Monthly Archives: July 2016

London actor/producers join Las Casas de la Selva for labor in the forest! June 2016

Both Claudia and Irving have been long-term associates of the Institute of Ecotechnics, and we were delighted to have them come and volunteer at Las Casas de la Selva. Irving traveled with Johnny from London and stayed for over May into June month, whilst Claudia came in for two weeks at the beginning of June. We loved every moment of their stay, and appreciated their help, with overall management of groups, the timber business, and nursery work.

See images of their time here.

About Claudia Bolton: Founder member of Beryl and the Perils (that 3t saw back in the 1980s whilst at College studying theater design with Malcolm Griffiths at Trent, Nottingham)– Fast Furious Feminist Fun in the 70’s/80’s. Warped seriously first time around, ICA/ Edinburgh at the Regency Cinema. 79-80 with Ken Campbell; Warped again second generation with Ken and Daisy Eris Campbell. Actor/Managed that beast for 2 years at the Drome 1999-2001.

In between Warps: among many other things, in lieu of a theatre PHD, she played Winnie in Sam Beckett’s Happy Days and toured herself around the world. – “As Winnie you can pick up a Willie `anywhere, after all he only has 5 lines!” – She performed it in Nepal, On the beach in Bali, In The Outback, at BIosphere 2 in Arizona, NYC and finally at a proper Beckett Festival in Holland with the Incredible Orlando, blind Jack Birkett, playing Willie. Through the 90’s Claudia put on original productions everywhere, especially guest directing at the painter Symon’s, Space Island LIght Industrial Theatre in Bali – an exquisite open air ampitheatre designed by Buckminster Fuller. In 1999/2001 Claudia created the role of the `Serpent in Peter Greenaway’s prop Opera. ‘100 Objects to Represent the World,’ another far more glamorous World Tour! From Salzburg to Rio, Naples to Mexico City and on, though sadly never London.

Post Warp 2, what to do? Small shows! Table Top Theatre – dramatic story telling of classic tales in short form. Greek Tragedy, Hamlet. still very available for hire! Also creating original dramas for kids (home schooling). Directed Robert Anton Wilson’s, Wilhelm Reich In Hell, in the 80’s at the October Gallery London which was a gas, as it was to meet him and get personal permission. Also “Deconstruction of Countdown” – based on William Burrough’s Naked Lunch for Studio 7 at October Gallery, 2013. Claudia is really thrilled that the Cosmic Trigger Play is manifesting NOW in a wonderful lineage of evolutionary Theatre.

About Irving Rappaport: Irving Rappaport is an award winning film and theatre producer whose West End shows include ‘The Seven Year Itch’ starring Darryl Hannah, ‘Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell’ starring Peter O’Toole, ’Jesus My Boy’ starring Tom Conti and the musical ‘Hit Me! The Life and Rhymes of Ian Dury’. He is a member of London’s Southbank choir which performs at the Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls and recently assisted artist Gerry Judah in the creation of two six metre sculptures commissioned by St Paul’s cathedral to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. He is extremely proud to have supported the Showstoppers since their first performance in 2008.

John Allen, Founder of Las Casas de la Selva, May 2016 visit.

Johnny came to visit for the month of May. Here is a link to more images of his time here. Pic credits: 3t Vakil, Irving Rappaport, Andres Rua.

John Polk Allen is a systems ecologist and engineer, metallurgist, adventurer and writer. He is best known as the inventor and Director of Research of Biosphere 2, the world’s largest laboratory of global ecology, and was the founder of Synergia Ranch. Allen is a proponent of the science of biospherics. Allen has also conceived and co-founded nine other projects around the world, pioneering in sustainable co-evolutionary development. He studied anthropology and history at Northwestern, Stanford, and Oklahoma Universities, and served in the U.S. Army’s Engineering Corps as a machinist. He graduated from Colorado School of Mines and received an MBA with High Distinction from the Harvard Business School.

In the early 1960s, Allen headed a special metals team at Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corporation which developed over thirty alloys to product status. Allen worked on regional development projects with David Lillienthal’s Development Resources Corporation in the U.S., Iran, and Côte d’Ivoire where he became an expert in complex regional development. In the mid-1960s Allen and a group of associates attempted a solder flux company that failed. He has led expeditions studying ecology, particularly the ecology of early civilizations: Nigeria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Tibet, Turkey, India, and the Altiplano.

Allen began the first manned Biosphere Test Module experiment in September 1988, residing in the almost fully recyclable closed ecological system environment for three days and setting a world record at that time, proving that closed ecological systems would work with humans inside. As the vice-president of Biospheric Development for the project, as well as Executive Chairman, Allen was responsible for the science and engineering that created the materially closed life system, as well as the development of spin-off technologies.

Allen currently serves as Chairman of Global Ecotechnics, an international project development and management company with a Biospheric Design Division engaged in designing and preparing to build the second generation of advanced materially closed biospheric systems and ecologically enriched biomic systems; in the EcoFrontiers Division he owns and operates innovative sustainable ecological projects of which he was the co-founder and chief designer in France, Australia (5000 acre savannah regeneration project), Puerto Rico (1000 acre sustainable rainforest project) and England.

He is Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, the Linnean Society, and the Explorers Club.

Johnny’s invention, Biosphere 2, the world’s largest laboratory of global ecology. Biosphere 2 set a number of world records in closed life system work including degree of sealing tightness, 100% waste recycle and water recycle, and duration of human residence within a closed system (eight people for two years, early 90s).

Under the pen name Johnny Dolphin, Allen has chronicled his personal history alongside the social history of his many destinations in novels, poetry, short stories, and plays. https://www.synergeticpress.com/authors/john-allen/


Lucilla Fuller Marvel, AICP, PPL, and Buckminster Fuller Institute Board Secretary, has more than 30 years of experience in urban and social planning, housing and community development in Puerto Rico. Since establishing Taller de Planificacia’s Social (Social Planning Workshop), a consulting firm, in 1973, she has worked with community organizations, private entities, and city and state governments in the preparation of needs analysis, social sector studies, housing plans, and strategic plans. Ms. Marvel co-founded the non- profit Puerto Rico Housing Network in 1996. She is also a member of the Board for the Center for the New Economy, a recently created independent think tank in Puerto Rico and the Chana and Samuel Levis Foundation.

L-R: Corey, Denise, George, Miho, Magha, Flash, 3t, Johnny, Irving and Andres. May 2016

Pic credits: 3t Vakil, Irving Rappaport, Andres Rua.
Link to Google image album https://goo.gl/photos/wcYZHEXxiKe9muc68

San Francisco Day School with Globalworks, May 2016!

This May another 60 students from San Francisco Day school came to Puerto Rico along with their staff, and on a Globalworks organized trip, they stayed all over the island, spending valuable time at Las Casas de la Selva, (20 at a time) during some torrential rainy weather, helping us with the mixing and pouring of a a new cement floor. Thanks to Globalworks staff, Ari W, Luis Bertolo, and PR Globalworks Director, Scott Page. The work was led by Andrés Rúa, and Norman Greenhawk. Thanks to Ricardo Valles, Alex Figueroa and Joel Bernier, for help with all the work. Yara Solis gave three full-on Salsa Dance classes, and Magha Garcia provided some of the finest Puerto Rican food on the island! Thanks to 3t Vakil and Irving Rappaport for images.

Thank you everyone, for all the great energy, even through some of the worst weather we have had this year!

Sustainability Award, May 2016

Puerto Rico Hardwoods Inc (PRH) is delighted to have won the prestigious 2016 EnterPRize business award for Sustainability, sponsored by Grupo Guayacán and the Aireko Foundation.

Hardwood trees that are felled by government and other agencies for public safety in Puerto Rico are currently dumped as ‘waste’ in the islands landfills. PRH rescues these trees and processes them into valuable timber for export and domestic use. PRH also harvests and sells timber from 30 year old plantations at Las Casas de la Selva, Patillas, and promotes sustainable harvesting of timber from other plantations in Puerto Rico.

PRH maintains that sustainability must start with minimizing waste and the intelligent use of local resources rather than importing timber which contributes to the devastation of forests in other countries. In the context of global increases in deforestation, PRH demonstrates long-term methods for economic utilization of previously disturbed secondary forests in Puerto Rico. This is essential in helping to reduce pressure on the exploitation of pristine rainforests elsewhere. PRH is built on a renewable and recyclable resource model and as one of the first of Puerto Rico’s hardwood distributors, believes that sustainability is much more than just a marketing device; it is a practice that ensures a healthy future for our lives and businesses.

PRH is located on the land known as Las Casas de la Selva, home to the Tropic Ventures Sustainable Forestry Project established 30 years ago by The Institute of Ecotechnics in the southern mountains adjacent to the Carite State Forest, in Patillas, Puerto Rico.

PRH was created and developed by Andrés Rúa and Thrity Vakil, also both Directors of Tropic Ventures Sustainable Forestry and Rainforest Enrichment Project. As founders of the Agroforestry Development Advisory Council (CADA), their broader vision is to promote sustainable forestry in Puerto Rico and convert unwanted trees into a valuable resource.

Here are some images from the award ceremony, 24th May 2016

Winners of Sustainability Award: Puerto Rico Hardwoods, and Crosstech
Above: L-R: Keila Lopez, Grupo Guayacan Program Manager, Andrés Rúa, CEO PR Hardwoods, 3t Vakil, President PR Hardwoods, Jose David Torres, Crosstech, Jose Humberto, Crosstech, and Francisco Uriarte, Chairman of Grupo Guayacan.

Below: All the semi-finalists on the night.

EnterPRize’s objective is to strengthen startups through a rigorous educational curriculum, mentoring and access to capital. In this 10th edition, EnterPRize broadens its offering through two phases focused on promising startups that are capable of growing locally and internationally. This new generation of entrepreneurs has the capacity of launching innovative projects with a global economic mindset and we’re proud to be part of the start of their entrepreneurial journey,” said Laura Cantero, Executive Director of Grupo Guayacán. EnterPRize seeks to identify startups and entrepreneurs with significant potential and to spur their development by providing access to the tools and resources they need to scale.

The PRH team: Alex Figueroa, Magha Garcia, Andrés Rúa, 3t Vakil, & Ricardo Valles. 2016

Grupo Guayacán, Inc. is a private sector driven non-profit organization founded in 1996 with a unique model that has coupled private equity investment with a series of programs aimed at developing, strengthening, and advancing Puerto Rico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Aireko Foundation’s vision is that Puerto Ricans develop and sustain leading organizations and enterprising initiatives recognized in and outside Puerto Rico for their sustainability. Our mission is to promote the development of individuals, businesses and non-governmental organizations in a measurable and sustainable manner in Puerto Rico, in order to achieve positive social, economic and environmental change. We value and support education, charity, entrepreneurship and solidarity, integrated with a dynamic search for sustainability.

Globalworks and Squaw Valley Preparatory School, April 2016

Globalworks provides intense adventure and service holidays for teenagers. We have collaborated with Globalworks since 2003, and we always have a great time, as well as getting a lot of work done! Twenty-two members, between 14 and 17 years of age, from the Squaw Valley Preparatory School, California, came to stay at Las Casas de la Selva with Scott Page, Director of Globalworks, Puerto Rico. Over a few days a huge amount of trailblazing was carried out, some cement work, and everyone partook in the salsa dance class with Yara Solis.. Thanks to Norman Greenhawk, who was the crew leader out in the forest. Thank you SVP staff Ms. Monica and Shana Boyd. Thanks to Hunter Banovich and Ms. Monica for their photos! Hope to see you all back here someday!

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