Projects
This is Peter Berg’s report from the first year of Planet Drum Foundation’s involvement with Bahia de Caraquez, an eco-city in Ecuador. When the people of a small urban area decide to pass a law declaring an “ecological city,” it is an unusual and laudable act of public dedication. If there are already some extensive reforestation projects immediately nearby, and a non-profit estuary protection agency […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Real happy to say that the meetings with the Eco-Bahia Learning Center are proving to be of execution of things to be done and not just a bla bla bla meeting. Yesterday was a wonderful day. One of the Fanca settlements, remember the one on the right hand side on the small little hill? We saw the people dancing there once. […]
Ecuador Eco-Gathering Report #7San Francisco, California It’s a few days after the vernal equinox in San Francisco, a date when the equal length of days and nights is the same here as it is all year in Ecuador. How remarkable to find anything similar to what happened there just three weeks ago. The festivities for Bahia de Caraquez’s Declaration as a “Ciudad Ecologica” (Ecological City) […]
Green City Project’s Eco-Art Contest was celebrated at SOMAR Gallery on March 21, 1999. Thirteen Middle and High Schools in San Francisco participated by submitting over 75 eco-art and recycled art entries. Prizes were given out for 18 entries, some of which were collaborative class projects. Prizes and refreshments were graciously donated by University Art Supply, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Odwalla, Ultimate Cookie and Rainbow […]
In February, 1999, Peter Berg, Director of Planet Drum Foundation, traveled to Bahía de Caráquez in Ecuador, on an invitation to collaborate in discussions about the future of the human and natural environment of the area, which has been ravished by natural calamities over the past several years. Out of these meetings (which Peter has documented in his Ecuador Dispatches) came the following By-Law declaring an […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering (This is probably the last account of events here until after the Eco-Gathering February 27-28. In fact, there may not be a chance to send another before leaving Ecuador March 6 because of uncertainty about travel and e-capability.) The barrio of Santa Martinita is a workers’ district of cement block houses near the center of town that rises on a […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering Report #5 Our species has probably been as intelligent, creative and physically similar for at least the last 100,000 years. Agriculture has been practiced for only about the last 10,000 years, or one-tenth of that time. The Industrial Era probably began in the middle of the 17th Century, but has been prominent for only the last 200 years, or just […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Letter #2 Dear Friends, If you are part of an informal group or belong to an organization that is associated with bioregional activities or sustainability in any form, please write an e-letter of congratulations and support to Patricio Tamariz and the Ecuador Eco-Gathering in Bahia de Caraquez at archtour@srv1.telconet.netso that it can make an impression on the national and other officials who […]
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador Eco-gathering Report #4 Finding enjoyable aspects of Bahia is as easy for a stranger as anywhere I’ve been. All of the most populous areas of the city — market, ferry landing, municipal building and downtown businesses — are within a few blocks of each other. Walking to them is so full of contact with residents and visitors that it can’t be […]