Ramon’s Weekly Report #4
Bioregionalism Education
Summer Session, 2008
May 21 & 23, 2008
Everyone arrived in the park on Wednesday afternoon, including a Planet Drum volunteer from Japan, who introduced herself as Fuki. I asked Frank for his homework. He turned in the map of the miniature bioregion of his neighborhood. He lives in San Vicente and drew trees, bird nests, his house, and everything he could identify in his neighborhood. He also mentioned that there is a lot of dust in the neighborhood right now because they are doing work on the roads.
Then we split into two workgroups, one led by Fuki and class assistant Roberto, the other by me and Raisa. Each group had to read and then discuss possible steps to take to protect our bioregion. Some of the themes were: food, water, waste, and used water
After reading in groups, we reformed as one large class. The first group had reached the conclusions: that we should consume healthy food, but they did not know exactly where these foods come from, or what kinds of chemicals they may be consuming from the food they eat. They also talked about the large problem of potable water that persists in Bahia and San Vicente. And they mentioned that the beaches are contaminated from the shrimp industry.
Group Two said that there should be a better way to take advantage of the wastes produced by the city, such as compost production and paper recycling. About water they said that they must use less water in the bathroom so as not to waste it. They also said that used waters must be properly managed and not directly dumped into the ocean.
For homework they had to pick up trash that they had produced during the week.
On Friday we visited the Planet Drum greenhouse.
When we arrived, we entered and I explained that all of trees there are for planting during the next winter. I showed them the seedbeds, where we plant seeds and wait for them to germinate.
The students asked me about the organic waste, so I showed them the where compost is produced. The compost comes from decomposed organic waste and is full of nutrients for the trees. This compost is used to make soil which goes into the three-liter bottles with the trees.
– Ramon
Translated by Clay.
Reader Interactions