Peter Berg
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador There is an intriguing cultural paradox mixed in with the conflicted assortment of values and human experience that have evolved from contemporary globalism. How can there be “world” identity and preservation of diverse cultures at the same time? Eating fusion-nationality food, working as an importer of flowers from Ecuador, discussing Saudi Arabian Islamism, wearing running shoes made in China and a shirt […]
The planet is always changing, Gaia knows. Remember that our ancestors lived through The Ice Age. They may have shivered but they made some magnificent art. We are beginning to see The Warm Age induced by greenhouse gases. More and stronger hurricanes and cyclones, extended rains, heavy snowstorms…as well as mounting heat spells and drought in many places. “Climate change” is a good term but […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador August rain is nearly unheard of during the desert-like dryness of summer and fall in Bahia de Caraquez and the State of Manabi. So when there was a week of it last month with two days of memorable monsoon downpour people were bewildered and out of their confusion sprouted divergent theories. One universally understood truth is that this is Ecuador where […]
Murray Bookchin was one of the most influential thinkers in the formation of the anarcho-bioregional movement. Peter Berg’s homage to this most inscrutable luminary is from August 2006. Before offering any recollections about Murray it is necessary to make the disclaimer that if he was here he would quite possibly refute them. And that he might even dispute that statement! That said I can relax […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador The rainy season finally began at the end of January this year, late but potent. Only six weeks later the hills have been completely transformed from dust blurred brown-orange to wet vibrant green. Vine tendrils hang like searching snakes from trees and slink across paths. The ground is in a constant saturated state ranging from clutching mud that weighs down shoes […]
October 2-23, 2005 During October, 2005, Peter Berg and Judy Goldhaft traveled in the Northeast giving talks, workshops and performances at universities and for community groups. After they returned Peter wrote this poem as a report from the trip. Hudson Loan by Peter Berg Creditor Manhattan’s glazed lip at the moutha widening snake from forty story windows.Sailing sediment and a pizza standthrough granite bedrock and Jersey […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador When I met a journalist on the street who told me she was now working at a pharmacy I didn’t immediately register what a contrast that was. It wasn’t surprising then because people in Bahia change jobs fairly frequently. I walked on thinking that her upbeat personality was suited to either position. Later I thought more deeply about how often they […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Yesterday (Sun.) was a breakthrough for our revegetation project. Pedro Otero, who although an agro-forestry professor previously seemed reluctant to permit non-commercial planting on his land, finally agreed to let us explore El Toro Basin for any sites where we wish to plant native trees. The problem with Otero had been that the land wasn’t formally divided between five brothers who […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Planet Drum Foundation’s efforts to assist in transforming Bahia into an ecological city have taken a progressively more educational bent. We have had a full-time staff member as Bioregional Educational Program Manager, Kristen Lansdale, for nearly half a year. Her reports on the progress of the first twenty-five high school age students have been a continuous revelation of expanding possibilities for […]
In the summer of 2005, Peter Berg returned to Japan. Here we published his reports as we received them. Dispatch #1, Colors Are The Deeds Of Light, July 5, 2005. An exposition of Peter Berg’s bioregional sustainability presentation for eco-philosopher Yuichi Inouye’s Seika University classes with in depth responses to Q & A’s. Dispatch #2, Finding the Future in the Mud, July 10, 2005. Ecological prophecies and excitement in […]