Knowing Home: The Basics of Bioregions by Steve Johnson In a city, the first tier of political involvement is the neighborhood; neighborhoods whose boundaries are sometimes created by natural features (Mt. Tabor), but more often by a combination of land development schemes (Laurelhurst, Ladds Addition), major arterial roadways and other industrial and commercial developments. It is most satisfying to respond to problems at the neighborhood level. We can see and feel the problem, and when we are successful in implementing change, we are gratified with immediate results. Our association with problems beyond this immediate reality are informed through mass media. We are mindful of and concerned with events hundreds and thousands of miles away on a daily (and often more frequent) level; we are not, however, equally empowered to take action that influences these events. Oregon, 100 years ago, was officially a part of the United States, but its citizens were more oriented to the region they lived in. They were mostly energy and food self-sufficient and could not be as easily affected by political events in another part of the nation or world. This changed with the coming of the railway, and it changed again with the coming of the automobile and eventually the growth of modern mass communication systems. The nation today is bound together through an intricate fabric of interstate highways, telecommunications, and a centralized economic structure, which creates a franchised, or what some have called a "world-wide mono-culture." As we literally blanket the earth with our enterprises, we create increasingly complicated jurisdictions and boundaries. In cities, neighborhoods become districts, and districts are often separated (as in Portland) by rivers. One citizen may belong to dozens of political entities: In Portland we belong to a city and county and regional government and state. Within the state we may identify with distinct geographic areas. The maritime region of Oregon, west of the Cascades, has a radically different climate and ecology, and therefore a different culture than eastern or southern Oregon. Beyond the state we are considered a part of the Northwest region—Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In some federal government breakdowns we are part of Region X, which includes such unlikely neighbors as Alaska and Hawaii. From other points of view we are one of the Pacific Coast states (Oregon, Washington, California) or we are one of the eleven western states. Problems do not always pay heed to political boundaries. Countless special government units such as the newly formed Regional Energy Council are created to deal with the meandering problems of rivers and streams and the distribution of unequally available food or energy. Portland is the big city for the state of Oregon. In a pattern that is repeated in many western states, there is one major city, and two or three other mediumsized ones, while the remainder of the state is rural or wild. The Greater Portland area has about one-half of the state's population and uses more than one-half of the energy and resources consumed in the state. It is obvious that Portland is not a self-sufficient community living within the limits of its own resources. The creeks and streams are dried up or encased in drainage pipes. Its farmable land is mostly covered by streets and buildings, and most all of its energy is imported. The city cannot sustain itself without help from neighboring communities, and by regional development of energy, water and food resources. In many ways, the degree of self-sufficiency of other communities in Oregon has an added direct impact on Portland. If, for example, an investment firm builds a retirement housing development near Bend, it will have some positive economic impact on Portland, as the goods necessary for development and maintenance of life are produced and/or shipped through Portland. The development will also likely have a negative impact on the environment, further taxing the physical capacity of the Portland area by creating additional industrial and transportation-related pollution. As we expand the city's role as basic life support supplier for other communities, we stretch the limits of the city to maintain its own high quality of life. The detrimental impact on the city is accentuated by the development of cities and towns that have little or no economic viability of their own. In order to understand how to continue to live in this region, or any region, we must look at how the region functions. We are, as poet Gary Snyder has said, extremely deficient in regional knowledge. There was a while, before Oregon became a part of the franchised and centralized economic structure, when citizens knew about the land, the seasons, and how to carve out a living. We cannot return to this past era, but we can change our direction and look at what kind of life our region is able to sustain. When we think regionally we can learn, or re-learn, what is available to us within our region, in our community and in our backyard. The information provided may come to us in different forms. As energy costs rise we think
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