Bioregional Approach

Seriously folks, the system we live in and labor under is broken, and all of our attempts to repair it and restore it to it's former glory are likely futile. We need a new approach. Bioregionalism is one such approach. It's the polar opposite of our one size fits all corporate global marketplace mentality. But what exactly is bioregionalism? Here's one look at it from the Bioregional Congress:

Only around 30 years old, Bioregionalism – and the Bioregional movement – represent a comprehensive way of defining and understanding the places where we live, and of living there sustainably and respectfully through ecological design. The bioregional movement has helped spawn and support other movements and trends, such as the Green Party, Permaculture, Ecovillages, Ecological Restoration, Eco-Poetics and much more. At the same time, bioregionalism’s essence has been reality and common sense for native people living close to the land for thousands of years; even beyond human experience, bioregionalism is rooted in the ecological principles of all life. Bioregionalists are lifelong students of how to live in balance with our eco-communities. We recognize that we are part of the web of the life, and that all justice, freedom and peace must be grounded in this recognition.

Bioregionalism re-connects us into the living biosphere through the Places where we live. Bioregionalism acknowledges that we not only live in cities, towns, villages and countrysides; we also live in watersheds, ecosystems, and ecoregions. The awareness of those connections to the planet is vital to our own health and the health of the planet. By discovering our connections to the planet, we find a context for our lives to grow in. This context allows us to find ways to live sustainably in our settlements while at the same time provides us ways to nurture and restore the more-than-human community that surrounds us and which we are dependent on in so many ways.

Let's call this an open thread -- if you have any thoughts, ideas, links, perspectives, or opinions on bioregionalism feel free to chime in and start something. Here are a couple of links for starters:

Planet Drum
Bioregional Congress
Cascadia Wildlands

We need real change, not the patch and paint policies we're getting, so have at it...