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An Eight-Session Course using materials developed
by the Northwest Earth Institute
Purpose:
* To understand the meaning of a
bioregional perspective, and what it would mean to develop one.
* To consider the benefits of consciously developing an intimate
relationship with your place.
* To explore what it might mean to protect the place where you live.
Topics Covered:
- A Sense of Place: Wendell Berry, America's best-known
bioregionalist, says if you don't know where you are, you don't know
who you are. With a sense of place, your identity is defined—to a
significant extent—by the natural features of the place where you
live. Without a sense of place, what will fill the void?
- Responsibility to Place: There is a difference between living on the land
and dwelling in it—understanding its rhythms, its potential, and its
limits. Those who develop intimacy with a place over time tend to
accept responsibility for it.
- Knowing Your Bioregion: Your bioregion is a unique place with its own
watershed, soils, climate, plants, animals, and history. How much do
you know about it?
- Living in Place: Living in place means consciously trying to
satisfy your needs and find your pleasures in your local bioregion and
working to assure the long-term health of the bioregion.
- Mapping Your Place: Mapping can be learned by local groups and
individuals to give a new sense of place. Whereas a typical map shows
political subdivisions and transportation routes, a bioregionalist's
map delineates regions based on watersheds, climate, and plant types,
thereby helping people relate to their natural surroundings.
- Building Local Community: A bioregionalist assumes responsibility for the
health and continuity of a place, not only its natural features, but
also the social bonds of its people.
- Empowerment:
Knowing a place can inspire and empower one to take action to preserve
it or take part in its restoration. How important is individual and
group action in modern society?
For Information on all
discussion courses, click
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