schools and universities
2. Public classes and workshops
3. Government statements and media
L) Culture celebrating natural systems and ecological practices
1. Public information and installations (Green Map. murals,
markers, etc.)
2. Arts workshops
3. Awards program
4. Events
M) Business development
1. Sustainability emphasis and incentives (incubators, consultation
and guidance, etc.)
2. Visitor services (eco-tourism, facilities, etc.)
N) Funding
1. External (international, national, foundations, etc.)
2. Internal ("green tax," sales, benefits, donations,
bequests, etc.)
<<<<====>>>>
September 9, 2000
By Peter Berg
Bahia de Caraquez has already lost its earthquake-struck look. Some
prominent buildings of several stories that retained cracks and holes
where cement was lost in 1998 have been patched or otherwise restored, and
the absence of those particularly eye-gouging open wounds has an uplifting
effect..
The people have a similar forward looking attitude. It's an accepted
fact that the economy is pathetically unstable, and in a controversial
move, the US dollar officially replaces the native sucre currency on
September 12 .But strangely this has become a challenge rather than just a
condition for despair whether people are opposed to it or not. Government
posters with photograph-like images of a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, and
half-dollar declare, "Conozca la moneda! (Know the money!)"
There is no question that everyone is frantic to learn how to make correct
change in less than a week's time remaining before the deadline. This
shared quest is presently the most major national event.
Judy Goldhaft and I have homed in on the Leonidas Plaza
office/apartment where one of the next-door sawmills is grinding with a
continuous guttural whine while this is being written at 7PM. (It's not
out of place for the work to continue so late considering that it begins
at about the same hour in the morning.) This is an almost achingly working
class parochia (suburban city) where only small stores operate out of
house fronts, nearly all of the streets are unpaved, most buildings are
single story, and packed buses of low-salaried laborers head into adjacent
Bahia in the morning and back home at night.
From the first day that we obtained a field office here, we have
contributed use of the main room's space during the day to a women's
collective named Arte Papel that is sponsored by the Eco-Bahia Center for
Environmental Education. It makes stationery and other articles out of
recycled paper decorated with wild flowers in unique designs. Several
other companies in Ecuador manufacture similar items, but this group of a
dozen neighborhood people who were formerly unemployed only began about a
year ago and has already progressed to the point where their extensively
handcrafted paper products can be successfully marketed. It is an
easy-going relationship because we leave before the paper makers arrive
and usually return after they have gone. Since Planet Drum staff have been
here irregularly so far, this arrangement provides continuous evidence of
our participation in the process of creating an ecological city and our
partnership with the Eco-Bahia Center.
For eight cents each we ride the crammed buses each morning to have a
breakfast of several fruits, cafι con leche, small rolls, and buttery
omelet at Jacob Santos' Bahia Bed & Breakfast Inn and plan out the
day. Besides his position as secretary of the Eco-Bahia Center, Jacob has
become a major figure in the eco-ciudad movement by being essential to
many different projects. Recently he has been dutifully assisting Augusto
Bravo, a Brazilian community water systems master's degree candidate (at a
Danish university!) who is working under the aegis of Planet Drum to
recommend the most ecological strategies for sourcing, purifying and
delivering water in Bahia.
Although there are plenty of things that require attention, each day's
activity develops its own stubborn will in spite of us. Bahia is small
enough that acquaintances who might be difficult to reach elsewhere simply
appear while walking on the street. It is actually difficult to complete
tasks or keep appointments because of multiple conversations between
starting out and arriving somewhere. Strength of character here sometimes
involves nothing more durable than keeping your own schedule. In one week
we've met or visited almost everyone known from the past three trips.
Judy took photographs while I reviewed the revegetation project twice
and found that most plants have survived five dry months that thus far
followed last winter's rainy season. Paja macho grass seedlings comprised
half of the ten thousand original plantings that were made and almost all
of them flourished and bore seeds which should sprout in huge numbers when
downpours come in December to make brown slide areas green again. Their
role in reducing further erosion is to cause runoff of rain on the
steepest slopes so that water won't saturate the clay soil and slurry it
away in mudslides again. Distinctive grey-green leaved algorrobo shrubs (a
relative of desert mesquite) with wiry soil-holding roots seem to have all
come through as well. Disappointingly, only a handful of muyullo and hobo
trees which were planted throughout the site as cut stakes rather than
seedlings have struggled through to this point. The rainy season was late
and relatively scanty this year, so even though we put these in first they
probably never received enough moisture. On the other hand, Ferdnan
Sanchez and guayacan tree seedlings are doing well. At least fifty
self-seeded fruitillo trees have grown ten feet since El Nino mudslides
scrubbed the soil bare two years ago, giving an intimation of what the
eventual forest will look like.
We met the new ecology-minded mayor and requested park status for the
city-owned revegetation site. He's in complete agreement and wants us to
propose an ordinance for approval by the city council. It could be a
memorial park for the mudslide victims who died there and retain the
ruined house walls and a fractured cement staircase as testimony to their
fate. Marcelo Luque has begun a survey to determine where walking paths
might go to best show native plant specimens in the Forest of the Ruins.
Developing the paths may be the principal work of our new assistant Caire
Dibble and her boyfriend Tony Mattei when the come on September 15.
Plant note: The elegant seiba (or seibo depending on how the speaker
feels toward it) tree that resembles African baobabs and has smooth green
skin in maturity looks totally extra-terrestrial as a young plant. Its
skinny trunk is dotted profusely with large brown thorns and crowned by a
plume of green and red leaves. Science fiction film art directors are more
modest.
Animal notes: The revegetation site has tangara birds with delicately
colored rust-tan and white wings that give them a floating look in flight.
While walking on a ridge during a visit to Jacob's farm we saw a
good-sized scat containing mostly seeds and hair that might have come from
an animal about the size of a small pig. The farm overseer mentioned that
a coastal wild cat had been seen nearby. This is the first sign I've had
of the extremely elusive larger coastal mammals.
Obligatory cuisine note: The traditional restaurant midday almuerzo
lunch is unquestionably the best thing to eat each day. Half the price of
dinner, or less, it comes as a set menu with a fruit drink, soup,
vegetable or salad, and rice topped with a small but concentrated savory
sauce. An unforgettable example of the latter was made with fresh
sardines, onions and potatoes. There might even be a small dessert of
fruit or cookies. Large lunches are the rule here followed by at least an
hour's rest. Anyone who tries to maintain a different pattern in the
equatorial climate doesn't get any of my sympathy.
