Posts

On Friday we dug the first holes of the year at the Rattys site.

By Clay Plager-Unger / November 21, 2008 / 0 Comments

November 10-21, 2008  Summary: Trails are cleared and holes are dug at the new revegetation sites in preparation for planting. Jaime and I do some final site acquisition scouting to secure the few remaining locations that will be planted. On Monday we finished opening trails at the Astillero site. We returned Tuesday to construct a […]

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Each site required five to six days of heavy machete work to be ready for hole-digging.

By Clay Plager-Unger / November 7, 2008 / 0 Comments

October 20-November 7, 2008  Summary: With new sites for revegetating in 2009 secured, we began breaking trails at three of them. There were celebrations in Bahia for the anniversary of the county and President Correa made another stop in Bahia to check up on the Bahia-San Vicente bridge progress. And I took a trip with […]

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A Slice Through Layers of Days

By Peter Berg / October 25, 2008 / 0 Comments

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 […]

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An Experience of Social Worth

By Peter Berg / October 17, 2008 / 1 Comment

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 […]

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Overview of John Berger

By Peter Berg / October 16, 2008 / 0 Comments

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 […]

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Introduction to Interview with Maria Soledad Vela About “Rights of Nature” in New Ecuador Constitution

By Peter Berg / October 16, 2008 / 1 Comment

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Ecuador has just ratified a new constitution overflowing with innovations that make it a trail-blazing 21st Century governing document. Environmental awareness and protection are recognized on a particularly high level in response to present day revelations about local destruction of habitat and species as well as planetary climate change. These are covered […]

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Thursday we break ground at the first of the new sites for 2009.

By Clay Plager-Unger / September 26, 2008 / 0 Comments

September 15-26, 2008  Summary: We shift our energies towards securing revegetation sites for planting in the coming rainy season. In the greenhouse seedbeds that were planted a few weeks ago are ready to be transplanted, adding even more trees to the arsenal. Still no new volunteers. On Monday we are at the greenhouse transplanting Guarango, […]

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The largest Ceibo tree that any of us have ever seen.

By Clay Plager-Unger / September 12, 2008 / 1 Comment

September 1-12, 2008  Summary: I return to Bahia from a reverse culture-shock laden vacation to the United States. While I was gone, Jaime held down the fort and was fortunate enough to receive a heavy rain thus saving him from having to water (alone). Despite the lack of volunteer forces, Jaime and I persevere. The […]

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Water is in short supply all over Bahia.

By Clay Plager-Unger / August 18, 2008 / 0 Comments

August 4-18, 2008  Summary:  Our volunteer numbers continue to dwindle, but we carry on watering. More seeds are collected, prepared and planted in beds in hopes that a bunch more trees will germinate and be ready for planting in 2009. I leave Bahia for a visit back to the US of A and close the doors […]

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Collecting seeds from the forest.

By Clay Plager-Unger / August 1, 2008 / 0 Comments

July 21-August 1, 2008  Summary: We spend one week continuing the water routine, then it rains over the weekend and we get to spend the next week in the greenhouse and out in the field collecting seeds. Major progress is made in organizing, planting seeds and transplanting trees in the greenhouse. On Monday we head to […]

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