by Gary Coates and Julie Coates
This piece was originally published in Home! A Bioregional Reader, edited by Van Andruss, Christopher Plant, Judith Plant, and Eleanor Wright, New Society Publishers, copyright 1990.
Bioregionalism as a political and cultural movement can only emerge when the people of an area understand their history and the effects of the land on that history. Without understanding the land and the cultural adaptation to it, political action, even if it arises from the grassroots, is likely to make problems worse. The politics of place must be firmly rooted in the consciousness of place…
Excerpted from Co-Evolution Quarterly, Winter 1981.
Gary Coates is an architecture professor at Kansas State University. A leader in the concept of sustainable architecture, he has written many books and articles and led many workshops on the subject. Since 2007, he has been researching and writing about sustainable urbanism in Germany.
Julie Coates is an expert in generational learning and the Vice President of Information Services for the Learning Resources Network. She earned her Master’s in adult education at Kansas State University, and worked to educate Kansas residents about their local folklore and folk history. She has given workshops and lectures on education all over the world.
