Dwellers in the land : the bioregional vision

Imagine a world structured around ecological and cultural diversity, rather than national and political parameters. In response to present and impending ecological and economic crises, Kirkpatrick Sale offers a definitive introduction to the unique concept of bioregionalism, an alternative way of organizing society to create smaller scale, more ecologically sound, individually responsive communities with renewable economies and cultures. He emphasizes, among many other factors, the concept of regionalism through natural population division, settlement near and stewardship of watershed areas, and the importance of communal ownership of and responsibility for the land. Dwellers in the Land focuses on the realistic development of these bioregionally focused communities and the places where they are established to create a society that is both ecologically sustainable and satisfying to its inhabitants.… (more)

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LibraryThing member jgoodwll

I have found many references to bioregionalism in green literature, and it seemed that this was the book to tell me what it meant exactly. I have to say I was disappointed a bit. The bioregional vision that Kirkpatrick Sale expounds is largely concerned with regional self-sufficiency, like a lot of

green literature. But he gives very few guidelines as to what a bioregion is. He suggests watersheds: I was most of the way through the book before in desperation I looked up the word watershed in a dictionary and discovered that an American usage of the word is to mean river basin: quite the opposite of what I thought. Then he gives the examples of the Ozark Plateau and the Sonoran Desert, neither of which is a river basin. He gives lots of hints on bioregions but no guide to constructing them anywhere.

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