Page 4 RAIN February/March 1983 The Bioregional Movement Planet Drum Planet Drum started in 1974 to address the fact—made clear through the Arab Oil Embargo — that human beings live in one bio-sphere together. Planet Drum, under the guise of the Frisco Bay Mussel Group, began to call attention to the importance of acquiring a sense of place, by sponsoring conferences such as Listening to the Earth, and by sending out occasional bundles of information describing the relationship between culture and habitat. The earliest manifestations of bio-regional thinking were often delegated to the coffee table—pleasant, even fascinating topics of conversation, but hardly the catalyst for a grassroots movement. The ideas seemed like poetic extensions of the environmental movement or philosophical laments of the back-to-the-land movement. But the ideas have persisted. Thanks to Planet Drum, and other like-minded individuals and groups, bioregional thinking is taking hold. In some ways, the bio-regional movement IS an extension of the environmental movement, itself an extension of the earlier, more upper-crust, conservation movement. Although the environmental movement has brought about incredible changes in the ways we relate to our earth, setbacks still occur. The victories of the last decade seem tenuous. The movement needs fresh air. In order to achieve lasting results we need more knowledge about the places in which we live. One of the appeals of bio-regional thinking is that in studying the unique qualities of a place and the interaction of its inhabitants North American Bioregional Congress A Congress to unite individuals and organizations interested in bioregionalism, political ecology, and sustainability, has been in the hopp>er for some time. It was first proposed by Planet Drum in an article entitled "Amble Toward Continent Congress." Presently, the Congress is planned for fall/winter of 1983, and probably at a location in the Ozarks. Individuals and organizations are urged to correspond with the coordinators of the Congress so that the Congress might tmly represent the regions of the North American Continent. For more information, send a stamped, self-addressed envelop>e to North American Bioregional Congress, Box 67-2, Caulfield, MO 65626. with its resources, we can begin to envision a method for making sensible long range planning decisions that take into account the separate concerns of a variety of factions. If Planet Drum is a gauge for the bio-regional movement, then indications are that the bio-regional movement has taken hold. Raise the Stakes, Planet Drum's wonderful journal is an indication of the growth of the movement. When the journal was started, it was filled with contributions of individuals who sent in descriptions of their bio-regions. Today, Raise the Stakes contains news from organized groups of people working on specific bio-regional platforms of action, conferences, and publications. For more information; Planet Drum, P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA 94131, 415/285-6556. □□ RAIN Interviews DRUM RAIN: What do you envision as appropriate forms of governance from a bioregional or biospheric perspective? DRUM: The present government structures are not appropriate to the conditions we are in, that is, inhabitants of the same planet. Not all forms of government are inappropriate. It depends on how long the government has been in place. In New England many of the districts conform more or less to watersheds, valleys, other natural boundaries. When you get west of the Mississippi River they reflect the acquisition of the Louisiana purchase. You find straight lines, square states. States shaped like pan handles, frying pans, trapezoids, every imaginable form and many that have nothing to do with local conditions. We think national governments should be replaced by continental forms of government, the North American Continent, Europe, Asia, Africa. We see the results of our current order of nations along unreal boundaries. In New England, along the Canadian borders, residents have as much to do with the French Canadians or the culture of Nova Scotia as they do with the rest of the United States. The second level of government would be bio-regional, large areas with separate identities within the United States, the Great Basin, the Plains, the Rockies, etc. Below the bioregional level would be watersheds, which might be large or small. Your own Willamette Valley is an example. The watershed is the natural way to deal with many problems. The siting of a nuclear power
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