Page 32 - ECOlogic Book

regulations, the bioregional movement is hard to pin down. Like an
ecosystem, the lines of command, communication and accountability are
diverse and complex; boundaries leaky. Unlike the structures the Western
mind has become accustomed to, the structures of bioregionalism are loose
and non-hierarchical. We make it up as we go along. Whether such a
loosely structured diverse movement can hold together is a fascinating
question.

And yet, since its inception in the early ‘80’s the movement appears to be
gathering strength. The first North American Bioregional Congress took
place in Kansas City in 1984. As of this writing, there have been three more
congresses since then, each one better attended than the one before.
Committed to self-organization, the structures of these congresses are loose,
and yet, they are carefully planned with a kind of organic structure that is
apparent. Decisions are made by consensus in much the same way as is
done in Quaker and Native American communities. In The Poverty of
Affluence, Paul Wachtel talks of the failure of the idealism of the ‘60’s having
been due to the failure to create new structures to hold the ideas and value-
sets that emerged at that time. Perhaps the “structureless” structure: the
organic organization of bioregionalism offers just such a structure or form.

In broad terms, Bioregionalism calls for a radical reshaping of, well,
everything. It is, as Stephanie Mills says, “about growing a lifeway”. Like
flowing water, it has the potential of transforming the Western mind by
finding its natural place. Peter Berg, one of the grandfathers of the
movement, says that bioregionalism is saving the whole by saving its parts.
It’s both a cultural phenomenon and a deeply spiritual one. Jim Dodge
defines bioregionalism as a “decentralized self-determined mode of social
organization, a culture predicated upon geological integrities and acting in
respectful accord; and a society which honors and abets the spiritual
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development of its members.”

Biological awareness begins when you start asking: Where does my water
come from? Where does it go as wastewater? Where does my energy for
heat come from? Where is my food grown? What watershed do I live in?

Like foxhole religion, Judith Plant notes that “community seems to most
fervently gather around watershed protection activities. Perhaps this is so
because water is absolutely fundamental to survival . . . More and more
people, too, are becoming aware that water does not just flow from the tap,

23 Dodge, Jim, “Living by Life”, in Home: a Bioregional Reader, Van Andrus, Christopher Plant, Judith Plant &
Eleanore Wright, eds., (New Society Publishers, Philadelphia, PA, 1990).

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