Ramon Cedeno Loor became the new Bioregional Education Manager after Valentina left. Ramon is a teacher and has been volunteering with Planet Drum for several months. He lives in the Maria Auxiliadora neighborhood and completed the 2006 Introductory classes in early 2007. In May of 2007 Ramon began a new series of Introductory classes, and in October he initiated an Advanced class. During 2007 he sent 21 reports—3 for the 2006 Introductory series final classes, 10 for the new Introductory classes and 8 for the Advanced Bioregional Education classes. (The school year in Ecuador runs from May/June until September, and then again from October until January. From late January to late May there are no classes.) The reports were translated from Spanish by Clay Plager-Unger, Planet Drum's Field Projects Manager.
Ramon’s Weekly Report #6 Bioregionalism EducationSummer Session, 2008 June 11 & 13, 2008 As usual we met in Bahia’s main park for class on Wednesday. The theme for the day was Land Ecosystems. We split into two groups in order to conduct a debate with questions and answers. But before we began the debate, I defined what land ecosystems are. I told them that land […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #5 Bioregionalism EducationSummer Session, 2008 June 4 & 6, 2008 We began class with everyone sitting in circles in the park. The work for the day was to cover the following themes: modes of transportation, education and culture, gardens, green spaces, and sustainable planning. Raisa led the group discussing modes of transportation. In this group, Jessica commented that the principle contaminants that […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #4 Bioregionalism EducationSummer 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 […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #3 Bioregionalism EducationSummer Session, 2008 May 14 & 16, 2008 We met in the city’s central Manuel Nevarez Park as usual on Wednesday. The objective of this class was for each student to draw their own map from scratch of what they think the Bahía bioregion looks like. I began by asking the students questions about what composes a bioregion. I asked […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #2 Bioregionalism EducationSummer Session, 2008 May 7, 8, 9, 2008 We met in the park as is customary and with the help of Raisa and Roberto, began to study the newly-revised Bioregionalismo booklets. The first topic was the different characteristics of a bioregion. The students split into groups and I asked them questions about what constitutes a bioregion. Carlos said soil and landscape, Joao […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #1 Bioregionalism EducationSummer Session, 2008 April 30 & May 2, 2008 On Wednesday we began a new year of Bioregional Education in Bahia. The class consists of 15 new students, ages 12-15, accompanied by three graduates of last years advanced Bioregionalismo class, who will be volunteering as class assistants (Raisa, Lissette and Roberto). In the first class we handed out the new Bioregionalismo booklets, 36 […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #8 Advanced Bioregionalism EducationAutumn Session 2007 November 29th, 31st On Wednesday we met at our weekly spot in the city park. I began by asking what the students know about our topic of recycling and why they think it’s important. The different answers I got were: it reduces pollution and that we can take advantage of reusing materials that most people simply […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #7 Advanced Bioregionalism EducationAutumn Session 2007 November 21st, 23rd This week began early on Wednesday because everyone wanted to watch the national selection soccer game and on Friday had a bit of an adventure. The theme for the week was Natural Resources. Everyone had some idea of what these are, so I used the technique of a ‘rain of ideas,’ where everyone […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #6 Advanced Bioregionalism EducationAutumn Session 2007 November 14th & 16th On Monday we met in the park to begin a new theme: Solid Wastes. Before beginning I asked the students what they knew about solid waste and they said that it is the garbage generated by human beings. After this I added that solid waste is garbage, but also includes all residues solid, semi-solid […]
Ramon’s Weekly Report #5 Advanced Bioregionalism EducationAutumn Session 2007 November 7th, 8th & 9th As we always do, we met in the park and the theme this time was contamination of soil and water. We made a circle and began to talk about the importance of water and soil for life. Then I explained to the students that just like the atmosphere is contaminated, so are water and […]