A life region. A geographical area described in terms of its unique
combination of flora, fauna, geology, climate and water features—the
whole of which distinguishes it from other bioregions. Thus, natural
forms and living communities, including human, become the descriptive
features of each bioregion—instead of the politically drawn lines used
to define county, state and nation. Watersheds, being an important
physical feature of bioregions, are often used to define their boundaries.
"Bioregions are geographic areas having common characteristicsof soil,
watershed, climate, native plants and animals that exist within the
whole planetary biosphere as unique and contributive parts.
A bioregion refers both to geographical terrain and a terrain of
consciousness - to a place and the ideas that have develped about how
too live in that place.
A bioregion can be determined initially by use of climatology,
physiography, animal and plant geography, natural history and other
descriptive resonance among living things and the factors that influence
them which occurs specifically within each separate part of the planet.
Discovering and describing that resonance is a way to describe a bioregion."
Peter Berg & Raymond Dasmann, Reinhabiting a Separate Country
Planet Drum Foundation, 1978
What is Bioregionalism?
Bioregionalism is a comprehensive "new" way of defining and
understanding the place where we live, and living in that place
sustainably and respectfully. What bioregionalism represents,
identification with place and its history and culture, and living within
the laws of nature, is new only for people who come out of the Western
industrial-technological heritage. The essence of bioregionalism has
been reality and common sense for native people living close to the land
for thousands of years, and remains so for human beings today. At the
same time, bioregional concepts are rigorously defensible in terms of
science, technology, economics, politics, and other fields of
"civilized" human endeavor. Bioregionalists are lifelong students of how
to live in balance with our eco-communities. We recognize that we are
part of the web of the life, and that all justice, freedom and peace
must be grounded in this recognition.
Bioregionalism re-connects us into the living biosphere through the
Places where we live. Bioregionalism acknowledges that we not only live
in cities, towns, villages and countrysides; we also live in watersheds
(map above), ecoystems, and ecoregions. The awareness of those
connections to the planet is vital to our own health and the health of
the planet. By discovering our connections to the planet, we find a
context for our lives to grow in. This context allows us to find ways to
live sustainably in our settlements while at the same time provides us
ways to nurture and restore the more-than-human community that surrounds
us and which we are dependent on in so many ways.