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In article <1992Feb19.163022.23019@odin.corp.sgi.com> gabriel@sgi.com (Gabriel Villalobos) writes:
>
>Excuse my ignorance but, what does the term 'bioregionalism' mean??
>
>Thanks
>

	Bioregionalism is a philosophy in which political decisions and
boundaries are based on physical environmental parameters.  Bioregions are
probably similar to either "biomes," "communities," or "ecosystems,"
depending on your scale.  Defining natural attributes of coastal northern
California might include coastal redwoods and douglas fir forests,
Mediterranean climate, summer fog, steep topography susceptible to slumping
and earthquakes, etc.  I guess the idea of bioregionalism is that political
decisions made within this region by people who understand these natural
processes would tend to be more ecologically sustainable than decisions
originating with a central authority which is insulated from the
natural environment.

	In addition to Kirk Sale's book, I found a short paper by James
Parsons, 1985, "On 'Bioregionalism' and 'Watershed Consciousness'" in
_The Professional Geographer_ 37(1):1-6.  More good references on the
subject.  Parsons cites Peter Berg, founder (I think) of the Planet Drum
Foundation in San Francisco:

	The term bioregion refers to both a geographical terrain and
	to a 'terrain of consciousness'--to a place and the ideas that
	have developed about how to live in that place.  A bioregion
	can be determined initially by use of climatology, physiography,
	animal and plant geography, natural history, and other descrip-
	tive natural sciences, [but] the final boundaries are best
	described by people who have lived within it.  Bioregionalism
	and bioregional perspective involve learning to live-in-place,
	a kind of spiritual identification with a particular kind of
	country and its wild nature [that is] the basis for the kind
	of land care the world so definitely needs.

According to Parsons, Berg is probably the person most responsible for
popularizing the term "bioregionalism", along with wildlife ecologist
Raymond Dasmann.  See their 1977 paper "Reinhabiting California," in
_The Ecologist_ 7: 399-401.  Ernest Callenbach's books _Ecotopia_ and
_Ecotopia Emerging_ are probably the most well-known bioregional novels.
I think Stephanie Mills' _Whatever Happened To Ecology?_ is one of a
few bioregional books dealing with an environment outside of the
Pacific Northwest, in this case northern Michigan.

	For more current articles and perspectives on bioregionalism,
I'd probably look at recent issues of the Earth First! Journal.  I haven't
seen that journal much in the last couple years.  Earth First! "founder"
Dave Foreman started up a journal called Wild Earth a couple years ago;
that would probably also be a good place to look for bioregionalism.
	
Eric Edlund
U.C.Berkeley Geography
eric@pollen1.berkeley.edu
*or*
map@violet.berkeley.edu