Clay Plager-Unger

Clay Plager-Unger is the former director of Planet Drum Foundation's Eco-Ecuador project.

Working with Students & the National Power Company

By Clay Plager-Unger | February 6, 2014

November 5, 2013 – February 5, 2014 Field Report We ended 2013 with visits to the greenhouse from several more groups of students from the Sathya Sai and Montufar schools. The children thoroughly enjoyed the visits. Some of the younger groups of kids were actually the most knowledgeable during the lecture portion of the workshop and enthusiastic doing the hands-on work. With help from the […]

GPS Map, Collecting Seeds, & Developing an Education with Field Practice Program

By Clay Plager-Unger | November 6, 2013

August 20, 2013 – November 5, 2013 Field Report In late August, a GPS site map of the revegetation sites from 2005-2013 was completed with the initiative taken by field research intern Joffrey Iboud. After several months of plotting GPS coordinates at all of the sites, the data was entered into a computer with maps that were acquired from the city government. The result is […]

Collaboration with Corporación Nacional de Electricidad (CNEL),Visit to Rio Muchacho and from the Children of Ecuador (CoE) Foundation

By Clay Plager-Unger | August 19, 2013

June 21- August 19, 2013 Field Report Summer (verano) has set in and the days tend to be cooler and overcast with a nice breeze blowing through. When the sun comes out it’s still hot, but not like during winter (el invierno). This will likely be the typical weather pattern until late December. It’s been a busy summer so far with lots of volunteers and […]

Working with Local and International Students, and the Volunteers

By Clay Plager-Unger | June 30, 2013

April-June 2013 Field Report During the beginning of April, planting the 2013 Bellavista revegetation site with children from the community was completed. While delivering trees to the site, fruit trees were also given directly to community members for planting at their houses.This is the last Planet Drum (PD) revegetation site to be planted this year since the rainy season has wrapped up and the dry […]

Eco-City Celebration, Distributing Trees and Planting More

By Clay Plager-Unger | March 31, 2013

February-March 2013 Pásalo bien,Clay

City of Bahia Honors Peter Berg and a Revegetation Manual Booklet is published

By Clay Plager-Unger | January 31, 2013

November 2012 – January 2013 Field Report There have been a number of developments related to the Planet Drum projects here in Bahía in the past few months. In November, we received a visit from Judy, Planet Drum Director (since Peter Berg passed away in July 2012), her daughter Ocean, and grandchildren Florence and Stelli. While they were here, Bahía unveiled a plaque honoring Peter […]

3 Week Study-Abroad Program ‘Building Bioregional Communities’ with University of Oregon Students

By Clay Plager-Unger | October 31, 2012

August – October, 2012 Keibo Oiwa, long time friend of Planet Drum and fellow collaborator in the original Eco-city movement, returned to Bahia for a short visit. The first time he was here in 1999, Bahia had recently suffered from massive mudslides due to heavy El Niño phenonmenon rains. Keibo was delighted to see how green and full of vegetation the hillsides looked now.  In […]

 Bioregional Sustainability Institute Initiates Study Abroad Program

By Clay Plager-Unger | October 26, 2012

“Building Bioregional Communities” in Bahía de Caráquez In 2012 the first Study-Abroad class arrived for three weeks in September from the University of Oregon with their teacher, Gerardo Sandoval. Planet Drum’s (PD) field projects in Ecuador came to an apex this past summer when a group of fourteen University of Oregon (UO) students traveled to Bahía de Caráquez on a three week, study-abroad program titled […]

El Niño Concerns and the Greeenhouse Renovation Begins

By Clay Plager-Unger | July 31, 2012

Clay Plager-UngerField Projects ManagerPlanet Drum FoundationJuly, 2012 The dry season weather has set in solidly during the past month. Temperatures have dipped a tad, it’s a little windier and there tends to be more overcast days. The weather is very comfortable for working outdoors – even though when the sun comes out around midday it still scorches. And one of the best parts: the drier, […]

The Dry Season begins and Apartment Repairs are Made

By Clay Plager-Unger | June 30, 2012

May-June, 2012 The rainy season has all but wrapped up, aside from a stray drizzle or light shower here and there. Windier weather, more over-cast days and less humidity are setting in, which is great for reducing the number of mosquitoes and makes for nicer temperatures at work. Yet the sun still comes out in force on occasion mid-day and reminds us that we are […]