Projects
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Planet Drum’s plans to build a Bioregional Sustainability Institute (BSI) on property that was acquired for that purpose three years ago just took a great step toward. Jaeson Schultz, our land partner in the original purchase of sixty hectares of undeveloped land, is here for a few months and joined Clay and I on an exploratory visit accompanied by Mark Hebard and […]
Mark HebardVolunteer and HenchpersonFebruary 18, 2009 [Mark has been aiding and abetting Planet Drum’s activities from San Francisco for the past six years. He traveled with Peter Berg to Bahia this February.] The last two days in Ecuador have been strenuous and inspiring. Yesterday Peter and I traveled with all the volunteers by ferry across the bay to San Vicente and then by bus up […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador It is a particularly hard winter of blizzards this year in the Northern Hemisphere and a hot summer marked by forest fires in the Southern, but in Ecuador where sharply defined seasons elsewhere are equatorially ambiguous it is the time of rain at night and, if there is no blanket of gray overcast, baking sun during the day. Downpours range from […]
December 29, 2008-January 16, 2009 Summary: House repairs continued. Stakes for tree markers are cut and painted. A new site at Bosque Encantado is created. Completed house repairs include (but are not limited to): hiring a contractor to repaint the front of the house, refinishing the Planet Drum sign, repairing the sign’s metal hanger that was in danger of falling to the sidewalk below, overhauling a […]
December 8-26, 2008 Summary: Despite imminent signs of the rainy season (increased humidity, blazingly intense sun, warm nights, etc) it hasn’t arrived yet, so we took advantage of the time to further prepare ourselves for planting by clearing more trails and digging more holes. I stepped up volunteer recruitment with a new volunteer announcement that I distributed in Canoa and to hostals around Ecuador. Also, I […]
November 24-December 5, 2008 Summary: Dryness forces us to water some of the most exposed sites. We did major repair work on the roof of the greenhouse. Many, many, many holes for plants were dug. And we commenced planting season with a group of university students! On Monday, Jaime and I went to the greenhouse to transplant some of the last trees that will be part […]
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 Moyuyo stake staircase at the approach, which is rather steep. […]
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 Ramon and students to Parque Machililla near Puerto Lopez. The […]
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 Seattle or London (and perhaps the tendency to stare ahead […]
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 rather than belonging. There needs to be a spirit and […]