Peter Berg’s Writings
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador This is the last of five straight years worth of work pledged beginning in February 1999 when Planet Drum Foundation was invited to assist in realizing Bahia de Caraquez’s Ecological City Declaration. An earthquake and El Nino mudslide ruined municipality in 1998 with fallen buildings, impassable streets and highways, and 5,000 outright homeless families living on the sidewalks, the city is […]
We started out the new year with one volunteer, Simon Winch, working on the Eco Ecuador Project. In early January Peter arrived, and about a week later Brian Teinert, who has been hired as chief of operations for Planet Drum’s projects, arrived to carry on the work. Peter has been busy organizing the projects in Bahia and introducing Brian to everyone. On the side, he composed […]
Peter Berg’s tribute to Raymond F. Dasmann who died in Santa Cruz, California on November 5, 2002. Written in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. Besides his prodigious accomplishments in the fields of conservation and ecology, Ray Dasmann was an inspiring guide for learning how and what to observe. During the gifted times when I walked in the woods with him, Ray didn’t utter more than a […]
Bioregionalism is an update of Peter’s 1983 essay Bioregions. Why bioregions are important, clear and concise definitions, as well as manifestations of bioregionalism—groups, history, relationships to other concepts, and attacks by global monoculture. At the end of this article is a paragraph of Berg’s from 2009 about the importance of a bioregional point of view. * * * The catastrophic effects on Earth’s biosphere due to human […]
Bahia de Caraquez All of Ecuador is in the near-frantic clutch of election fever. There are over ten political parties (listas) who have been running candidates for offices from president and first deputy down to city council members in a time frame of just two months before mid-October voting. In Bahia the pitch has risen daily since the first week in September when emphatic speeches […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Planet Drum’s new office/volunteer center is a promising three bedroom, two bathroom, large living-dining room apartment on the second floor in the city center that is notably inexpensive due to the ravages of 1998’s earthquake. Only $30 in cash and $30 worth of repairs per month. Field Projects Manager Jeff Goddin and volunteer Laura McKaughan had to tear down the ruined […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Since it became unoccupied due to mud slides three and a half years ago, Bosque en Medio de Las Ruinas revegetation park in Maria Auxiliadpra barrio has been slowly evolving as a habitat. Our eyes have been trained on the progress of planted grass, brush and trees with only momentary interruptions from other life forms. Once there was a small cloud […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eduardo “Cheo” took on the role of locating owners of land on the eroded hillsides above Leonidas Plaza to enroll them in revegetation activities out of his dedication to ecological betterment of the Rio Chone Bioregion. A high school English teacher by profession, he has often aided other dry tropical forest restoration efforts and led or sent student volunteers. Cheo visited […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador The shredded comic strip atmosphere of Carnaval has infiltrated the city and holds us in a friendly but insistent grip like a grinning drunk. We aren’t always sure what to say because we aren’t sure of what we’ve really seen. The invasion began almost imperceptibly on Monday when I saw a man walking alone in the middle of the street with […]
Why Take on the Winter Olympics, and What Came of the Effort? Planet Drum Foundation has opposed the environmental impacts of the Winter Olympics since 1996. It was then that wildlife biologist Kimiharu To who was studying ptarmigan birds in the Hakuba Mountains of Nagano, Japan and working as a part-time ski guide and rice farmer contacted me for assistance in informing the local residents […]