Bioregionalism

My recent days have been spent learning Dreamweaver in order to update the website of the Bioregional Congerss, http://www.bioregional-congress.org/.

Planet Drum defines a bioregion as a distinct area with coherent and interconnected plant and animal communities, and natural systems, often defined by a watershed. A bioregion is an area defined by its natural boundaries, instead of political boundaries.

Why is it important to have a bioregional perspective? Biodiversity ignores the invisible political boundaries humans have drawn up, and if we are to look at conservation and earth regeneration, our policies need to address the unique non-human as well as human communities. Bioregionalism advocates a restructuring of systems within a given bioregion, orienting toward regeneration and sustainability of the whole life community.

From the Bioregional Congress website...
The essence of bioregionalism is what we can best remember and piece together of the oldest earth traditions and wisdom, tracing back to the beginnings of humanity... and before that into the root ecological principles of life itself. Bioregionalists advocate bioregional self-reliance, deriving as much as possible of our livelihood from within, and close to, our community, only moving farther afield when we must. To be sustainable, we must better see our reliance on and interdependence with the nonhuman members of our community. We must rely on each other for health, sustenance, and wisdom.

And so a bioregionalist believes in a change in government "toward decentralization of power to smaller units of population and land for the purpose of: keeping wealth at home in local communities, preserving and enriching the natural systems of water, air and land, and practicing ways of living that foster sustainable energy use in human endeavors."

Since the early 80's, every 2-4 years about 250 people converge from across the Americas for a Bioregional Congress....

"The original congress form goes back to the Six Nations Iroquois-Mohawk Confederation—the Haudenausaunee Nation. To my knowledge this is the oldest participatory democracy on Earth, and one based on natural laws at that... May ecological congresses bloom and thrive all over the Earth."

The next Continental Bioregional Congress will take place Oct 4-11, 2009 on The Farm, where I lived this past year! All are invited! READ MORE ABOUT BIOREGIONAL CONGRESSES HERE...