BIOREGIONALISM IS A WAY OF ORGANIZING OUR POLITICS AND CULTURE SO THAT IT IS RESPONSIVE TO THE LOCAL NEEDS OF PEOPLE AND OF PLACE BY INCLUDING THE UNHEARD VOICES OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, AND ECOSYSTEMS IN OUR POLITICAL CALCULUS.
Bioregionalism
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”
-Albert Einstein-
Bioregionalism is to nation-state system, as strong local economies are to globalization. Bioregionalism is an ecological alternative to the politics of destruction.
Bioregionalism is the idea that the government should not be run by unaccountable bureaucrats. It is the idea that states should not grow so large that they become unwieldy; that government should truly be run by and for the people—a politics for common folks; that the government should be small and accountable; that the governance should be marked by the natural features of watersheds and ecosystems, not by arbitrary borders of bureaucratic states; that bioregions should support local healthy economies and be largely self-reliant; that a deep understanding of, and ethical commitment to, the Earth and its inhabitants should be at the fore of our political commitments.
“Small, independent, self-sufficient communities have the greatest ability to survive the normal cycles of boom-and-bust which our economy and culture go through, and an even better chance of surviving the major catastrophes which may loom ahead as our oil supply dwindles.”
-Thom Hartmann-
In “Dwellers in the Land: A Bioregional Vision,” Kirkpatrick Sale characterizes bioregionalism as becoming "dwellers in the land." He writes that,
"…to become dwellers in the land, to relearn the laws of Gaea, to come to know the Earth fully and honestly, the crucial and perhaps only and all-encompassing task is to understand place, the immediate specific place where we live. The kinds of soils and rocks under our feet; the source of the waters we drink; the meaning of the different kinds of winds; the common insects, birds, mammals, plants, and trees; the particular cycles of the seasons; the times to plant and harvest and forage—these are the things that are necessary to know. The limits of its resources; the carrying capacities of its lands and water; the places where it must not be stressed; the places where its bounties can best be developed; the treasures it holds and the treasures it withholds—these are the things that must be understood. And the cultures of the people, of the populations native to the land and of those who have grown up with it, the human social and economic arrangements shaped by and adapted to the geomorphic ones, in both urban and rural settings—these are the things that must be appreciated. That, in essence, is bioregionalism.
There is nothing so mysterious about the elements of the word, after all—bio is from the Greek word for forms of life as in biology and biography, and region is from the Latin regere, territory to be ruled—and there is nothing, after a moment’s thought, so terribly difficult in what they convey together: a life-territory, a place defined by its life forms, its topography and its biota, rather than human dictates; a region governed by nature, not legislature. And if the concept initially strikes us as strange, that may perhaps only be a measure of how distant we have become from the wisdom it conveys—and how badly we need that wisdom it conveys—and how badly we need that wisdom now."
Bioregionalism then is a way of organizing our communities and ordering politics to care for Humanity and the Earth, but it is also more than politics. It involves knowing the land, learning the lore and oral traditions of one’s place, and a revivng a cultural-spiritual connection with place in all dimensions—economic, political, and ritual.
HUMAN SCALE
In “The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight,” Thom Hartmann writes that, “Small, independent, self-sufficient communities have the greatest ability to survive the normal cycles of boom-and-bust which our economy and culture go through, and an even better chance of surviving the major catastrophes which may loom ahead as our oil supply dwindles.” Historically, small, independent, self-reliant communities were practically the only type of human settlement that we knew. There is a certain natural organizing principle to human societies that makes the small community more stable and effective than larger settlements. “As to the scale of the human community,” Sale writes,
"the human animal throughout its history—regardless of continent, climate, culture, or character—seems to have favored clusters of 500 to 1,000 people for the basic village or intimate settlement and 5,000 to 10,000 for the larger tribal association or extended community. Only rarely did agglomerations ever exceed this size, as with the capital cities of various empires, and even then they typically lasted for less than a century before shrinking to smaller sizes, as if there was some process at work making large cities inherently unstable and unsustainable, favoring those smaller human-scale settlements more suited to the limited capacity of human abilities."
Might the fact that humans consistently organize themselves in small, self-reliant communities tell us something more about the natural inclinations of being human or how human societies might best be organized? Is there a natural scale and pattern at which we humans find more happiness, satisfaction, and love? Are we genetically inclined to live in small communities? Is it more satisfying to live in a community where everyone knows your name and you know everyone else’s name? Surely, one of the more revealing paradoxes of our time is that more people in the industrial world are living in cities than ever before, and at higher population densities than ever before—and yet they also feel more isolated than ever. Thus, we at OPOA believe that creating small, stable communities with strong local economies capable of supporting their own needs with an ethics of care is not only necessary for the coming times, but also desirable.
Don't be discouraged! This does not mean that all cities and suburbs are "doomed." We simply must work as best we can with what we have now. But cities and suburbs too must become more community-minded, must become acquainted with their neighbors, and especially learn where their resources come from. Look for our URBAN RENEWAL and SUBURBAN RELOCALIZATION sections, coming soon!
GROUNDED POWER
This importance of "small scale" production and distribution of goods is fundamentally connected to the idea that power should be diffuse and decentralized. Power, whenever possible, should exist at the most fundamental or basic level. In other words, it should be "grounded." When you have a government, for instance, the power should reside with the people as much as possible. This is a fundamental concept of democracy. When power is diffuse and decentralized it tends toward stability and fairness. On the other hand, when the power is not decentralized (when it does not lie with the people, in our example), when power is concentrated, it tends toward instability and oppression.
Thus, the notion of Grounded Power says that power should be distributed to the common people to the greatest extent possible. The first order of governance should be self-governance, and that the state should be as small as reasonably possible. Sale puts it this way:
“A bioregional polity would seek the diffusion of power, the decentralization of institutions, with nothing done at a level higher than necessary, and all authority flowing upward incrementally from the smallest political unit to the largest. The primary location of decision-making, therefore, and of political and economic control, should be the community, the more-or-less intimate grouping either at the close-knit village scale of 1,000 people or so, or probably more often at the extended community scale of 5,000 to 10,000 so often found as the fundamental political unit whether formal or informal. Here, where people know one another and the essentials of the environment they share, where at least the most basic information for problem-solving is known or readily available, here is where governance should begin.”
Here at OPOA we are putting together plans for fostering Relocalization Leadership at the local level to promote bioregionalism, Permaculture, and the other vital Solutions we desperately need for the coming times.
RESOURCES:
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Here at OPOA we are trying to transform crisis into opportunity. If you think that the mission and material that OPOA provides is useful and much needed during this coming time of crisis, we ask that you give what you can to support a truly grassroots movement to protect and defend the Earth and humanity during the coming times. With two full-time staff members, practically all funds are used exclusively to further our mission to help prepare the Ohio area for the coming times and to distribute free information about how individuals and communities can prepare for the coming times. Without your kind donations we wouldn’t be able to survive! To donate or find out more about how you can get involved please follow this link. Voice your opinions, solutions, inventions, suggestions, insights, strategies, and analyses at www.RelocalizationWiki.org.