This week was full of excitement and activity. Starting off on Tuesday I met with the presidents of the barrios to let them know about the bioregional education project. They were very interested and in fact one of them wants to participate in the project. They suggested several ideas of projects we could work on and I am thinking of having the first Saturday of […]
April 25 to May 2, 2005 Vladir wanted me to tell you that they tried out the water heater for the first time with the kids at Genesis School on Earth Day because they were all muddy from planting mangroves. The shower water had to be mixed with cold water in order to bring it to a comfortable temperature, so it is working well. This […]
This week has been packed with activity as the bioregional education project takes flight. It seems that the program has an energy of its own as the community of Bahia welcomes the prospect of bioregional education. This week I have been to talk to the Universidad Catolica, Universidad La Laica, Colegios Eloy Alfaro, and Fanny Baird. I am guessing that I have presented the program to […]
April 18 to 24, 2005 We planted trees at the Fernando site in Jorge Lomas, and at the Carlos Endara site. We have come to terms with old man Salazar (the other supposed owner of the Fernando site) for the time being. At the Endara site, we got some help from Dario, a nephew of Colombele (the tenant) who happened to be around. There are […]
April 11 to 17, 2005 Well, it has definitely been raining this week! Saturday night there was an especially huge downpour. We will plant as long as the rains continue, but I am assuming not past April. Those plants which have been in the greenhouse since last rainy season I think we should donate to community groups if we can’t plant them all ourselves. Those […]
March 21st to 27th, 2005 Hello Peter, The new Bioregional Education Manager Kristen Lansdale’s visit went quite well. First she met with Renée and me to talk about how to get started with the education program and where to find resources. She also helped us plant trees at Inter-Americano Colegio, transplant seedlings at the greenhouse, and wash and cut plastic bottles from the university’s cafeteria. […]
March 15th to 20th, 2005 We are doing fine according to our timeline. The Dairy Farm site was planted three times this week with the help of Carlos Franco (son), Andrea (Renée’s friend), two traveling volunteers from Quito, and two workers from Bella Vista who came because of the meeting I had with the Municipio’s agronomist working on the Bella Vista model community project. That […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador On the day of the sixth anniversary of its Ecological City Declaration, Bahia de Caraquez flashed bright signals of evolving its truly own version of urban sustainability. It was eco-semana (ecology week) with events in vernacular earmarks such as a night-time Carnaval pregon (parade) with some marchers painted as earth features and animals, a cleanup of Rio Chone beach, a tour […]
January 21, 2005 This week, January 17-21, we continued with our regular water maintenance of the sites and the greenhouse. Last week’s rain (although only a fraction of what is expected for this time of year) had a huge influence on the surrounding landscape. I was astonished to come back from Quito to a plush green covering where just a short time ago there was […]
Report #1: Riccardo Clemente, Solar Energy Volunteer The solar hot water course has come to the end of the first part with successful results. Around 15-17 students participated, and about 7 students followed the entire course with enthusiasm and involvement. On Monday we started with a quick introduction on renewable energy, global warming and other negative effects of using fossil fuels. I went through the general principle […]