Literature Review
Bioregional Trends in the CRVB
Bioregional Vision for the CRVB
Carleton Arboretum
Literature Review
There is a fascinating body of literature on the evolution and development of bioregionalism. The best overview and history I found in the book Bioregionalism. The text is edited by Michael Vincent McGinnis, one of the earliest bioregionalist writers and advocates. It is a collection of essays that trace the development of this cultural idea and the practical application in specific regions. It begins with a history of the founders of the concept: Peter Berg and Dassmann. The first essay examine bioregionalism as a cultural movement, and then shifting into to a place-based context. The last section "Toward a Bioregional Future" emphasizes the role of education and ecological literacy in communities.
Another core bioregional reader is Life Place by Robert Thayer which offers a practical application of bioregional thought to the Sacramento Valley in California. I also found it interesting how Thayer chooses not to use the word bioregionalism throughout the book, to avoid the "ism" part and instead uses bioregional or lifeplace as synonyms to describe the concept. I found my talents as a writer not to be as strong as to allow me to avoid using the word "bioregionalism" but I commend his point.
Dwellers in the Land by Kirkpatrick Sale has a great chapter on. Bioregionalism is not a concept that has "caught on" as much in the midwest as it seems to in California and some states on the East coast.
For local study I am drawing on the websites of different grassroots organizations initiatives that are bioregional in nature - JustFoods, RenEw Northfield, Center for Sustainable Living, Land restoration project, etc. I am also using the manuscript to a book called The Cannon River Valley, edited by Paul Gruchow and Gary Deason. It is a collection of chapters of localized case study written mostly by St. Olaf Staff on Prairies, River Ecology, History, etc.
Grassroots by local author Paul Gruchow, contains several chapters that offer insight on local knowledge and living in place. The chapter entitled "What the Prairie Teaches Us" is a good example of the way humans can learn from nature. It relates to the work of Wes Jackson in farming like a prairie.
Regarding educational reform, the literature I am working from includes David Orr's Earth in Mind and Ecological Literacy, and Wes Jackson's Becoming Native to This Place. The latter is also a helpful source of ideas about bioregional agriculture. Although Jackson does not use this terminology, his emphasis on the local, on the imaginative, and the sustainable fits into the bioregional paradigm.