Planet Drum's Vision:

What approach can we take to live sustainably wherever we are located?

Planet Drum(*) was founded in 1973 to provide an effective grassroots approach to ecology that emphasizes sustainability, community self-determination and regional self-reliance. In association with community activists and ecologists, Planet Drum developed the concept of a bioregion. Through its projects, publications, speakers, and workshops, Planet Drum helps start new bioregional groups and encourages local organizations and individuals to find sustainable ways to live within the natural confines of bioregions. We believe that people who know and care about the places where they live will work to maintain and restore them.

Planet Drum Foundation works to research, promote and disseminate information about bioregionalism, a grassroots approach to ecology that emphasizes sustainability, community self-determination and regional self-reliance. We believe that people who know and care about the places where they live will work to maintain and restore them.

Planet Drum Foundation Mission Statement:

To promote awareness of sustainable strategies for human inhabitation of the earth based on the bioregions where people live. We seek to enhance the intimate connection with life-places by spreading the ideas and activities of "living in place" through publications, workshops, formal curricula, and hands-on demonstration projects. This work is motivated by our vision of a truly sustainable world in which humans are harmonious with and respectful of the natural environment

To promote and encourage ecologically sustainable living founded on an understanding of one's bioregion, a geographic area of interconnected natural systems and their characteristics.

History

Begun in 1973, Planet Drum Foundation (PDF) has firmly established that understanding our relationship to the bioregions where we live is essential for long-term sustainability. We have produced over fifty publications, hundreds of workshop, and numerous community organizing events. 

PDF sponsors projects and activities related to restoration ecology, green cities, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, watershed consciousness, and ecology education. 

Based in San Francisco, California, PDF has undertaken educational and organizing tours in North and South America, Europe, Japan, China, and Australia. Since 1999, we have maintained a highly successful program to assist in transforming Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador into an ecological city based on bioregional principles.

Planet Drum's current projects—Activities, Eco-Ecuador and Green City contribute to the understanding of living-in-place.  You can support the work of Planet Drum Foundation by becoming a member, volunteering, and/or making a donation. 

(*)Planet Drum® is a registered trademark of Planet Drum Foundation.
All rights reserved © 1999, 2017 Planet Drum Foundation.
Please contact us for any reprint rights.

Planet Drum Activities

Publishing (Informational materials for deepening bioregional awareness)

Discovering your Life-Place: A First Bioregional Workbook leads readers to a new appreciation of their relationships with local natural systems through a practical, hands-on map-making exercise. The book is an exciting way to teach local ecology and natural science in either urban or rural areas for all ages.

A Green City Program for the San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond has an easily accessible format: it describes the present situation, agendas for short and long term changes, "fables" for how changes might occur and "visions" of what a Green City anywhere would be like. 

Reinhabiting a Separate Country is a collection of essays, natural history, biography, poems, and stories revealing Shasta Bioregion (Northern California) as a distinct area of the planetary biosphere. It has served as a model for indigenous collections in New York, the Ozarks, and the Rocky Mountains, among other places. 

Wild in the City is a poster-map comparing a view of the natural geography of San Francisco before colonization with a present-day street map to show what features could be restored. 

Shasta Bioregion Map with descriptions of natural zones within Northern California. 

Envisioning Sustainability is a collection of essays by Peter Berg.

Eco-Bahia Calendar 2010 has lovely photos from the work and the area in Ecuador where Planet Drum's Eco-Ecuador Project is done. 

Planet Drum's bi-annual review, Raise the Stakes, presented thought-provoking essays on issues ranging from restoration ecology to the greening of cities for 20 years. A "Circles of Correspondence" section described the activities of bioregional groups. See the Publications page for listings.

Lectures, Seminars, Workshops & Performances

Staff members present talks and conduct seminars and workshops on bioregional topics for community, college and activist groups. Workshops teach participants to identify their bioregion through awareness of natural features and includes map-making activities.

Bioregionally based story-telling and performances are also available.

Networking

Planet Drum provides networking services to start and assist bioregional groups, to provide resources and expertise, and to put people who are interested in particular subjects in touch with each other.

Library Resources

Our San Francisco office contains a unique archive of journals that relate ecological thinking to society, politics, and culture. It is open to members, researchers and others.