by The North American Bioregional Congress, 1984
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.
A growing number of people are recognizing that in order to secure the clean air, water and food that we need to healthfully survive, we have to become guardians of the places where we live. People sense the loss in not knowing our neighbors and natural surroundings, and are discovering that the best way to take care of ourselves, and to get to know our neighbors, is to protect and restore our region.
Bioregionalism recognizes, nurtures, sustains and celebrates our local connections with:
Land
Plants and Animals
Springs, Rivers, Lakes, Groundwater & Oceans
Air
Families, Friends, Neighbors
Community
Native Traditions
Indigenous Systems of Production & Trade
It is taking the time to learn the possibilities of place. It is a mindfulness of local environment, history, and community aspirations that leads to a sustainable future. It relics on safe and renewable sources of food and energy. It ensures employment by supplying a rich diversity of services within the community, by recycling our resources, and by exchanging prudent surpluses with other regions. Bioregionalism is working to satisfy basic needs locally, such as education, health care and self-government.
The bioregional perspective recreates a widely-shared sense of regional identity founded upon a renewed critical awareness of and respect for the integrity of our ecological communities.
People are joining with neighbors to discuss ways we can work together to:
- Learn what our special local resources are;
- Plan how to best protect and use those natural and cultural resources;
- Exchange our time and energy to best meet our daily and long-term needs;
- Enrich our children’s local and planetary knowledge.
Security begins by acting responsibly at home.
Welcome Home!
This statement was adopted by the first North American Bioregional Congress in 1984 and reaffirmed at NABC II and III.
