Bioregional Trends in the Cannon River Valley
Bioregional Trends in the CRVB
Bioregional Vision for the CRVB
"Our task is to build cultural fortresses to protect our emerging nativeness. They must be strong enough to hold at bay the powers of consumerism, the powers of greed and envy and pride. One of the most effective ways for this to come about would be for our universities to assume the awesome responsibility to both validate and educate those who want to be homecomers - not necessarily to go home but to go someplace and dig in and begin the long search and experiment to become native." -Wes Jackson
The focus of bioregional education involves encouraging students to:
· act together as a community,
· learn local history and natural heritage,
· discover the wisdom of diverse world views,
· distinguish their needs from their wants,
· develop environmental literacy,
· understand local ecosystems,
· explore their connections to the land, the sea and all living things,
· make ecologically sustainable choices, and
· understand their responsibility as inhabitants of a bioregion.(Foundation Planet Drum)
Many of these things are already happening. There are many community-oriented organizations. There is the Historical Society available to learn about local natural history. There are groups studying local eco-systems and educational models of ecosystem restoration. CRWP, JustFoods, ReNEW, are all educational tools. In addition there are two colleges, St. Olaf College and Carleton College, with existing and expanding environmental studies programs. There is also the Center for Sustainable Living which promotes many sustainable lifestyle initiatives as well as provides a space for other organizations to and a space for educational workshops.
The work of re-inhabitation is accomplished through proactive projects, education and celebration. One of the goals of bioregionalism is to celebrate the distinctive characteristics of your bioregion with rituals and celebrations. On August 7, of this year, the Cannon River Watershed Partnership is hosting a Cannon River Festival in Northfield. There will be children's activities, information booth and exhibits, and a river clean-up. The Northfield Chamber of Commerce celebrates Winter Walk and now recently Spring Fling. Although the festivals are oriented around local commerce, it is local, and there are other things going on as well. For example at the Spring Fling, community members can participate in gardening demonstrations, dance and musical performances, a May Day program for young children, a two-mile run and the Historical Society offered free admission to the museum throughout the day. We also celebrate in a less explicit way through seasonal joy and ritual like celebrating the first snowfall with sledding and building snowmen. There is also a celebratory nature in controlled prairie burnings which is part of prairie ecosystem management.
Photo courtesy of Northfield.org
The Northfield Area of Commerce hosted its first Spring Fling this year on May First.
This year, St. Olaf's celebration of Earthweek activities included buckthorn pulls, tree-planting and promoting awareness about our ecological impacts. We had a public forum to present the work of the Sustainable Task Force, a campus-wide committee to lay out the ecological principles for our college to act on. This sort of celebration is what we started calling "a sustainable party." Carrying out the goals of re-inhabitation will only be sustained by the joy and celebration in which we do them.