Planet Drum Bundles

Please Note: This page is currently being edited 2/1/24

As Planet Drum was forming, printing (which loomed large in San Francisco) seemed the way to keep in touch with activists exploring new social possibilities. Explorations into publishing led to creating a new format. The first publications were called a “Bundle”— not a book, rather individual essays, poetry, graphics and posters, each printed separately and then assembled unbound into an envelope— named PLANET/DRUM. The PLANET/DRUM Bundles were originally conceived to spread planetary information—a “voice for the planet,” and to have production/publishing decentralized, passed around among activists in various locales around the planet, making PLANET/DRUM beats from various places. The first Bundle invited collaboration with, “Do you have a message to send out?”

The individual pieces of a Bundle were put into some desired order by whoever opened it. In this way each reader was put in the position of a quasi-editor—somewhat similar to the Sámi shaman in Planet Drum’s logo who is ordering and interpreting symbols adorning the head of his drum.

Ten Bundles were produced by Planet Drum, and two were produced in collaboration with the Bioregional Association of the Americas. Those twelve Bundles were distributed by Planet Drum Foundation. They provided a format that is both useful and expandable. The original Planet Drum Bundles and the pieces within them inspired people to create and produce Bioregional Bundles in Texas, New York and Italy, see below.

Wherever the Bundles were assembled, they became authentic tools for building bioregional awareness. For the people who made the Bundle, it was an in-depth learning experience about their bioregion and/or topics related to it. Bundles were always compiled and produced by or in collaboration with local reinhabitants. Since they were distributed both locally and to Planet Drum’s network, they informed a wide audience of the projects and visions developing in a particular bioregion, and inspired people to form their own bioregional groups and make local Bundles or Bundle pieces.

Planet Drum Bundles

More complete Bundle descriptions & graphics are linked here. Eventually complete texts and graphics for all Bundles will be posted. Contact the office if you’d like to help posting the materials. and check the Shop for available complete Bundles .

Bundle #1, 1973
Bundle #2, 1974
Bundle #3, 1975, North Pacific Rim Alive
Bundle #4, 1976, Continent Congress
Bundle #5, 1977, Watershed Guide & Living Here
Bundle #6, 1979, Backbone the Rockies
Bundle #7,1980, Renewable Energy & Bioregions: A new Context for Public Policy
Bundle #8, 1982, Eco-Decentralist Design
Bundle #9, 1985, Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary
Bundle #10, 2004, Tonics for Disinhabitation

Planet Drum Collaboration/Inspired Bundles

Bundle #11, Bioregional Mapping Bundle
Bundle #12, Decision-Making Bundle
Bundle #13, Edwards Plateau Bundle
Bundle #14, Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary 2
Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary: A Bioregional Atlas of Places and Peoples
Bundle #15, Po River Bioregion

Bundle #1, 1973

Planet Drum’s first Bundle shares elements that can be mixed and matched, and invites participation in creating the next Bundle. The first Bundle is a beat on a drum. How do you read it? Do you have a message to send out? Are you part of the next beat? 

Bundle #1 pieces:

• Envelope: plain manila  9.5”x12.5”
• Redwood’s Journal (Northern Columbia Notes) by Redwood. Documents first-hand observations of the lifestyles of Indian people in La Guajira and the Cabo, noting the relationships between characteristics, customs and natural surroundings. 16 page 5”x4” booklet. (green ink on pale green paper)
• A page in the notebook of planeteye explorations by David Empfield. 8.5”x4”
• Sámi Shaman Drawing by Ake Gustavsson and explanation of the first Bundle as a beat on the drum. On the reverse is Drawing of the head of a Sámi shaman’s drum

• Drawing of the head of a Sámi shaman’s drum, a closeup of the head of his drum with a description of how it functions. Drawing by Ake Gustavsson. 8.5”x11
• West Africa Cloth Dying Black and white photographs of the Hausa Tribe of Kano, West Africa by Edmund Shea. 35”x11.5”
• States is a volume of local analysis from reinhabitants of North America. The land-surface forms suggest areas of land-based identity. Where are you from? 8.5”x11” four color map poster. On the reverse is Two Rivers, by David Simpson.
• Two Rivers by David Simpson, an entry and outline of the South Fork Eel River that could be followed for other areas. 8.5”x11” four color map poster.
• Rain’s Cloth Barbara Lamorticello’s poem silk-screened on a 19”x15” muslin cloth with graphics by Luna Moth Robbin which might be part of a shirt, a shade or a blanket.

Bundle #2, 1974

Planet Drum’s second Bundle, 1974 is an exploration of alternatives to the status quo and asks, “What will your message say? Join us on September 30^th for the next two Bundles: North pacific Rim Alive, 1975 and Continent Congress, 1976.”

Bundle #2 pieces:

Bundle #3, 1975

North Pacific Rim Alive

• Envelope: white 9”x12” printed with green ink, graphic is a map of north pacific rim countries with shaman off coast of  North America with text North Pacific Rim plus table of contents
• North Sea Road journal booklet by Gary Snyder “Nets, maps, and blocks” from a Hokkaido journal, not previously published. Includes the phytogeography of  the islands of the North Pacific by Misao Tatewaki. Maps & layout by Maurie Heald. A 12 page 7”x 8.5” booklet with red cover
• Totem Salmon essay by Linn (Freeman) House which offers an excellent view of our interdependence with another species, presenting salmon as the “totem animal” and living boundary of the North Pacific Rim. House stresses the importance of salmon by presenting an overview of its life cycle and describing its native relationship with tribal people. A single 20”x17” page, printed front and back with woodcut by Phillip McCracken.
• Klamath Indians: Incantations Sent Out to Determine the Cause of Sickness A conjure poem by Carl Cary. Cover has a shaman lithographic by Daniel O. Stolpe. 12”x9.5” folded card.
• China Epidermis An interview conducted in 1973 after Douglas and Marie Gorsline’s return from seven weeks in China. It explores the relations of China’s social system compared to environmental systems and examines the integrative adaptations that reveal its wise commitment to the maximum conservation of materials and energy, decentralized self-sufficiency, urban-rural mix, ethnic diversity, recycling of wastes, low-impact technology, reflexive information flow, and a goal of stable populations. Eight page booklet folded to 8.5”x5” with drawings by Douglas Gorsline.
• Future Primitive  A collaboration between Jerry (Jeremiah) Gorsline and Linn (Freeman) House. A call to strive for regional self-sufficiency and the indigenous mode of mind. Culture should be integrated with nature at the level of the particular ecosystem. “Spoken as two voices with images which represent the best cullings from readings in dozens of authors and scholars and from months of discussions with many people on the west coast of North America.” 11”x17” folded card with cover image by Daniel O. Stolpe.
• North Pacific Range by Jerry (Jeremiah) Gorsline. An introduction to the physical base and biogeography of the Pacific Rim as well as its connection to human cultures. 17”x11” poster with a map.
• The Exchange Rates at Soya—1792  A list giving details of Japanese colonial trade with the Ainu (or Ezo) living in Soya on Hokkaido Island.   11”x17” poster with 18^th Century drawing of Ainu kelp fishing. Letter press printed at Zepherus Image by Holbrooke Teter.
• Cover Sheet of the North Pacific Rim Alive Bundle which contains an explanation of the concept underlying the bundle publications: “PLANET/DRUM is an instrument passed from hand to hand rather than a bandstand. A shared instrument from compass points to the circle that encloses us all.” It summarizes & describes the first three bundles: Bundle #1 “the first beat”; Bundle #2 “relayed the first replies.” and North Pacific Rim Alive “the first PLANET/DRUM with all its messages rooted in a single distinct geo-biotic region”, and describes PLANET/DRUM as “a network of correspondents. Fisher-folk in Alaska and Maine, communes in North America and Europe, Japanese natural scientists, urban planetarians, African game preserve managers, Russian poets and ethnographers, American Indian medicine people  It is sent to anyone who asks for it.” 8.5”x11”

Bundle #4, 1976

Continent Congress

• Envelope: white 9”x12” printed with dark blue ink with graphic of Turtle Island Flag designed by Peter Blue Cloud plus tiny shaman. The text is Continent Congress plus table of contents.
• Amble Toward Continent Congress by Peter Berg, lettering by Franz Cilensek. A bioregional overview of North American history following Columbus’ landing reveals the effect that the ongoing encounter between indigenous peoples and Europeans has had on both cultures, and offers a vision of reinhabitation through bioregionalism. Berg urges “coming together with the continent” in body and spirit because a “region has the power to sustain and join disparate people.” Two-sided, 11″x17″ poster, includes the IUCN’s Biotic Province map of North America with commentary by Raymond Dasmann. Updated and reprinted in 1992 as a “surprise publication” for Planet Drum Members.
• A Winter in the Illinois Woods, excerpts from a journal by Marguerite Swift, about reinhabitation—taking everything back to basics as she    spends a winter building and living in a cabin with her husband. 5.5”x8.5” 16 page booklet annotated by James Koller with drawings by Elsa (Skylark) Marley.
• Meat, essay by David Simpson that presents a convincing argument against eating meat, focusing on the enormous strain that our diet and increasingly mechanized mono-agricultural methods place on the earth’s resources. He refers to “the complete subjugation of land, grass, creatures and people to an overblown taste for red meat” and discusses its historical and present-day effects. Four page 5.5”x11” booklet with a cover drawing by Sandy Simonson and a poem by Freewheelin’ Frank Reynolds
• Continent Footing  North America A video conversation with geologist Robert Curry that evokes a sense of the whole of the continent and its parts. He explores the mineral source of life and culture with Peter Berg and Peter Coyote. Graphics from the video made by Peter Berg. 9”x22.5”
• Full Scale Nuclear Social Order 239 Next Question Taboo by Gil Bailie reveals the disastrous effects that full-scale development of nuclear power will have on our biosphere, as well as the cultural and political impacts that will inevitably follow, such as centralization and high technological orientation. Bailie says, “There is nothing on the planet that so completely limits the range of possible choices for future generations as does nuclear power.” 17”x11”  folded page with a central drawing by Martin Carey.
• Heterogeneity a poem in the shape of a flower by Allen Van Newkirk exploring the dimensions of ecological consciousness. Reverse is
• A table of contents for the Continent Congress bundle and an update on Planet/Drum Foundation developments. 7”x10” page folded in half
• New Orleans Report, Committee of Correspondence, “Galvez” Tristes Semi-tropiques by D. Eric Bookhardt, Stephen Duplantier, Chester Kasnowski, Ray Kern This geopsychic study examines the forces involved in regional self-definition. A model for the positioning of regions that sheds light on the lives of places. The mini-bundle includes:
  • Tractatus Geopsychorum by D. Eric Bookhardt with photographs by Bookhardt, Drury and Bellocq. 18”x22.5” poster with photos
  • A Logic of Regions by Stephen Duplantier plays with the idea of imaginatively “terraforming” a sinking and shrinking Louisiana. A region already visibly on the wane because of the rising waters due to marshland erosion of the coast. 11”x17” 4-page essay booklet
  • Possible Sound Frequency Map of words used in Louisiana Delta, Providing a Non Border to the Area by Chester Kasnowski 7”x7.5” two-sided card

Bundle #5, 1977

Watershed Guide & Living Here

Produced, authored & published by the Frisco Bay Mussel Group of which Planet Drum was a member.

• Envelope: recycled white with green rubber stamped recycle icon 9.5”x12.5”
• Watershed Guide and Living Here, A four-color poster map evoking the natural amenities of the San Francisco Bay Area Watershed with a pamphlet. The 32 page   5.5”x8.25”pamphlet, Living Here, is an excellent bioregional introduction to the Bay Area that focuses on its flora, fauna, soil, geology, climate, indigenous history, and many other aspects in a poetic and tangible fashion. The italic through-line was written by Peter Berg, graphics by Michael Moore. Living Here was typeset at Zepherus Image’s letterpress by Holbrooke Teter and then printed. The Watershed Guide,  is a gull’s eye view of the San Francisco Bay Area Watershed—-a 19”x22”  four color poster map designed by Michael Moore, probably printed by Levon Mosgofian at Tea Lautrec Litho.
• [Note for historians: The Green City Program Book was listed as Bundle #5  at the Planet Drum/Green City show at Canessa Gallery in the mid 90s.]

Bundle #6, 1979

Backbone—The Rockies

• Envelope: white 9”x12” printed with red ink with graphic of a tree growing out of a skeleton in the ground with shaman drumming under the tree. The text is Backbone—The Rockies plus table of contents.
• Introductory sheet—Are the Rockies Too Big to Worry About? A  sensate introduction to these vast mountains, their culture and politics as the bedrock & wellspring for the continent by Peter Berg and Linn (Freeman) House. Includes a table of contents for the bundle. Robert Curry, Thomas Birch and Roger Dunsmuir are credited as contributing editors. On the reverse is
• a description of Planet Drum as an “explorers guide for planet people” non-profit publishing newsletters, books and bundles. It includes this review by Books West, “ One of the most imaginative publications going is not a single publication, but bundles of them issued together as Planet Drum. Consisting of articles, maps, graphics, posters and poetry…Planet Drum is concerned with the conscious process of reclaiming one’s regional home (and the planet as a whole) from the ravages of inappropriate technology. It is decentralist, mutually respectful, ecologically tuned.”  11”x17 ½”
• Wild Idea…Wild Hope, A collection of: journal entries by Beth Chadwick, poems by Gary Paul Nabhan, and “talking” by Roger Dunsmuir, Tom Birch and Bruce Bugbee. 16 page 4”x9.5” pamphlet with painting & drawings by Skylark.
• The Eye in the Rock, a poem by John Haines with pictographs. 11”x8.5” single sheet folded in half.
• A House at 8000’—A Journal by Paul Shippee. Drawings and narrative explore spirit and practicalities while building a solar heated house with attention to site and surroundings. Folded 9.5”x23” sheet.
• Rocky Mountain Lifetime, An inspiring perpetual circular calendar illustrating the seasonal simultaneity of various features indigenous to the Rockies including plants, animals, weather, culture, etc. as they occur during the year. 22”x17”
• Rockies—the Source: Soil and Water, A map of North America with the Rockies, that illustrates the volume and reach of water & soil nutrients originating in the mountains. On the reverse
• Rockies—the Source: Forests, A Community of Trees and People in the Slocan Valley, by the Slocan Valley Community. This report from British Columbia discusses the history and issues to be resolved to defend and maintain the valley from extra-regional logging interests. 17”x22”
• Backbone—the Rockies, A map with the Rockies and the Andes depicted as backbones. On the reverse
• Backbone—the Rockies, a conversation between Peter Berg and geologist Robert Curry with a map drawn by Green Man Co-operative. 11”x17”

Bundle #7, 1980

Renewable Energy & Bioregions: A new Context for Public Policy

• Envelope: white 9″x12″ printed with pale green ink with a graphic by Nancy Eckel and the text Renewable Energy and Bioregions and a shaman in the lower right corner.
• Introductory sheet by the authors observes that energy and environment issues are directly related, and that appropriate technology and renewable energy should be based on the appropriate location which is the watershed in bioregions. “It approaches some traditional concepts with a spirit for resolving the conflict between energy and biospheric concerns and issues, and it advances new cultural reference points for balancing our energy needs with the requirements of natural systems.” Comments, criticism and refinements to the ideas are welcomed.  8.5”x11”
• Renewable Energy and Bioregions: A New Context for Public Policy is a 26 page booklet written by Peter Berg and George Tukel Graphics & design by Nancy Eckel. Puts forth the concept that appropriate technology and renewable energy should be based in bioregions on the “solar income” of local watersheds. Prepared for the Solar Business Office of the State of California.  Jerry Yudelson, Director of the Solar Business Office contributed the FOREWARD and an Appendix, “Energy Policy Implications,” to the booklet.  26 pages 11”x8.5”  booklet.

Bundle #8, 1982

Eco-Decentralist Design

Typeset and printed by Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, New York. Published by Planet Drum Foundation (3 booklets)

• Envelope: white 9.5”x9.5” printed with black ink with the graphic of an apple tree growing out of city by Gary Allen. The text is Eco-Decentralist Design with new customs, watershed and energy planning, sustainable communities stacked below the title.
• Introductory Sheet for the Eco-Decentralist Design bundle.  An introduction—“There is a way to conceive of energy production and use, and community development, so that we don’t ultimately destroy the places where we live.” and summary of the three booklets. On the reverse is information about the Planet Drum Foundation and a listing of some of its publications. 8.5”x11”
• Figures of Regulation, Guides for Re-Balancing Society with the Biosphere by Peter Berg. Design by George Tukel, Diane Ghisone, Gary Allen, Erich Blohm and Illustrations by Gary Allen. A discussion of social values in the context of bioregionalism. “The ways we live in places must acknowledge the features of local natural systems. Figures of Regulation can help create this bond and provide an ethical basis for community activities based on new customs rather than laws.” 15 pages 8.5”x8.5” booklet.
• Toward a Bioregional Model: Clearing Ground for Watershed Planning “A Map Is Not A Blueprint/Support For Adaptive Tactics/Planning For Necessity And Flexibility” by George Tukel. Design by Diane Ghisonne, Erich Blohm, Gary Allen. Illustrations by Gary Allen. Special thanks to Paul Ryan, Steve Tukel. Developing a model to allow the design of communities and means of provision (food, energy, housing) to resonate with solar income, local watersheds, and the goals of a reinhabitory society. The focus is on community well-being, human services, and the integrity of local ecosystems rather than construction details and political climate. 21 pages 8.5”x8.5” booklet.
• Reinhabiting Cities and Towns: Designing for Sustainability by John Todd with George Tukel. Graphics & design by Peter Davey with illustrations by Gary Allen & Peter Davey. Special thanks to Nancy Jack Todd and Steve Tukel. It presents a design method to combine the knowledge we have about alternative technology and renewable energy with the biology of specific regions and thoroughly examines practical applications. The goal is to create “beautiful, healing, and inviting” places to live by fusing nature and culture. 64 pages 8.5”x8.5” booklet.

Bundle #9, 1985

Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary (#1)

• Envelope: white 10”x13” printed with black ink with Striped Bass in rectangle graphic by Gary Allen with text Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary and Hudson Estuary Bundle
• Introductory letter by the Planet Drum Staff (Bob, Judy, Lori and Peter) The letter provided an overview of the bundle’s articles and introduced the bundle as a surprise “special bonus” publication for Planet Drum Members.  It also encouraged readers to produce bundles reflecting  their own bioregions. Planet Drum Staff asked, “Can the human population in the watershed of the lower Hudson River…ever be reharmonized with the natural entities that made inhabitation there possible in the first place? Can New York actually rejoin the planet? If that inspired and necessary outcome ever takes place it will be through recognition of basic realities offered in this bundle. …Taste it again, New York as part of the planet, apple trees in the Big Apple. Is that too far-feched?”
• Totem Striped Bass graphic by Gary Allen on the front. On the reverse
• Bundle introduction by George Tukel notes that the bundle was produced by Earthscore and George Tukel and includes a call for readers  to get involved with the restoration and maintenance of the Hudson Estuary Bioregional Community. 4.5”x11”
• The Hudson, at Storm King, a poem by Kirkpatrick Sale with photograph by Susan Foster Brown. Storm King is the site of a successful popular protest against Consolidated Edison’s attempt to divert Hudson water to generate electricity. 8.5”x11”
• The Lower Hudson River Basin As a Bioregional Community booklet, by Thomas Berry with drawings by Ilka List, design by Tina Christensen. Dedication: “ To Pete Seeger: For his songs and celebrations of the River,” This essay uncovers many aspects of the river—the shaping of the land, the aquatic life, the forests, the land fauna, the Indians, the European presence, and the basin as a bioregion—truly a college level class. And then speaks of the present as necessarily developing “a biocentric          consciousness, a realization that the ultimate value is in the integrity of the life processes of the region as a whole and that the true grandeur of the human is attained in this larger context, not simply in the human in itself or in its dominance over the larger community.” 18 page 7”x8.5” booklet.
• Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary is a map of the watershed of the Hudson River  designed by Claude Pousot. It celebrates the 130 miles of tidal flow in the Hudson from the Atlantic Ocean to Troy, New York and delimits an estuarial geography for new political issues.  25”x32”
• A Pole Frame House at the base of the northeastern leg of the Shawangunk mountains  Pages from a solar house design notebook with text and concept by George Tukel, graphics by Gary Allen, that provides a sustainable  approach for fulfilling basic human needs in the Hudson River area. Includes bioregional construction, technology, farming design criteria. With a 7.5”x5” note attached that begins, “Dear Peter and Judy, All our loose kitchen table talk about how reinhabitation, technology and communities fold together within the Hudson estuary have meant hours at the drawing board looking for a pattern that connects human needs and the health of the estuary…”  Four pages 11”x26” folded.

Bundle #10, 2004

Tonics for Disinhabitation

• Envelope: white 10”x13” with black ink graphic of four seasonal rubber stamps along the left side.
• Tonics for Disinhabitation by Peter Berg. Introduces the poems and their seasonal use. Introduction and poems letterpress printed by Eric Holub at Hillside Press. 8.5”x4.25”
• Four Poems for seasonal use by Peter Berg
  • San Francisco Bioregional Chant (1974) title: printed gray 8”x8”
  • Invisible Except For a Nervous System (1996) Maine title: printed green  8”x8”
  • Shasta Bioregion Winter Solstice (1997) title: printed dark gray  8”x8”
  • Solstice Solo (For Lew Welch) (2003) San Francisco title: printed orange  8”x8”

Planet Drum Collaboration/Inspired Bundles

Bundle #11, 1997?

Bioregional Mapping Bundle

Produced in collaboration with the Bioregional Association of the Americas. (Three books.)

• Boundaries of Home: Mapping for Local Empowerment – 1993 by Doug Aberley
• Giving the Land A Voice: Mapping Our Home Places – 1999 by Doug Aberley, Michael Dunn, and Briony Penn
• Discovering Your Lifeplace: A First Bioregional Workbook – 1994 by Peter Berg. 

Bundle #12, 1997?

Decision-Making Bundle

Produced in collaboration with the Bioregional Association of the Americas. (Two books.)

• Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making – 1996 by Sam Kaner
• Introduction To Consensus  – 2000 by Bea Briggs. 

Bundles Inspired by Planet Drum

Bundle #13, 2017?

Edwards Plateau Bundle

Produced by Robert F. Young at the University of TX, Austin TX during a graduate seminar. Robert taught Bioregional Planning and Sustainable Green Cities classes at Cornell University, the University of Oregon, Eugene and the University of Texas, Austin. He produced a bioregional Bundle for the Edwards Plateau as part of the courses he taught at UT. Rob passed away in January, 2018 quite unexpectedly. For more information about Rob’s incredible work, see: https://soa.utexas.edu/people/robert-young

Bundle #14, 2018

Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary 2

Seven pieces produced by George Tukel. George continues producing beautiful and essential bioregional Bundles about the Hudson River Estuary. He says,

“We have produced one bundle in the tradition of those crafted by Planet Drum.  I would like to highlight the Bioregional Atlas we published [a spiral bound 11″x17” book] titled Reinhabit the Hudson Estuary: A Bioregional Atlas of Places and Peoples. It has original maps and essays that are informative and compelling.”

You can find Bundle 2 and the Atlas on the website: http://www.reinhabitthehudsonestuary.org

Bundle #15, 2018

Po River Bioregion

Sixteen pieces produced by Giuseppe Moretti & the Italian Bioregional Path. Giuseppe works with a bioregional study for the Po River Valley who produced a beautiful Bundle in 2018. He also publishes a biannual newsletter, Lato Salvetico (Wild Side), and participates in the yearly gatherings of the SENTIERO BIOREGIONALE (Bioregional Path).