Tierra Martinez, the teacher of the Permaculture Design Course I just finished taking, is well-known throughout South America; participants came from as far away as Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Peru, with a large contingent from Bogota. He teaches not only traditional permaculture, but also social permaculture. His long gray beard…

This 2023 Pact was the result of a UN conference to set up a framework for just water governance in Colombia. Many NGOs and governmental bodies are partners, including International Rivers, Riverhood, Water and Development Partnership, Alianza Abrazar al Rio, Fundacion Plurales, among others. …

Barichara’s green/environmental festival of films from many countries I look forward to this free film festival each year. Many are short documentaries, some feature-length; most films are in Spanish or in another language (such as Portuguese, French or occasionally English) with Spanish subtitles. Good practice for me! There are two…

What does one do when the visa process is interminably slow, with the prospect of applying for a “safe conduct” every three weeks for an unknown time period? …

Water as a Human Right As I focus on getting my visa renewed and finding a place to live next after Casa Común, I I have not forgotten my vision and dream of working in support of indigenous water rights. Yes, I’ve been working some on biogas digesters, and talking to people to learn about…

Summer Solstice and the Joys of Letting Go Have you ever cleared out a storage unit? I never had one up until about a year and a half ago, when I first decided to try a longer stay in Colombia. This storage unit allowed me a “Plan B” in case I decided not to live there. Furniture, clothing…

The ocean sings her ancient song, The rhythmic waves, bluegreen, salty, Curling, with infinite forms, playful, ever-changing, Waves at us with white foam, Waves like exclamation points Pouncing and pummeling! Cracking and breaking! Foaming in white, mottled green, Soothing sea music, distant thunder, as I lie on warm sand. Waves…the…

“Disco Sopa”? What could that be? A musical soup? Turns out it is considered part of the “Slow Food” movement. It was started in Berlin, Germany in 2012 by a Slow Food group, and is now an international event.

Finally, some forward progress on biodigesters! Somara, who has had her own biodigester for over 2 years now, took the initiative to replace, at last, the biodigester of an elderly couple out in the country. Theirs had a hole in it, which Somara tried unsuccessfully to fix, last year. …