For the final week of the University of Oregon Sustainable Development Study Abroad Program the students completed their Ecuador experiences with a visit to the Bahía de Caráquez Municipality, Los Algarrobos School in Canoa, the Planet Drum greenhouse, and two days in the beautiful mountain town of Mindo. At the Bahía de Caráquez Municipality, we met with long-time friend of Planet Drum Foundation and current vice-Mayor Iván Aguirre and members […]
Students continued to explore the challenges and possibilities for reconciling development and conservation in Ecuador during the second week of the University of Oregon Sustainable Development Study Abroad Program in Bahía. Activities for week two included a visit with local fishermen, tree planting with the National Electric Company, a tour of the Isla Corazon Wildlife Refuge, a trip to the Machalilla National Park and whale-watching […]
This summer Planet Drum hosted the fourth study abroad program with the University of Oregon. The course is called Sustainable Development in Latin America and covers the tensions, challenges, and possibilities for reconciling development and conservation in the dry tropical forest zone, a critically important and globally imperiled ecosystem. Twelve students were accompanied by professor Moriah McGrath on the program. After spending a week taking language classes at […]
A brief bit of background:Planet Drum’s local collaborator from the Astillero Community Greenhouse, José María happens to be the father of another good friend: Chino. Chino is a jack of all trades, who happens to work for Flor María and her son Patricio Tamaríz. Patricio and Flor María were two of Peter Berg’s original contacts in Bahía de Caráquez from before Planet Drum had even […]
Los Algarrobos natural sciences teacher and Planet Drum collaborator Enrique contacted me requesting some soil for a garden project that he had in mind for the school. I suggested that the Planet Drum crew assist with the project and that we would be happy to donate the necessary soil. On this particular Friday, we visited Los Algarrobos school in Canoa for a recycled-tire garden building […]
One of Planet Drum’s original contacts in Bahía is Ramon Cedeño. Ramon owns and runs the Punta Gorda Nature Reserve, where over the years Planet Drum has donated and assisted in planting hundreds of native trees for habitat restoration. We visited Punta Gorda with Ramon to go on a hike up the seasonal creek bed and see if we could find Chirimoya fruits to harvest (for […]
A longtime friend of Planet Drum, Lucas Oshun, has been involved in a myriad of ecological projects over recent years, including directing Global Student Embassy projects, starting a bamboo construction company that donated bamboo houses to earthquake victims, as well as coordinating Dry Tropical Forest research and reforestation initiatives. Lucas is now administrating a new agro-ecology project on a farm near the town of Chone […]
Planet Drum has prepared new bioregional education material. The classic workbook introduction to bioregions by identifying native plants, animals, climate and human activities and then drawing them in a bioregional map has been adapted to suit Ecuadorian school children. They enjoy the mapping project and it has become a fun activity for them. We visited Los Algarrobos School in Canoa to teach two classes (6th […]
One of the schools in the region that has participated in Planet Drum’s revegetation activities over the years is the Los Algarrobos School in Canoa. In the past, we always talked about increasing collaboration with them. Now the opportunity has presented itself and after discussing possibilities with Antonia, the school’s principle, we decided to build elevated seedbeds there to further involve the students in the […]