Bioregionalism identifies with place through dedicated observation and responsibility

Evidence

IN ESSENCE, WHAT I was encountering without yet knowing the name for it was bioregionalism. Similar to many indigenous cultures’ relationships to land, bioregionalism is first and foremost based on observation and recognition of what grows where, as well as an appreciation for the complex web of relationships among those actors. More than observation, it also suggests a way of identifying with place, weaving oneself into a region through observation of and responsibility to the local ecosystem. (Asked where he was from, Peter Berg, an early proponent of bioregionalism, used to answer, “I am from the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River and San Francisco Bay, of the Shasta bioregion, of the North Pacific Rim of the Pacific Basin of the Planet Earth.”28) In these ways, bioregionalism is not just a science, but a model for community. — Jenny Odell, How to Do Nothing, 428

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines bioregionalism — one of the three redirections the reader wants to name precisely.
• QUESTION: The reader wonders if Idell’s mixed method is capaciousness or evasion — bioregionalism defined here as both science AND community model is one of her three redirections worth pinning down.
• XREF: connects to: Unlabeled bioregional practices flourish widely across the United States. — Karla Armbruster, Book Review: LifePlace: Bioregional…, 5; Ecological citizenship implies obligations like taxation owed to a bioregion — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom,…, 595