Eco-Ecuador

Collaboration for a Long-Term Sustainable City

Ecuador Project Report: Natalie Pollard, Feb. 2004

By Natalie Pollard | February 10, 2004

Natalie Pollard, Volunteer Planet Drum Foundation Hola Planet Drum,  Thursday morning, 2/5/04, Renee and I headed to the greenhouse — transplanting, watering, and preparing beds for planting.  Back to the apartment for pescado de Koke (yum!)  In the afternoon, we headed to Jorge Lomas with Brian and Cheo to do some cribbing along the hillside, so that we are able to plant without causing further damage […]

Enjoying the pace of life here.

By Natalie Pollard | February 10, 2004

February 10, 2004 Hola Planet Drum,  Thursday morning, 2/5/04, Renee and I headed to the greenhouse — transplanting, watering, and preparing beds for planting.  Back to the apartment for pescado de Koke (yum!)  In the afternoon, we headed to Jorge Lomas with Brian and Cheo to do some cribbing along the hillside, so that we are able to plant without causing further damage (Renee’s suggestion) […]

5th Eco-City Anniversary Organizing

By Brian Teinert | January 19, 2004

Brian Teinert, Field Project Manager Planet Drum FoundationJanuary 19, 2004 Up until last week, I had been the unofficial organizer of the celebration for the Fifth Anniversary of the Declaration for the Eco-City.  Last Thursday I was made the official organizer.  I have been inviting more and more people every week. The calendar for the eco-city celebration is set.   We now have people from the Municipio coming, along […]

New Volunteers and New year Planning

By Brian Teinert | January 5, 2004

Brian Teinert, Field Project Manager Planet Drum FoundationJanuary 5, 2004 Reneé Portanova will undoubtedly be a great member of our team.  We have been in contact and I am looking forward to her arrival in Bahia on January 19th.   I am excited about Natalie Pollard coming as well.  At the moment, we have 3 volunteers lined up for February (Natalie, Renee, and Debbie.)  We also […]

Wild & “Wild” Encounters

By Peter Berg | November 26, 2003

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador  There are now six revegetation sites strung like beads on the river-facing eroded hillsides leading into Bahia de Caraquez. One within sight above the vivero(greenhouse) at Universidad Catolica is fully planted and has thus far survived the summer drought. It can serve as a walk-through demonstration of the generalprocess and a specific model of controlling land subsidence on the face of a downhill swale.  Nearby is […]

Pique y Pasa (Choose What You Like)

By Peter Berg | November 22, 2003

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador When I first heard “pique y pasa” (pronounced pee-kee pah-sah) it was used in a traditional way to describe how to go about buying something when there were different items of all kinds offered. Not a single-minded hunting trip for just one thing or at best a few things where the range of possibilities is finite and it’s a matter of how […]

For Indoor Use Only – A Meditation

By Peter Berg | November 20, 2003

Bahia de caraquez, Ecuador Of all the differences between living here and in San Francisco there is one that creates a paramount necessity. It is the millimeter close proximity of organisms that use the human body for their own purposes and other natural effects. This slim space eventually becomes a factor in most activities if not a near obsession. There is a hospital quality about […]

Reiterating the Ecological City

By Peter Berg | November 15, 2003

Bahia de Carquez, Ecuador It has been nearly five years since the Ecological City Declaration in Bahia de Caraquez and there have been many developments and changes. These have overwhelmingly been for the better and are too great in number to describe fully in a short space. One major difference is that the mutual exuberant feeling of hopeful optimism that prevailed on February 23, 1999 […]

Re-emerging Indigenas

By Peter Berg | November 13, 2003

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador From a video music blaring shore side restaurant on the Rio Chone, the ancient vision of a dugout canoe with two men standing and throwing circular nets in the distance. It’s an accomplished skill for only one person to sit still in these narrow, shallow draft boats without upsetting their knife-edge balance. A large diesel engine ferry powers across the river […]

Natives are Harder

By Peter Berg | November 12, 2003

Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador The main stage of the ambitious project to revegetate six kilometers of eroded hillsides directly facing Rio Chone on the road into Bahia de Caraquez with native plants of the tropical dry forest has begun. The list of bioregional criteria met by doing this is impressive. These hills are continuous with the metropolitan area and thus part of the ecological city […]