October 10th, 2006
Peter Berg, an ecologist and founder of the Planet Drum Foundation (founded in 1973), came onboard Peace Boat from Acapulco, Mexico until San Francisco, USA. He explained “bioregionalism” to participants, a term he coined in the early 1970s. He described this concept as follows.
“Everybody lives in some naturally defined area and those areas have unique characteristics that harmonize with each other and I call that a ‘bioregion’. Bioregions can be small or large but you know you’re in one and not the other if there’s a difference in weather, geology, native plants and animals, and the way that people adapt to that bioregion. If you harmonize with the place in which you live, you are beneficial. If you don’t, you destroy it. It’s like walking into an antique store backwards. If you don’t know about the place where you live, you will start knocking everything over. I would like to see geopolitical borders gone. They are always destructive. It is very difficult for people to live in a political area defined by arbitrary borders.
The view from Twin Peaks, San Francisco
During the industrial era of the last 200 years, people have been disinhabited from the place that they live. In order to stop destroying these places, we have to reinhabit them, which is a conscious effort. And many people enjoy it. Most people feel a hole in their lives and they fill it by identifying with the place. Urban people can enrich their lives by seeing the city they live in as natural. We are all a part of nature all the time, even on this ship. It makes you feel complete, authentic, native. Gary Snyder said, ‘The most radical act you can commit is to not move’.”
After five days of lectures and workshops onboard, participants had the opportunity to go on tour with Peter in San Francisco, his home. First we visited Glen Canyon, an ecologically ancient reserve that is 10,000 years old and virtually unchanged. Peter showed participants native vegetation, a live creek, and geological characteristics particular to the San Francisco peninsula. The Planet Drum Foundation holds regular educational workshops there.
Next, we went up to Twin Peaks, a popular view-point for tourists. From this vista we were able to see the entire bay and learned what makes it a watershed by examining the 100-plus mile view. From Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Berkley and Oakland are visible. We were blessed with a clear day.
Chrissy Field ecological restoration project
Finally we went to the Bay Shore to see Chrissy Field, a restoration site where a former military airstrip has been torn out and a marsh ecosystem restoration project has taken its place. The urban restoration project is considered the biggest in the US. “It is an incredible exhibition of how to take out a military thing and put something ultimately peaceful in its place,” Peter said to us during the tour. Full of native medicinal plants and a salt and fresh water mix that attracts a variety of animals and migrating birds, it is an extraordinary symbol of hope for a more ecologically sustainable future.
Group photo of Peace Boat participants and Peter Berg in Glen Canyon
You can contact Peter Berg at mail@planetdrum.org
Step out onto the Planet
Draw a circle 100 feet round
Within that circle are 300 things nobody understands very well
And maybe have never seen
How many can you find?
“Step out onto the Planet”
By Lew Welch
(Peter Berg’s favorite poem)
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