Bioregionalism

Last semester in my environmental studies class we learned about the idea of bioregionalism. It made a lot of sense. It's the idea that human culture and its environment are intertwined, and so we should adjust our lifestyle to the area we live in. We should be proud of the biome that makes up our home. We should split the country into jurisdictions by bioregions, not the arbitrary state borders that we have now. If we learned to live based on the resources that are directly around us, we wouldn't have L.A. snatching up all the water from the San Joaquin Valley for green grass that doesn't naturally grow there. We wouldn't have food traveling hundreds and thousands of miles- we would eat local.

But that's not patriotic, that's not America. We like uniformity. Everybody should be able to have the same lifestyle, with the lawn, picket fence, and hamburgers on the grill. People should be able to live wherever they want and have everything they need conveniently close. Right?

Of course, the idea of real bioregionalism and the dissolving of current state borders is never going to happen. But what can we learn from it? Pride in one's biome, I think, important. Teaching elementary school students about their immediate environment- why it's beautiful, what resources it has naturally, etc. Teaching a love and pride for one's land- that could get the environmental/conservation movement far.

I think we could take it even further, though. What about energy? The southwest has tons of solar energy. The midwest has wind. Some areas have great potential for geothermal. Coastal regions could be harvesting tidal power. So if we apply the principles of bioregionalism, we could create jurisdictions of alternative energy- on a national level, and even an international level. An area with an abundance of a specific type of energy could join up with all the other regions of the world with that type of energy to form a sort of supportive coalition. For example, the midwest could team up with windy regions across the planet- sharing new technologies, ideas, even funds for new projects. Countries would no longer be racing against each other for new clean energy technology. Rather, they would be racing together against climate change.

http://solar.coolerplanet.com/Resources/Images/Articles/RenewableEnergyByStateFull.jpg

The possibilities for the application of bioregionalism are endless. Clothing made from local resources. Ecotourism on a whole new, cultural level.  Zoos focusing more on the bioregion than exotic species. I'm imagining slogans... "The desert: what we lack in water we make up for in solar!" "Florida: our wetlands are wetter than yours" "Oregon: our forests are our lungs."

To get people to realize the basis of bioregionalism, which is our connection and dependence on the earth around us, is not an easy task. Supermarkets, concrete sidewalks, and airplanes make the world seem a lot more humanized and a lot less nature-driven than it actually is. But we're not going to move forward in the direction we need to until people's desire to take care of the planet hits them in a very personal, cultural way.