Bioregionalism: An Ethics of Loyalty to Place

Abstract

Bioregionalism is an environmental movement and social philosophy that envisions decentralized community self-rule within political boundaries redrawn to reflect the natural contours of differing ecosystem types. Emerging from the religious “counterculture” of the United States it has escaped these enclaves, and has begun to influence contemporary environmental politics and resource management strategies. Its goal is nothing less than to foster an ethics of place and create sustainable human societies in harmony with the natural world, and consistent with the flourishing of all native species. This paper assesses the history, types, impacts, perils and prospects of “countercultural” bioregionalism and its offshoots.