Subject: Bioregionalism/Permaculture

From: [email-masked] (Inst. for Bioreg. Studies)
Date: 4 Oct 1994 21:13:37 -0400

Bioregionalism: 
a Reconstructive Ecology
	There is no doubt that our relationship to the 
environment is the most pressing concern of our times. For the 
past several decades there have been numerous reports 
identifying which activities we must bring to a halt. 
	Discussion on where society is headed, ecologically, 
has until recently, been limited to the opportunism of 
corporate managers, prophecies of futurists or the soothsaying 
of environmentalists.  
	 These groups have been discussing the meaning of the 
popular term, "Sustainable Development" as an approach to limit 
the impact of their representative, self-interests. Meanwhile, 
in these times of rapid technological change, the synergistic 
impact of population growth, disease, hazardous wastes, 
political unrest etc.continues to ravage the planet. 
	Fortunately an emerging movement has developed that is 
not content with simply preserving what is left of the natural 
environment; it is also commited to restoring what has been 
damaged. This movement, called "Bioregionalism", comes from 
the Greek terms meaning "life" and "territory", a place defined 
by its life forms; and governed by nature not legislature. It 
functions as a catalyst for empowering local people to promote 
healthy change in their watersheds. 
	In his book, Dwellers of the Land: The Bioregional 
Vision, Kirkpatrick Sale, explains that the nature of 
Bioregionalism implies an understanding of the land, its 
geographical features, resource inventory and carrying capacity 
as a self-reliant, human and wild habitat. The Bioregional 
vision requires a serious historical and anthropological 
explorartion of the ways and wisdom of earlier cultures. Sale, 
reminds us of the words of his mentor, E.F. Schumacher, who 
once said that "We have discarded the two great teachers of 
humanity: the marvelous system of living nature and the 
traditional wisdom of mankind".
	The goal of Bioregionalism is to develop a territories 
fullest potential. To attain this goal, bioregionalism 
challenges multinational domination which exports wealth to 
distant banks and corporate offices. Bioregionalism envisions 
what could be done in any region if all its funds, facilities, 
stocks and talents were used to their fullest, limited only by 
the carrying capacity of the land and its ecological 
constraints. Bioregionalism is also liberating in the way that 
it opens up to communitarian values of cooperation, 
participation and reciprocity. These writes, Sale, are the 
processes most central to the bioregional idea. 
	Within the Bioregional paradigm the system of choice 
for ecologial planning and restoration is a system known as 
"Permaculture". This term was patented by, Bill Mollison, in 
the early 1970's to describe a design system of permanent 
habitations. With roots its in agricultural planing, 
permaculture has evolved into a program for designing 
ecological communities and restoring urban centers. 
	On July 6, the first Permaculture Design course to be 
offered in Atlantic Canada will be hosted by the Institute for 
Bioregional Studies (IBS) at Shades of Harmony Farm in 
Kingston, Nova Scotia. This two-week long course on the design 
of sustainable systems for home, farm, community or urban 
center will be taught by a team led by Michael Pilarski, 
Founder of Friends of the Trees and Gary Lean, Instructor, 
Integrated Resource Management, Sir Sandford Fleming College
	Course topics will include: Local Self-Reliance, 
Networking, Research and Site Analysis, Bioregional Planning 
and Mapping, Organic Agriculture, Edible Landscaping, 
Sustainable Forestry and Urban Reconstruction.
	A special Strawbale Construction workshop will 
introduce participants to  a traditional form of building 
construction that is efficient, low-cost and renewable!
	Course graduates will be certified as Permaculture 
Design Trainees. Graduates will be entitled to use the term 
"Permaculture" in the pursuit of livelihood, and for 
educational purposes.
	IBS, is a self-supporting educational institute 
commited to the design and management of sustainable 
communities. The Permaculture Design Course is the first in a 
series of programs offered by IBS during the summer of 1995. 
The programs are aimed at people whose curiosities may lead 
them to seek careers in ecological planning, teachers who wish 
to better inform their students and others desiring to pursue 
ecologically responsible lifestyles.
	Each of our week long and weekend programs is planned 
to study the potential of humanity to create an ecological 
society. A combined faculty of over 30 internationally known 
planners and community activists will develop a reconstructive, 
bioregional perspective that supports community health and 
self-reliance. Students seeking college credit may do so by 
special arrangement through their home institution. 
	For more information on IBS program schedules please 
send $5.00 with your request for a catalogue to: I.B.S., 449 
University Avenue, Suite 126, Charlottetown, Prince Edward 
Island, Canada,  C1A 8K3. 
-- 
Phil Ferraro, Director
Institute for Bioregional Studies
449 University Avenue Suite 126            "Developing Local Solutions to 
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island	    Global Problems"
Canada   C1A 8K3
(902) 892-9578