Peter Berg
Peter Berg (1937-2011), the social-revolutionary thinker, writer, ecologist, environmental activist and founder of Planet Drum Foundation, died on July 28, 2011, after a sudden case of pneumonia complicated by his bout with lung cancer. He was an unforgettable personality for anyone who made his acquaintance over the past several decades.
You can view, below, a complete archive of Peter’s works that are on this website. We've also published a selected bibliography of some of his essential writings, and a collection of appreciations of Peter from around the world.
Circles, ellipses, curvesbring us to this turn point lunging unquenchable bulged desire(eating to live) hosting millions of organismswithout knowing themuntil all left alivestill feed without knowing us each our own planetout of cold space and witless unknowing this parabola of another year completes again what remains to flame our sensing souls.
Planet Drum Foundation purchased land outside the city of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador to expand the Bioregional Education Projects to include adults and college students. In 2010 Peter Berg wrote A School to Retrieve the Future, an essay describing the newly initiated BSI—the vision behind the Institute and it’s curriculum. (Note: this is no longer available. It is included as archival historical information.) A Call for […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador These are life-altering times across the planet for practically all major aspects of human endeavor. Arching over the shifts that are taking place in social, political, economic, and cultural areas that all of us are experiencing is the urgent need to recognize and accommodate our species’ utter dependence on the viability of Earth’s natural systems. It is a mutual concern shared […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador The high-pitched enthusiasm of Carnaval is building and an interviewer/photographer team from Taiwan’s Spirit magazine has arrived to report on Eco-Bahia, requesting a tour by me through Bosque en Medio de las Ruinas “wild park.” We were graced with a rainless day to climb down the steps at the farthest entrance accompanied by Patricio Tamariz (who had arranged for the Taiwanese visit), Clay and several Planet […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Planet Drum’s plans to build a Bioregional Sustainability Institute (BSI) on property that was acquired for that purpose three years ago just took a great step toward. Jaeson Schultz, our land partner in the original purchase of sixty hectares of undeveloped land, is here for a few months and joined Clay and I on an exploratory visit accompanied by Mark Hebard and […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador It is a particularly hard winter of blizzards this year in the Northern Hemisphere and a hot summer marked by forest fires in the Southern, but in Ecuador where sharply defined seasons elsewhere are equatorially ambiguous it is the time of rain at night and, if there is no blanket of gray overcast, baking sun during the day. Downpours range from […]
Nanao Sakaki, internationally renowned as a contemporary Taoist sage/poet, departed to become another part of the wide Universe on the Winter Solstice December 23, 2008. His work will gain in both fame and usefulness as it ages. It has the combination of innocence and lightning-like insight of other masters in his tradition. Here are two pieces that exhibit the power of Sakaki’s language and presence. […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador October’s gray, overcast skies in coastal Ecuador are generally constant and cover over even sunrise and set (caida del sol or “fall of the sun”). This makes for pleasantly cool weather despite melancholy moods. It has been called “the gringo month” even though tourists are mostly absent because of the resemblance to Seattle or London (and perhaps the tendency to stare ahead […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Bahia de Caraquez is a working lesson in urban livability that collapsing industrial society urgently needs to adopt. For a transition toward a more sustainable future, new techniques and practices alone aren’t enough. By themselves they give off a chilly contrived feeling that rings false and heightens a sense of displacement rather than belonging. There needs to be a spirit and […]
John Berger belongs to a school of European intellectualism in particular that is internationalist, humanistic and strongly left-wing. Once all-pervasive and still dominant in some areas (labor unions come to mind), it can be found scattered among journalists, artists, academics, novelists, film directors, critics, and many other fields. Some of the general characteristics of the group are supremely evident in Berger’s writing: polyglot sensibility, enraged […]