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Borderlinebankruptcy:ABioregionalalternative?

TheabovemapisbasedononecreatedbyMiklosUdvardyinthe1970sfortheInternationalUnionfortheConservationofNature,drawingonworkdonebytherenownedconservationistRaymond Dasmann. Comparison with conventional political maps spotlights the giganticdiscrepancy between human boundaries and those of the Earth’s life-support systems, thematrixofzonesshapedbyclimate,geology,andhydrologywiththeirattendantcharacteristicsofcertainfloraandfauna.

Gone are the straight lines and right angles so common in political and otheradministrativedivisions. Instead, there is apatchworkquilt that constitutes the veryweboflife, on which humans are totally dependent, nomatter how they choose to divide up theworldfortheirownpurposesandnomatterhowpowerfultheirtechnologies.

The major units are the core biogeophysical zones: Neotropical, Afrotropical, Indo-Malaysian, Australasia, Oceania, Palearctic and Nearctic. Within them are several keyfreshwater zoneswith lakes, riversanddeltas.Many larger river complexes suchas theNileandMekongstraddleseveralcountries.Thentherearethemajormarinerealmssuchas thePacific,AtlanticandIndianOceans(themap,itmustbesaid,rathersidelinesOceania).

Thebroadcolourschemeindicatesthemajorhabitattypes.Thereistheonceverdantcover of forests, ranging from tropicalmoist forests around themiddle of the Earth to theborealforestsorTaigatowardsitspoles.Thentherearenaturallyoccurringdeserts,bothhotandcold,andotheraridzones.Therearealsobothtropicalandtemperategrasslandsaswellas scrubland.Mountainspossess theirownpatterns, changingasheight increases,while thetundraandpolaricecapscovertheEarth’snorthernandsouthernextremities.Specialmentionmustbemadehydrologicalsystems,theEarth’s‘bloodsystem’.Notvisibletooareindividualmarshesandestuaries,its‘kidneys’.

Thosecorebiomescanbefurthersubdividedinto‘ecoregions’.Variousstudiessuggestthatsome116makeupwhatpoliticallyiscalledtheUnitedStatesandCanada.Alternatively,aclassification from the Commission for Environmental Cooperation divides those two

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countries,plusMexico,intojust15‘Level1’majorecologicalregions(Level2has52andLevel3approximately200).Eitherway,themostimportantwayofperceivingtheworldisrevealed:seeingitinbiogeophysicalforms.

The Earth thus shows a new face.Most peoplewill have heard of something called‘Brazil’.ConsiderablyfewerwouldthinkintermsoftheBahiacoastalforests,theNegro-Blancomoist forests, theMatoGrosso dry forests, the Campaos Rupestresmontane savannah, theHumidChaco,theAmapamangrovesandthemanyotherecoregionsthatunderliethathumanconstruct.Similarly,theEuropeanUnionreachesfromtheCelticbroadleafforestsofEireandmost of neighbouringUK to the Balticmixed forests found in Poland and from the taiga ofScandinavia to the ‘Garrigue’, ‘Matorral’ and ‘Macchia’ scrublands of, respectively, France,SpainandItaly.

TransformersThe map highlights several critical features of the contemporary world. First and foremostthere is the difference what it maps and what now covers those areas. This divergencespotlights the extent to which humans have transformed ecosystems in every part of theplanet, to the immediate cost of other species and to the longer term unsustainability ofhumansocietyitself.Fewareasremaincontaminatedbyhuman-generatedpollution.Eventheworld’s highest peak, Everest, has heaps of rubbish polluting its lower slopes whileagrochemicalsnowcontaminatethebodiesofcreaturesintheremotepolarregions.Inearly2008,asoupofplasticwaste,nicknamedthe“trashvortex”andreportedtobethesizeoftheUSA,wasfloatinginmid-Pacific.

TheAralSeaandseverallakessuchasLakeChadhaveshrunkdramaticallyashastheextentofmangroveswampsandotherwetlands.Riversarenotshownonthemapbutmanyhavebeenreducedtoacomparativetrickleandadirtyoneatthat.Fewofthemrunfreelytotheseasuch is theextentofdamconstruction.Undergroundaquifers inmanyareassuchastheAmericanPrairiesarebeingdrainedfasterthantheyarereplenished.

Muchofthetreecovershownonthemaphastotallygone.Thisisnotjustthefateoftropicalmoist forests but also ofmany other types ofwoodland. Plantations have replacedotherareasofprimalforests(apointtoberememberedwhentheEarth’senemiesmakethebogus claim that the total forested area is going up). Similarly, crop monocultures andintensive ranching have replaced or badly degraded the original grasslands of our climatic-geological era (both of which are undermining their own foundations via soil erosion,salinisationandwaterpollution).Mangroveswampshavebeenobliteratedinareaswhilecoralreefsareinastateofgeneraldecline.DesertsbycontrastarespreadingwhilemoreandmoreoftheEarthiscoveredunderbrick,concreteandtarmac.

The extent of this transformation by, never forget, just one species is perhaps bestseenonnight-timesatellitephotographswithvastareasshininginwhatonceandnotlongagowasdarkness.Eventhelightsofgianttrawlingfleetscanbepickedoutatsea.

Human-causedextinctionofnon-humanspeciesnowmatchesthatofpastgeologicalages(hencethenamethe“sixthextinction”butthefirstandonlyonecausedbyonespecies).Indeed, in many respects, humankind by itself has become both a geological and climate-changing force. Major chemical cycles such as those of nitrogen and carbon have beenchanged.Insomeplacesitisevensaidthatearthquakeshasbecomemorefrequentduetotheload on sub-strata created by impounded waters behind dams. Hurricanes, floods, fires,avalanchesandmudslidesareincreasinginbothfrequencyandseverityduetohumanactivity.Ocean currents too seem to be altering for the same reason, a phenomenon that interactswithhumanimpactsonglobal,regionalandlocalweatherpatterns.

DivideandMisruleAlready mentioned is the mismatch between the Earth’s internal boundaries and thosecreatedbypeople.Thearbitraryshapesusedtodividestatescanbemostblatantlyseeninthelinesof latitudechosenbydiplomats inseveralplaces,not leasttheborderbetweenCanadaand theUSA aswell as the split across the Korean peninsula. Similar patterns are repeated

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within countries such as various provincial state lines of Australia that utterly ignore theboundariesonthemapabove.

There are, of course, many boundaries that do follow a physical feature such asmountain ridges and rivers. But the latter choice often fragments management of humanactivityinthecrucialzoneslikeriverbasins.Furtheradministrativearrangementscanworsenmatters.

A smallbut tellingexampleof thebarriers sucharrangements create for sustainableland use comes from the Cairngorms in north central Scotland. At one time in the 1970s,decisions about the area’s fate were determined out of the interplay between six centralgovernmentbodies,eachwithconflictinggoals,tworegionalcouncils,threedistrictcouncils,achairlift company, a reindeer faming company, the armed forces, plus several privatelandowners. Most sought to intensify pressures on this beautiful but fragile mountainecosystem. It is no wonder that such a land use ‘management’ system puts ecologicalsustainabilitywaydowntheagenda.

In general, human organisational systems work against, not with, the underlyingpatterns of the Earth’s life-support systems. They thereby make it more likely thatunsustainable levelsof resourcedepletion,pollutionandgeneralenvironmentaldegradationwill occur and, indeed, getworse. They also frustrate any attempts to address the resultingthreatsbothtohumanwellbeingandtothecontinuedexistenceofotherspecies.

Inthelattercase,migratorypatterns,somethingelsenotdepictedonthemap,furtherintensify the mismatch between ecological and human patterns, increasing the threats towildlifestillfurther.Atthesametime,theboundariesthatsetasidecertainpatchesoflandforother species in the form of nature and other reserves are generally far too small and toofragmented.

Examplesofthismismatchcanbeseenatalllevels.Globally,therewere192memberstates of the United Nations in 2008. There are many would-be states (seehttp://www.unpo.org/whichlists69thoughitisquitepossiblethatexistingstateslikeBelgiumor even Spainmight split up, adding to that number). Contrast those figureswith theWWFestimates of 867 different ‘ecoregions’ within the 8 major terrestrial ecozones. Ecologicalboundaries are, then, quite at variance with those manufactured by people. Europe’sCarpathianmountains,forexample,straddle4countries,withoutlyingsectionsin2more.i

Therearealso13marineprovinces,subdividedinto232marineecoregions.Heretheproblemissomewhatdifferentinthat,whilecoastalwatersaresubjecttonationalsovereignty(though sometimes disputed and often flouted by fishing fleets), the ‘open sea’ belongs toeveryone…andno-one,positivelyinvitingwholesaleabuse.ii

Back on the land, the internal sub-divisions of sovereign states — countries,departments, provinces and state — parallel the national ecological mismatching. ThusCalifornia has 19 core ecoregions within it, though one classification by the InteragencyNatural Areas Coordinating Committee simplifies this to 10. Alaska has 20 ecoregions.According toone study,Canadahas15 terrestrialecozones.Theybarely resemble theareasconstituted by its 13 provinces and territories. At the lowest level, the estimated 101‘ecodistricts’aresimilarlyoutoflinewithmunicipaldivisions.

Viewedinecoregionalterms,the2sovereignstatesoftheBritishIslescouldbedividedinto4units:EnglishLowlandbeechforests,Celticbroadleafforests,Caledonconiferousforestsand North Atlantic moist mixed forest. Nearly all of this woodland survives today only asnamesonmaps,replacedbyeither impoverishedmoorland,over-farmedfieldsandpasturesand, of course, mile upon mile of built environment, with a sprinkling of reservoirs, golfcoursesandthelike.TheoneAustralianstateofQueenslandhas13‘bioregions’accordingitsEnvironmental Protection Agency.Madagascar, theworld’s fourth largest island and once atreasurehouseofdiverseandabundant floraand fauna,has11ecoregionsbut their ‘burial’beneathonepoliticalstatehasscarcelyaidedtheconservationofitsbiologicalwealth.

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HumanpatchworkOntopoftheecological‘quilt’,then,liesasecondsetofpatterns,onescreatedbypeoplebutwhich also are dangerously out of step with existing boundaries. As humans evolved andspread,theirculturesdiversified.Forthemostofknownhumanhistory,theytendedtomeshwiththeaboveecologicalpatterns.RaymondDasmanndescribedtheseculturesas‘ecosphere’people. Their diets, dress, the structure and materials of their buildings, and many otheraspectsoftheirsocietiesreflectedthebiophysicalcharacteristicsoftheplacestheyinhabited.Eventhewordstheyspokewereshapedbytheneedtobesensitivetotheenvironmentsonwhichtheysodirectlydepended.

It would be quitewrong to romanticise such cultures. They drove several creaturesintoextinctionandweresometimesviolentlycrueltofellowhumansforexample.Yetoften—andcertainlymoresothanmodernsocieties—theysettledintosomesortofrough-and-readysustainablerelationshipwiththewiderecologicalcommunityofwhichtheyweredistinctlyapart.Lowpopulationlevelsandmodesttechnologiescertainlyweremajorreasonsforthisyetmany cultures also developed worldviews that also helped to restrain environmentallydestructivepractices.

One of the most striking examples remains the cultures of pre-Columbian NorthAmerica. A map of the language families of the first nations of that continent has manyparallels to one of its underlying ecoregions.iii But the symbiosis between people and localplaces went much further. On the Northwest Pacific coastal region there were the great‘salmon’nationswithculturesradicallydifferenttothoseofthetribesfoundintheArctic,sub-Arctic, California, the Great Basin, the south-west arid areas, the Plains and north-east andsouth-easternwoodlands.

The rest of the world exhibited similar patterns, even down to the level ofcharacteristiclocalalcoholicbeverages.Itisnoaccidentthatinsomeareas,peopledrankbeerbut,elsewhere,wineorsomeotherconcoction.EveninasmallcountrylikeEngland,regionalpatterns of architecture alone, reflecting ambient buildingmaterials, were quite noticeableintomoderntimes.Similarlythelongoverhangingeavesof,say,Alpinefarmhousesreflectedthe winters commonly experienced in such areas while, once, flat roofs were normallyconfined to hot, dry climate (a principle now ignored bymost architects and developers incountrieswithheavyrainfall).

Indeedtheseregionalpatternsmanifestedthemselvesinallsortsofways.Thestudiosof the Hollywood Golden Age were careful to craft films that would appeal to the type ofpeople found inplaceswhere thebig fivevertically integratedcompanies (Warnersetc)hadthemostcinemas,forinstance.Thusthosewithoutletsinthemid-westoftheUSAproduceddifferentmovies to studioswhose cinemaswere concentrated in, say, New York and othercitiesoftheNorthEastoftheUSA.

Oppressinglocalpeoples…ravaginglocalplacesThe first large-scale assault on the above patterns, ecological and cultural, came with theadventofagricultureandthelarge-scalepermanentsettlementspermittedbyfoodsurpluses.Societiesbecamemuchmorestratified.Thoseconsignedtodothehardgraftinthefieldsandpasturesfoundthemselvesinsimilarsituationsnomatterwhatlandtheyinhabited.

Thenew rulingelitesquicklydevelopedambitions toabsorbmoredistant lands intotheir empires. Frequently, conquered peoples spoke one language, their rulers another.Meanwhilenew‘skygod’religionsbegantoreplacethemoreanimisticones,worldviewsthathadtendednottotreatenvironmentalsystemsasmererawmaterial,theretobemanipulatedforhumanwantsandwhims.

Theseearlyempirescameandwent,though,inthemeantime,theyhadtrashedwholeecosystemsinareassuchastheTigris-EuphratesvalleyandMediterraneanLittoralaswellasinflictedgreathumansuffering.But, inmorerecentcenturies,thepresentpatternofnation-statesemerged.Noneofthesenewstatesrepresentedrealnationsinanymeaningfulsense.Forcenturies,people saw themselvesas, forexample,VenetiansorFlorentines,not Italians.Unificationwasusuallyaccompaniedbymuchdeathanddestruction.ThusFrancewasforged

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out of the bloody conquest of neighbouring kingdoms. Indeed the crusade led by variousCapetiankingsagainstLanguedockilledaroundonemillionpeople.ModernGermanytoowasbornoutofbloodshed,forciblymergingintoonesingleunitculturesthatwereasdifferentastheecoregionsthatunderlaythestate.iv

ThispatternwasrepeatedoutsideEurope.Indeed,conflictbothbetweenpeopleandbetween humans and the rest of nature was exacerbated by the specific political patternscreated first by European imperialismaswell as bypost-colonial divide-ups and subsequentpolitical re-arrangements.Politicians,diplomatsandcolonialadministratorsall systematicallyignored biophysical boundaries as much as they routinely discounted the wishes of localpeoples. Often tribal peoples and ethic groups with long histories of antagonism werecorralledintothesamenewstate(or,onasmallerscale,thesamereservation).

Notsurprisingly,theconsequenceshaveoftenbeenbloodyconflictwithin:Yugoslavia,Chechnya,Biafra,Congo,Rwanda,Kenya,Eritrea,Sudan,Iraq,SriLanka,Pakistan-Bangladesh,Kashmir,EastTimor,Ossetia…The listseemsendless.TheflickofthepenthatdividedIndiaandPakistanin1947ledtothedisplacementofsome14.5millionpeopleaswellastriggeredterriblemassacres.Oftensuper-powermachinationsmadethingsevenworse,ashappenedinKoreaandVietnam.Theon-goingdestructionof Tibetan cultureand theecosystemsof thatregion by what is amusingly called the People’s Republic of China, in reality anotherimperialist-gangsterregime,illustrateshowtheoppressionoflocalpeoplesanddestructionoflocalplacesusuallygohandinhand.

PlacestoPlacelessness‘Biosphere’peoplepopulatemodern society,unlike the ‘ecosphere’people‘ofpre-industrialsocieties,touseRaymondDasmann’sterms.Inotherwords,theydrawtheresourcesonwhichtheir livelihoods depended from around the planet. Development such as large-scale, long-distance transportation, coupled to technologies such as refrigeration plus, more recently,computerisationclearlyfacilitatedthisglobalshift.Biospherepeoplearecorrespondinglylessimmediatelydependenton,sensitivetoand,indeed,awareoftheirlocalecosystems.

Their lives,be it thefoodtheyeat, theclothestheywear, thebuildingsthey inhabit,theairportsthroughwhichtheypass,themotorwayservicestationstheyfrequent,thegamesthey play or watch, themusic they hear, the TV and cinema screens they watch… all havebecomemuchmorehomogenised.So toohave the fields,pastures, treeplantations, factory

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estates, retail parks, leisure centres, and other environments that constitute the world’sproductionanddistributionzones.

The primary habitat of ‘biosphere people’ is the human-made urban environment.Cities are now so big and so frequently sprawl into each other that new names are beingcoinedtodescribetheplaces(Washbaltetc.)andthephenomenon(‘megalopolis’or,better,‘pathopolis’, with ‘suburbs’ now replaced by ‘ex-urbs’ and ‘edge cities’ such is the sprawl).TheodoreRoszakhasgivenagooddescriptionofthenatureofthisnewenvironment:

“Thesupercity…stretchesouttentaclethatreachthousandsofmilesbeyonditsalready sprawling parameters. It sucks every hinterland&wilderness into itstechnologicalmetabolism. It forces rural populations off the land& replacesthemwith vast agro-industrial combines. Its investments& technicians bringtheroarofthebulldozer&oilderrickintothemostunchartedquarters.Itrunsits conduits of transport & communication, its lines of supply & distributionthrough thewildest landscapes. It flushes itswastes into every nearby river,lake,&oceanortrucksthemaway…Theworldbecomesitsgarbagecan.”Biospherepeopleare–forthetimebeing–quiteinsulatedfromthespecificnatureof

theplaceswheretheylive.Typicalcitizensneitherknownorcaretoknowwhencetheirfood,waterandenergyaresourcednorwheretheirwastesgo.Typically theirhomes,workplaces,shopsandplacesofleisurearemany,manymilesapart,usuallyreachedbycarjourneysacrossseeminglyendlessbeltsofroadway.

Theresultofallthesechangesisaworldthatisincreasinglyhomogenised,physically,economically and culturally. Yet, for all the technologicalmarvels evident in this brave newworld,itisonedoomedtocomecrashingduetotheecologicalcrisisthatithasdonesomuchtohasten.JusttakecheapandreadilyavailableoiloutoftheequationandimaginehowlittleofthepicturepainedabovebyTheodoreRoszakwouldsurvive.

Itmaybeprotestedthat ‘biospherepeople’andtheircitieshavebeenthesourceofmuch great culture, economic dynamismandpolitical progress. There is some truth in suchclaims. Yet the great centres of artistic endeavour (Renaissance Florence, ‘Golden Age’Amsterdam,BaroqueDresden,etc)wereoftentinyplacescomparedtotoday’sconurbations.Economicactivitycanbebutfruitlessifitisecologicalunsustainable.TheboomingnewcitiesofmodernChina,forexample,seemsettoburstinshortorder.

The levels of political alienation evident in most cities today suggest that‘massification’ means, in practice, less real democracy. Biosphere people do consumeunprecedentedlevelsofgoodsandservicesyet,ecologicalunsustainabilityapart,thefactthatthey seem to be no happier nor any the more contented, according to one survey afteranother,wouldseemtosuggestsuch lifestylesaresociallyandpsychologicallyunsustainableaswell.

The search forabetterwayof living,one that ismore satisfyingaswell ecologicallydurable,mightbeginbygoingbacktothatmapcreatedUdvardyandsimilarrepresentationsofthe‘realworld’.First,however,therearesomethornyconceptualquestionstoaddress.

Doingwhatcomesnaturally?Humankindhascutdownforests,drainedwetlands,ploughedupgrassland,introducedexoticspecies, cut open huge mines, dammed rivers, carved out canals, dredged waterways,constructedgiantcitiesandotherwisechangedthefaceoftheEarth.Theyhavedonesoatanacceleratingrateoverthepasttwocenturies.ThewaragainsttherestofNatureparticularlyspeeded up afterWorldWar 2. Its biogeographical provinceswould seem to be irreversibly‘dissolved’.

Some would go further, arguing that they were, in any case, but a temporaryphenomenon in the flux of random change. There is, they claim, no ‘balance of nature’, no‘naturalorder’againstwhichtomeasurehumanactivity.Afterall, it isquitecommontoseeexhibits at local museums that show the locality not, say, covered in trees but under the

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watersofoceansthatonce,longago,coveredthearea.Orelseitmayhavebeenahotdesertat some stage. Similarly, there are those who argue that humans are part of nature sowhatevertheydois,ipsofacto,‘natural’and,iftheyhavetransformedtheplanet,sobeit.

Nowthatword‘natural’ isoneofmostabusedinthevocabulary.If itcanbeusedtomeaneverything,itwillactuallymeannothingand,inthatcase,canonlyhinderclearthinkingand its communication. However it is possible to pin down its meaning. ‘Natural’ could betaken todescribe those structures,processesand componentparts that, together, keep theEarth functioning as a life-support system. Shorn of its mechanical implications, ‘SpaceshipEarth’ is a good term todescribewhat is anoasis of life in anotherwisebarrenpart of theuniverse.The ‘rules’ofNaturearethoseguidelinesthatkeepthatspaceship inbestworkingorder.

Natureas awholeworks inways that tend todampenpotentiallydamaging changethrough various checks and balances. It knows no ‘resource’ problem since it makessustainableuseofincomingsolarenergyandmaximisesrecyclingofmatter.Thefactthatonlysome5% is tappedbyphotosynthesis is not a symptomof ‘inefficiency’ as themore foolisheconomists and accountants might see it. Rather it is the take-up that best maintains thewhole. It is real efficiency.Meanwhile the ‘outputs’ of one part of the system become theresource‘inputs’ofanother.

When destruction does take place, Nature makes repairs, creating, if not the oldequilibrium, thenanewone.Wherevolcanoesexplode,nature soonheals thewoundswithnew vegetation. The same thing can happen on very small scale too. It was one of the‘wonders’ofHamburgthat,afterthemaelstromofthe1943firestorm,burntandblastedtreesseeminglymiraculouslycamebacktolife.Thedisappearanceofspeciesiscertainlypartofthisorder.Thecriticalpointisthattherearenewonestotaketheirplace,somethingthatismostcertainlynotthecasetodaywithanthropogenicextinctions.

It is also true that the Earth’s landforms andmix of flora and fauna have changeddramatically,beitnewmountainrangesorseparatedcontinents.Yethumankindcanonlytakeresponsibility for its actions in the geological era in which it now finds itself. Whateverhappenedin,say,500millionyearsagointhePalaeozoicerahashappened.

Conversely, whatever may happen in 500 million years time lies in the lap of theproverbialgods.Weshouldconcentrateonthehereandnow,thoughitmightalsobewisetogethumanaffairsinthebestordertosurvivemajorplanetary‘events’suchassuper-volcanoeruptionsandtheinevitablereturnofaniceage(thecriticalonewouldbemuchmoremodestpopulationlevels).

Sustainability,atthispointoftime,meansthecessationofallthoseactivitiesthatareundermining theEarth’s capacity to replenish, restore and regulate.Naturedoes gives cleargoodguidelinesfortheconstructionofasustainablesocialorder;theirobservanceiswhatisthe‘natural’thingtodo.Afterall,theinstincttosurviveandflourishissurelypartofevolution.Species do not normallymake themselves extinctwhile individualswho commit suicide areusuallyjudgedtobebehavingaberrantly,unlessitisavoidsomeevenworsefate.

Nature’sguidelinesaretobefoundinthosebiogeophysicalprovincesandecoregions.Their structures and patterns, their rhythms and tolerances are the roadmap to long-termsustainability.Theyconstitutetheoneandonlymodelof ‘negentropy’, thecapacity toresistentropic decay and dissipation. Sustainability is about working within, not against, them.Doubtless,likeotherspecies,wehumansaredestinedtoextinctionatsomedateinthefuture.Itissanitytopostponethatdestinyaswellasleadsecureandfulfillinglivesinthemeantime.

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FromthegroundupPerhaps the most significant photographs ever taken were those shot during the Apollospaceflights.Theyshowedablueballseeminglyfloatinginspace,averitableoasisoflifeintheseeminglyendlessexpansesofoursolarsystem.Nostateboundariescouldbeseennorwasthereanythingvisiblethatrepresentedtheclass,ethnic,racialandotherdivisionsthatdividetheworld.Therewereno‘insiders’nor‘outsiders’,noglobalwinnersnorlosers,norich‘Northnor poor ‘South’, no elites nor masses, no chosen ones nor infidels. There were nodemocracies nor dictatorships, no liberal nor authoritarian governments, no left-wing norright-wing politics, no extremists nor centrists. There were no ‘failed states’ nor any‘successful’ones,nomatterhowdefined.

All thatwas to be seenwas only one Earth, the home shared by all humans and amyriadofotherspecies.PlanetEarthcanbeseentobetheultimatebasisoflifeandcivilisedliving-ourultimatereferencepoint,forallofus.Itslife-nurturingandlife-enhancingcapacitiesbecome more obvious when juxtaposed against the barren moon. Just consider all thetechnologicalgadgetryittakestokeepahandfulofhumansalive–inmiserableconditions–for just a very short time on the moon. Compare to the home that the Earth has freelyprovided for thousands of years for people and a multitude of other species – and willcontinuetodoformanymoreifwehumanscanlearnto‘let’her.

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The same comparisons can be seen down back on Earth itself. It is the differencebetween thriving fisheries and collapsed ones, between jungle and the impoverished brickhard soil that forms once the tree cover is removed, between fertile soil and exhaustedcropland, between flowingwaters and exhausted aquifers… Take for example theAmericanPrairies. The interaction between once immense herds of buffalo and flourishing plantcommunities on those plains directly provided 'more meat on the hoof' than do today’sovergrazedanderodedranches.Thespreadofdiseasesbeyondhabitats towhichtheywereonce confined similarly illustrates the inherent dangers of ripping apart, via habitatdestruction,theweboflife.

Ofcourse,humanshavetheirneeds,someabsolutelyvital,manyothersnon-essentialbutstillvitalforcivilisedliving.Leavingasidethecriticalissueofhumannumbers,thesupremetechnologicalchallengeofourtimesistofindwaysofprovidingfood,shelterandsoforthinwaysthatmeshwithecoregionalpattern.Whilemostcommentatorsandindeedlargesectionsof the general public are mesmerised by the snake oil salesmen of bio-engineered foodproduction,computerisationandthelike,therealpioneersaretobefoundelsewhere.

To take the example of the American Prairies again, pioneers of ‘natural systems’(‘perennial’) agriculture are exploring ’the sustainable road.v Within this same ‘bioregionalparadigm’,istheconceptof‘’forestgardening’.vi‘Community-supportedagriculture’isanotherpart of this evolving picture.vii Or to look at a sustainable relationshipwith theworld’s treecover,therealpioneeringworkisbeingdonebypeopleinthefieldof‘ecoforestry’aswellassustainablecities(e.g.)ormoregeneralbioregionaldevelopment.viii

Clearlyenergysupplywillbecritical.Workonpossible localandregionalsystems, incontrasttohighlycentralised,large-scalegrids&pipelines,isbeingdoneatvarioussitessuchas the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, USA, the Centre for Alterative Technology inWales and the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. Amodel ‘desktop’ study is that by DavidPomerantzonARenewableEnergyFutureforFranklinCounty,Massachusetts.ix

Renewable, low-impact production systems can but be low throughput systems,capableofcateringformuchreduceddemand,evenif,overtheverylongterm,theymayyieldmore than today’s superficially high output farms and factories. The critical question, then,becomesthatofcarryingcapacity:whatnumberofpeopleconsumingwhatquantityofgoodsandservices.Populationisthecriticaldimensionyetcomparativelylittleworkhasbeendone

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on the human numbers that can be sustained by specific ecoregions. Indeed bioregionalgroups, like the broader greenmovement, often seem to be in denial about the overridingsignificance of overpopulation, the most fundamental barrier to any programme ofsustainability.

Indeed more analysis has been devoted to ‘footprinting’ (the impacts of differenthuman groups on ecosystems) thanwhatmight be called ‘load-bearing’ (the capacities andtolerancesofecosystems,workingbackwards towhat that implies forpopulation levels andlifestyles). The foolishness of ignoring local ecological tolerances is grossly illustrated byburgeoningcities likeLasVegasinthedrySWoftheUSA,anareainherentlycapableofonlysupportingsmallhumancommunitiesoverthelong-term.FortunatelypioneeringworkbylanduseplannerssuchasIanMcHarg(DesignWithNatureetc)havepavedthewayforthefurtherstudiesneeded.

It isalsopossibletospeculateabouttheculturalpatternsthatwouldaccompanytheabove technological changes. Somewould be totally new but otherswould be built on theachievements of societies that weremore firmly rooted in place. The great cuisines of theworldareactually rooted in theclimate, soilsand foodproductionpatternscharacteristicofdifferent places. Similarly the rich mix of what is sometimes called ‘world music’ generallyembodies the way in which different musical forms emerged in different places. Individualcontemporaryartistshavealsobeendevelopinganaestheticmoreattunedtolocalplaces,asillustratedbytheworkof,say,AndyGoldsworthyinBritain.

MediaMattersAparticularproblemconcerningculture,however,isthedominantpatternofcommunicationmedia. It is true that, to a certain extent, the mass media once had some regionalcharacteristics. They were not the globalised corporate entities they have largely becometoday. There was a healthy local and regional press, elements of which still survive. Thepatternofradiowasquitesimilar.Filmalsohadquitedistinctnationalandsometimesregionalpatterns. Even TV sometimes had a distinct regional character. In the case of Britain, forexample,thenewcommercialchannelsofITV,bornin1955,originallyhadanovertlyregionalpattern,evenifmuchofthecontentwasimportedAmericangameshows,soapsandsitcomsorcopiesthereof.

Clearly a new bioregional culture would be still born without equivalent media.Witness,asawarning, the rapidextinctionof linguisticdiversity in the faceofhomogenisedglobalmedia.Indeedmodernmasscommunication,includingintensivecommercialadvertisingandtheInternet,coupledtomasstransportationofpeopleandgoods,createsnewformsofstupidification.Thisauthoroncewenttoapizzeria inthetownofKayenta inArizona,wherelocalNavajoteenagerswerehangingaround,dressedlikeAfro-AmericansstraightoutofTheWire,eating ‘Italian’foodandplayingonaJapanesegameonavideoarcademachine inthecorner.

Theargumenthereisnotthatonecultureshouldneverborrowfromothers.Adegreeof cross-fertilisation isbeneficial foroneandall. Forexample, somedietsarehealthier thanothers and itwould sensible to adaptwhat theyhave to teach.Usually, local languages areconstantly evolvingwithwords andphrases routinely imported fromelsewhere.All the artshave benefited, to some extent, from external influences. Rather it is about the terms onwhich such cross-cultural exchange takes places and whether it rests on a sustainablerelationshipwith local places. ‘Disneyfication’, ‘McDonaldization’, ‘celebrity culture’ and thelike are media-fuelled cultural steamrollers, neither ecologically sustainable nor sociallyenriching. Cinemas around the world exhibit a similar diet of action thrillers, gross-outcomediesandteenhorror

PoliticalformThebioregionalvisionofadiversemosaicofecologicallygroundedsustainablelivingneedsapolitical-administrative framework that would reflect and encourage it. It is perhaps thehardestpartofthetransformationneededifhumankind—andotherspecies—istosurvive

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the downfall of the global-industrial order. At first sight, current national and supranationalstructures seem indestructible. It isnot justamatterof thepowerof ‘vested interests’.Themass of ordinary citizens seem loyal to that system, apart from specific grumbles aboutpoliticians, thepriceofpetrol, and so forth. Indeed their very cynicismaboutpolitics seemsinimicaltothebioregionalvisionbeingexploredhere.

Yet change is coming, if only because the decline of cheap oil supplies will restrictglobal trade and long-distance travel. Indeed history is characterised by the collapse ofempires andothermajor states that, at anygivenmoment,mayhave seemedapermanentpartofthepoliticallandscape.Sometimestheysimplyrottedfromwithin,atothertimestheirinherentweaknessesmadethempronetooverthrowevenbyseeminglyweakernewpowers,oftenthetwofactorsworkedtogether.

Thus Imperial Spain seemed set to dominate Europe but its end came quickly.Frederician Prussia rapidly rose and then fell. The great Napoleonic Empire lasted but fewyears.TheGermanKaiser’sEmpiresurvivedafewdecadesbutittoofellinduecourse,partlyavictimofitsmilitaristambitions.ThelongdecayingAustro-Hungaryexpiredwithawhimperatthesametime.Hitler’s1000yearReichhadinitiallyseemedunassailablebutittoodestroyeditself in short order. The so-called ‘American century’ is now coming to close. The newlyresurgentChina could easily comeasunder, perhaps reverting to the regionalwarlordismofthe 1930s. Tito’s Yugoslaviawaswidely hailed as the success story of the Communist Bloc.Nowittoohasvanished.Sothereisnothingimmutableaboutthepresentpoliticalmap.

There is of course nothing inevitable about the new forms existing states mightassume.Thereisstillastronglobbyforfurthercentralisation,ascanbeseenintheEuropeanUnion. When states do fragment, as in Iraq, they do so on lines that are just inimical toecologicalsustainabilityasintheirpreviousincarnation.TheaggressivesectionsoftheJewishandPalestinianpopulationsseemquitedisinterested in living inpeacewitheachotheror inharmonywiththeenvironmentalsystemstheyshare.IntheCaucasusregion,newstatessuchasGeorgiahavebroughtneitherpeacenorgreatersustainability.

Someconflict-riddenstatesliketheYemenseemsettosimplycollapsetothecommonruin of contending groups, due to rapid population growth and equally fast environmentaldegradation.Indeed,insomeareas,itistheabsenceofanykindofmeaningfulstatestructurethatallowsdrugcartels, jihadistgroups,warlordbandsandothersuchevilstobeflourish. Inothercases,stateregimesarenothingbutaviciouskleptocracy,notleastinpartsofAfricaandtheformerSovietUnion.

What can be said with some certainty is that there is muchmore instability in thepresentpolitical framework thatwas recognisedby thosecommentatorswho,not longago,were predicting the end of history, with universal peace, democracy and prosperity as itsclosure.Whetherthatcrisisisalsoanopportunityremainstobeseen.

TowardsnewpoliticalframeworksEach and every plan for peace, freedom, justice and at least a sufficient level of materialcomfortdependsuponecological sustainabilityorelse it isdoomed to failure. Itmust comefirst.Thepoliticalframeworkmostlikelyinthelongtermtodeliverecologicalsustainabilityisareorganisationofexistingstates,provincesand localcouncils inways thatalignmorecloselywith the Earth’s boundaries, thosedepictedon theUdvardy andother biogeophysicalmapsspotlightedabove,inotherwordswhathasbecometobeknownas‘bioregionalism’.One possible way to do this might be to create, within existing states, a new overarchingdepartment (possibly called the National Ecosystem Protection Agency) to co-ordinate andoversee the efforts of protecting and restoring the bio-cultural zones (areas of cities,agriculture,andotherintensivehumanhabitationanduse)andthe‘freenature’zones,with,inbetween,ecologicalprotectionzoneswheregentlerhumanlandusesarepermitted.Partofits role might be to reform the boundaries of constituent entities like provinces, counties,councilsandparishesalongmorebioregionallines.

Of course, there isno such thingas sustainability inonecountry.Theactionsofanyonecountrycanhavedrastic impactsonmanyothers.States liketheUSAandtheChinaare

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creating climatic havoc for everyonewhile even a small state in amountain region can, viadeforestation, wreck the water systems of those downstream. It is particularly foolish thatsomeso-calledgreensandanti-globalisationcampaignerstoendorsesomeimaginary‘right’ofspecific localities or entire states to treat their environment in any way they see fit. Theconsequencescouldonlybecalamitous.

Yetblunderinginterventionbyoutsiderscanbecounter-productive(post-SaddamIraqbeingaparticularlyterribleexample)sosomesustainablewayofcurbingecological‘deviants’needstobefound.Atthesametime,somemeansofreorganisingexistingstateboundaries,bycollectiveagreement,hasalsotobesought.Itisindeedanextremelytallordergiventhatthevastmajorityofstatesinhistoryhavetendedtoseekexpansion,notcontraction,oftheirsovereignterritory.

Three possible solutions seem worth consideration. One is separate negotiationbetween neighbouring states, including groups who want to secede. Given the seeminglyintractable quality of conflicts like the bloody Palestinian-Israeli struggle, clearly there issomethingofamountaintobeclimbedhere.Butithashappened.ThecomparativelypeacefulseparationofNorwayandSwedenprovidesonehopefulprecedent.TheCzechRepublicandSlovakiaalsomanaged to separate ina fairly civilisedmanner. EastTimorhadamuchmoreviolentbirthyetshamefulIndonesianrepressionstilldidnotpreventitsfinalemergenceasanewstate.

Atleast,theconservationoflife-supportsystems—theheartofbioregionalpolitics—might just provide contending political forceswith a comparatively ‘neutral’ agenda aroundwhichtobuildnegotiations.Ofcourse,enflamedethnicandreligiouspassionscreateblindnessaboutthecommoninterestsofallpeoples.Ultimately,however,allcontendinggovernmentsandotherorganisationswillhave to recognise that,withoutwater, fertile soilsandso forth,they have no future. So, perhaps, that basic shared interest might just offer a basis forcompromiseandboundarychanges.

Anotherpossibilitymightbetheuseofinternational‘peaceparks’onthelinesoftheWaterton-Glacier parks straddling the American-Canadian border or the Great Limpopotransfrontierpark in southernAfrica.x Ideally thesewouldcover those ‘greyareas’betweenexistingboundariesandthoseofabioregionalmodelaswellas,ofcourse,protectplacesofcriticalecologicalsignificance.Inthisway,theactualbordersofexistingstatesmightbegentlyreshapedinamorebioregionaldirection,withoutdirectlychallengingtheirrulers.

Similarly,farmlandset-asideschemesmightbeusedtocreatenewforestscomposedofnative treesand shrubsagain in those samegreyareas. Thus someof the ‘placelessness’created by suburban sprawl and sprawling monocultures of identikit ploughland andplantationsmightbemodifiedwith landusesofamorebioregionalnaturexi.Pastcity ‘greenbelts’ tended to follow a rather rigid geometric circular patterns but perhaps morebiophysically attuned forms could be created from them. Bioregional forests would adheremuchmorecloselytowatershedsandothersuchfeatures.xii

Returningtobioregionalpossibilitiesofanorganisationalnature,anotheropportunitymaylieinthediscreditedprivatisationprogrammesofrecentyears.Althoughthisjuggernautstill rollsalong, ithasalreadybrought forthsignificant levelsofpopularopposition.Manyoftheprivatisedbodieshaveturnedout tobebothmoreexpensiveand lessefficient thanthepublicbodiestheyreplaced.ThedisasterofBritain’srailwayprivatisationisonlyoneofmanyexamples.Often,asinthecaseofwater,ownershipofcriticalresourcesfellintothehandsoftransnationalcorporationswhocouldnotcarelesswhathappensinparticularlocalities.

Thus, there exists the possibility of a head of political steambuilding up thatmightopenthedoortotherenationalisationofkeyutilitieslikewater.Thecriticalthingwouldbetoavoid the discredited forms of hyper-centralised state ownership but seekmore responsiveandmorebioregionallyorganisedstructures.Asnotedelsewhere,Britain’soldWaterBoardswerenotfarremovedfromsuchamodel.Forestrywouldseemanobviouscandidate.Perhapsfarmproductmarketingboardsmightbereintroducedbutwithamuchbioregionalbasis.

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InternationalactionAnother way forward may lie in some revamped role for the United Nations. For all thecriticismofthisbodyanditsevenmoremalignedpredecessor,theLeagueofNations,thereisnoalternativebuttousetheonlyglobalforumavailable.Those‘greens’andAnti-Globalisationcampaigners who make a cult of localism are making a big mistake. Solutions have to bepursuedat all levels, from the topdownwardsand from thebottomupwards. Therearenoanswerstoproblemslikeclimatechangewithoutinternationalagreement.

Indeed,theempowermentoflocalities,inthecurrenteconomicandculturalcontext,may well lead to more destruction of wildlife and other assaults on local ecosystems. TheBrazilian assault on Amazonia started on a purely domestic basis, for example, even if,subsequently, forces like world trade (soya cultivation etc) have intensified deforestationthere. More generally, many local communities have been prepared to sacrifice their localenvironmentsforshort-termgain.

ItmightbenotedaswellasthatsomeareassuchasJapanarelivingsofarbeyondthattheir local ecological ‘means that any kind of transition to localised economies would betantamount to suicide without outside assistance. So some sort of global system forenvironmentalconservationand ‘ecologicalredevelopment’ isnecessaryand,atpresent, theUNofferstheonlyfunctioningvehicleavailable.

Thisdoesnot implyanynotionof‘worldgovernment’.Thehumanpopulationisnowsobigthatsuchabodycouldnotdemocraticallyrepresenttheworld’steemingmillions.TheargumentissimplythattheUN,reformedtoreflectthedistributionofpopulationmorefairly,mightactasanarbiterwhenproblemscannotberesolvedatamorelocallevel.ThesamegoesfortransnationalbodiesliketheEuropeanUnion.

Itseemsasunwisetowriteoffsuchorganisations,asitistohaveinflatedideasabouttheir general potential. It seems more sensible to make use of whatever tools they mayprovide.ThustheEuropeanUnionhassystemssuchasPDO(ProtectedDesignationofOrigin),PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) and TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) thatprotect selected products. They might be used to encourage the kind of bioregionalproductionsystemsdiscussedabove.Converselyeveryeffortisneededtoscrapthosepoliciesof the EU and its cousins that, in the case ofWestern Europe, have bulldozed through thesamepatternsofindustrialisedagricultureinareasasecologicallyvariedasNorthernScotlandandsouthernSicily.

BioregionalactionThe‘reformist’strategiessuggestedabovecanbecomplementedbyamoreradicalone. It isthedo-it-yourselfpathoftryingtocreatealternativesinthehereandnow,bypassingexistingstructures. Such a strategy might include ‘demonstration’ centres where the technologicalrudimentsofnewwaysoflivingmightbeonshow(e.g.TheEdenProject,LeicesterEcoHouse,and the Teesside Nature’sWorld in England) as well as ecological restoration projects (e.g.reforestation with natural woodland). Then there are local currency and trading exchangeschemes.Businessventuresmightincludeeverythingfromlocalmicrobreweriesandbakeriesto small-scalemanufacturing and recycling projects. Clearly amajorway to begin to escapeglobaleconomicsystemsistomakeoneselflessdependentonthem.

Atamorepolitical level,radicalpoliticalpartiessuchastheGreensfacechoicesthataredifficulttoreconcile.Tobeeffectivetheyneedtofunctionwithintheexistingframeworkof electoral constituencies as well as take into account other factors such as the dominantmedia channels. Their structures have to be aligned accordingly. Yet they might bestdemonstrateanalternativevision iftheywerestructuredmoreonbioregional lines.Perhapstheonlyanswerisexperimentationtofindapracticablemix.

For extra-Parliamentary campaigning bodies the task is easier and already there aresomestimulatinginitiatives.Someofthemostadvancedseemtobeinthe‘Cascadia’areaofthe North West USA. The bioregion straddles both 49th parallel that artificially dividesecologicallylinkedlandsnorthandsouthoftheUSA-Canadaborder.Herealsoisanexampleofthestrategyoflaunchingnewbioregionalparties,thoughthisisconfinedtotheAmericanpart

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of the broader bioregion).xiii There are, of course, parties that have organised themselves inlinewith the cultural fractureswithin an existing state, notably the Flemish Agalev and theWalloonEcoloinBelgium.

Universities can be a base for such research and propaganda (see, for example, thework on the Putah-Cache bioregion in Californiaxiv). Other bodies may be more generalprojects butwhich alsowork on bioregionalmapping (e.g. EcoCity Cleveland’swork on theCuyahogabioregionxv).AnexampleofabroadcoalitionistheCarpathianEcoRegionInitiative.xvi

The above examples illustrate some of the thinking on how the existing political-administrative framework could be restructured along more ecologically sustainable lines.Clearlymanyecoregionsare toobig tobe thebasisofa stateofa suitable size toafford itscitizens the real chance of proper democratic participation. So further subdivisions will beneeded. The critical framework for regional/provincial governance is likely to be thewatershed.Asnotedabove,waterismetaphoricallyand,tosomeextent,literallythelifebloodof the planet. A sustainable relationship with hydrological systems is, then, critical and sodrainagebasinsseemtoofferthemostfruitfulframeworkbelowecoregions.Surviving‘native’vegetationprovidesfurtherguidelines.Bothwaterandplantsystems,ofcoursereston localrockformationsandsoilpatternsaswellasthedominantclimaticregime.

New‘eco-states’…newworlddisorder?Aworldofbioregionalstateswouldbeoneofmanysmallerpoliticalentitiesasitsfundamentalorganisational units. Such a vision immediately invites charges of ‘Balkanisation’. TheaccusationisthatsuchasystemwouldbringwithitthechronicdisorderandfrequentviolencethatplaguedthesmallerstatesoftheBalkansinthe19thandearly20thcenturies.

There iscertainlynoguaranteethatpeaceandgoodwillwillreignsupreme.Afterall,the break-up of former Yugoslavia lifted the lid on a cauldron of seething discontent andviolent resentment.Thesame is trueof theCaucasus region.ManyotherareassuchasEastand South Africa are powder kegs, seemingly just awaiting some flashpoint to unleashcommunalbloodletting.

Theseareseriousproblemsyettheydonotconstituteatotalrefutationofbioregionalvision.Forastart,itmightbethat,insomecases,theviolencemaybeanecessarytransitionalprocess to something more sustainable. After all, the brutal Saddam regime in Iraq didsuppresslocaltensionsforthetimebeingbutitisdoubtfulifthecostofhisdictatorshipwasapriceworthpaying.UltimatelyaspirationssuchasthoseoftheKurdswillworktheirwayoutanditissimplyinthelongrunbettertoacceptthatastatewillhavetobecreatedforthem,whatevertheshort-termpain.

More significantly, it is surely better that such local disorders stay local. The reallyseriousproblemwiththeBalkansbeforeWorldWarOneandindeedafterwasnotlocalethnicand religious feuding. Itwas the interferenceof thebig super-powers in those rivalries.Thisledanotherwiseminoractofviolence inSarajevo in1914 tobecomethecauseof somuchdeathanddestructioninWorldWar1.SimilarlyHitlerwasaclearlydangerousmonsterbutitwould have been better if Bavaria had been a separate state and his rule had beencorrespondinglyconfinedtoasmallpowerbase.OnlywhenhegotcontrolofGermanywasheabletodestroythepeaceofEurope.

Japanmightseemanexception.Afterall,itwasacomparativelysmallcountryyethadanimpactontheoutsideworldbeyonditssize. Inthe20thcentury it launcheditself intotheinternational arena with terrible violence, mainly at first in Korea and China, then in thesuicidalassaultontheUSAandEuropeancolonies.Butthebalefulroleofpopulationpressuremustbenotedaswellasthedrasticallydestabilisingimpact(asinGermany)ofworldmarketrecession. Added to that volatile mix was extreme dependence on distant and unreliablesourcesofoil.Thebioregionalmodelofasteady-stateeconomywithmuchgreaterrelianceonambientresourceswouldseemtoofferawayofdefusingsuchaggressivedrives.

Alongwith the charge of political ‘Balkanisation’ comes that of economic ‘autarchy’(strangely,thepositive-sounding‘protection’becomesmorenegativewiththeadditionofthe

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three letters ‘ism’). This is often blamed for causing or at least exacerbating the inter-warGreatSlump.Ofcourseanyattempttoeffectatransitiontoneweconomicformscan,intheshortterm,cancauseharmfuldislocations,withattendant increases inunemployment,priceinflation and other such ills. Nor is there any gain for the poor if more localised economicstructuresperpetuatetoday’seconomicinequities.

Yet bioregionalism could and should be only one part of a broader ecopoliticalprogramme. Part of it is thenotionofmore localised economieswithin the frameworkof asteady-state economy. The literature on this broader dimensionmakes clear that limits oneconomic differentials within society are the cousin of limits on human appropriation ofnature’seconomy.

Certainly an element of that programme is import substitution and replacement bygreaterrelianceonmoreambientsourcesofsupply.Tothatextent, intheshortterm,thosedependent on the original exports would suffer. But this is going to happen anyway, asconstraintsonoilandotherresourcesuppliesonwhichtheglobalisedeconomydependsbeginto begin. The switch to amore bioregional production base is a necessary adaption to newrealities.

Certainly it is amore positivemove than the painful of adjustment programmes bywhichglobalbodiessuchastheIMFhaveforcedcountriestoputthemselvesatthemercyofwhathasbeenjustlycalledthe‘globalcasino’oftheworldeconomy.Insuchasystem,workersinfields,factoriesandofficearevulnerabletosuddenlay-off,regardlessofthequalityoftheirwork, the social need for their product or the ecological sustainability of their activity justbecause, in a flash of light, investments are shifted and currencies exchanged by a fewcommandsonacomputerkeyboardinsomedistantfinancehouseorstockexchange.

The trade wars of the inter-war years were acts of economic aggression. Similarly,morerecentschemestokeepdownlocalwagecosts,cutwelfarespending,curbemploymentrights and slash ‘costly’ heath and environmental protection controls were essentially aprogrammeof‘beggarmyself’tobeggarmoregreatlymyneighbours.Thelocalisedeconomyalternative is, by contrast, a programme for protection and the wellbeing of the greatestnumber. If a plan to escape a global treadmill that is growing ever more dangerous is‘autarchy’,sobeit.xvii

BiggestbarriersThere are some hard arguments for amore bioregionally based system of governance. Buttherearesomeequallysolidobstaclesintheway.Onehasbeenmentionedalready.Thereisthenumberofsimmeringlocal,oftenethnic,tensionsinseveralplaces.Foralltheirmanifestfailings,existingstatessometimesfunctionaslids,keepingsuchpotentialconflictsfromboilingover.RemovethemanddisasterslikeBosniaandKosovomayrepeatthemselves.Theproblemis perhaps greatest in Africa where potentially hostile tribal groups are often highlyintermingled,withactualconflictsalreadybrewinginstatessuchasSouthAfricaandKenya.

Thispointstoanotherbarrier.Thesurgeinhumannumbersinmoderntimesplushugepopulationmovementshavecreatedvastconurbations.Theystraddletwoormorebioregionalunitsyettheirmanagementdemandsthekindofunitarystructuresthatcandelivercoherentpublictransportsystemsandthelike.Itcreatesasituationwhereitwouldbechallengingtask,to say the least, to creates structureswith a closermatch between ecological patterns andthosecreatedbytheactualplaceswherepeoplereside,workandplay.Ethnicityandassortedsub-cultures further complicatemosaicof thehumanhabitation. Thebioregionalmovementoftentalksof‘reinhabitingplace’yetitisfarfromclear,overmuchoftheplanet,whatthoseplacesactuallyare.

The difficulty is complicated further by the attendant loss of any serious awarenessamongstmostcitizensofthebiogeophysicalrealities.Asnotedabove,manypeoplewouldbehard put to identify the source of theirwater, food, power, and other vital supplies or thedestination of the wastes they create. Technologies such as central heating and air-conditioning further erode sensitivity to local weather patterns. Today’s schooling does nothelpverymuch.Thetypicaleducationsyllabusnowfocusesonrandomtopics,oddscrapsof

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knowledgeaboutpeopleandplacesthatoftenhavelittletodowiththeareainwhichschoolsareactuallysituated.Suchculturalbarriersmightbeovercome…intime.

This finallybringsus to thebiggestweakness in thebioregionalperspective.Today’smultiplecrisesdemandurgentactionifdisasteristobeaverted.Inthetimeframelikelytobeavailable, existing political structures provide the only vehicle for collective action, all theirmanifoldflawsnotwithstanding.Perhapsthere isno longerthenecessarytimetowait forabioregional reorganisation of power. Perhaps all that can be done is, where practicable, towork towards such new forms of governmental structures whilst always giving priority tostruggles that can halt the juggernaut of destruction. Otherwise there will be little left toreorganise.SandyIrvineNewcastleUponTyne(Thedrawingonp5wasfoundintheauthor’smountainofoldfiles.Hehasnoideaofitsprovenancebutwouldgladlyacknowledgecopyrightifprovidedwiththedetails.)

BibliographyAberley,D.ed.(1994).FuturesbyDesign:ThePracticeofEcologicalPlanning.NewSocietyPublishers.Aberley,D.,ed.(1993).BoundariesofHome:MappingforLocalEmpowerment.NewSocietyPublishers.Howtogetone’sheadaroundthedeeperpoliticsofbioregions.Beatley,T.&K.Manning(1997).TheEcologyofPlace:PlanningforEnvironment,Economy&Community.IslandPr.Bender,T.(1979).‘SharingSmallerPies’.InLanedeMollandGigiCoe,eds.,SteppingStones:AppropriateTechnologyandBeyondMarionBoyars.Anexampleofhow,contrarytomythsspreadinparticularbyleft-wingwriters,thelinkbetweenecologicalsustainabilityandequitylonghasbeenrecognisedinpoliticalecologycircles.Berg,P.,ed.(1975).ReinhabitingaSeparateCountry.PlanetDrum.Anexampleofbioregionalthinking.Coates,G.,ed.(1981).ResettlingAmerica:Energy,EcologyandCommunity.BrickHouse.DesaiP&S.Riddleston(2002).BioregionalSolutionsForLivingonOnePlanet.GreenBooks.McGinnis,M.(1998).Bioregionalism.Routledge.Plant,C.,JPlantetal.(1990).Home!ABioregionalReader.NewSocietyPublishers.Anexcellentcollectionofbioregionalwritings.Sale,K.(1985).DwellersintheLand.Sierra.AgoodintroductiontobioregionalthinkingfromaleadingAmericanwriter,evenifabitstarry-eyedinplaces.Thayer,R.(2003).LifePlace:BioregionalThoughtandPractice.Univ.CaliforniaPress.Usefulwebsites:http://www.planetdrum.org/http://www.bioregional-congress.org/links/links.htmhttp://www.worldwildlife.org/science/ecoregions.cfmhttp://www.forestsforever.org/bioregions.htmlftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/cec_na/NA_LEVEL_I.pdfhttps://www.epa.qld.gov.au/nature_conservation/habitats/wetlands/wetland_management_profiles/wetland_management_profiles__an_overview/what_are_regional_ecosystems_res/http://www.ecocitycleveland.org/ecologicaldesign/ecodesignpage.htmlhttp://www.fs.fed.us/r5/projects/ecoregions/ca_sections.htmhttp://www.sustainablecascadia.org/http://biodiversity.ca.gov/bioregions.htmlhttp://bioregion.ucdavis.edu/http://www.werc.usgs.gov/bioregions.html

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http://www.biodiversity.wa.gov/ecoregions/index.htmliForanexampleofecologicalversushuman-madeboundaries,usingNorthAmerica&Mexico,seehttp://www.jle.com/en/revues/agro_biotech/sec/e-docs/00/04/1F/16/texte_alt_jlesec00095_gr1.jpgiiseehttp://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/g200_marine.htmliiisee,forexample,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Langs_N.Amer.pngcomparingitwiththeNorthAmericanCommissionforEnvironmentalCooperation’sLevel111map:http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/images/na_eco_I_II.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.epa.gov/wed/pages/ecoregions/na_eco.htm&h=534&w=640&sz=130&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=mH6SZQ4vDxEKJM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3Decological%2Bregions%2B%2BNorth%2BAmerica%2Blevel%2B3%2BCEC%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN].ivseehttp://dataservice.eea.europa.eu/atlas/viewdata/viewpub.asp?id=7vsee,forexample:http://www.landinstitute.org/.vihttp://www.risc.org.uk/garden/roberthart.htmlviihttp://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/psweb.nsf/A4/community_supported_agriculture.htmlviiihttp://ecoforestry.ca/default.htm;http://www.ecocitybuilders.org/;http://www.bioregional.com/ixReprintedintheveryusefulcompendiumResettlingAmerica,editedbyGaryCoates,BrickHouse,1982.xSeealsohttp://www.iloveparks.com/peaceparks/,http://www.nps.gov/akso/beringia/index.htmandhttp://www.uvm.edu/~envprog/k2peacepark.htmplusPeaceParksConservationandConflictResolutioneditedbySaleemH.Ali(MITPr.,2007).xiSoutar,R&Peterken,G(1989).‘Nativetreesandshrubsforwildlife’.TreeNewsSept.1989:14-15.andRodwell J. and Patterson, G., (1994) Creating New Native Woodlands, Forestry Commission Bulletin 112.xiiOfcourse,withgrowingfoodsupplyproblems,thereisincreasingpressuretoexploitparklandandsetasideset-asidelandforcropproduction.Yettherealissueispopulationgrowth.Noamountofnewcroplandwillcaterformoreandmoremouths.Inthemeantime,afarbetterstrategyisa)encourageaswitchtomuchlessmeat-centreddiets,effectivelyreleasingmorefoodstuffsfordirectconsumptioninsteadofinefficientlydivertingitviafarmanimals,b)abandonbiofuelprogrammes,preservingcroplandforfoodproduction,c)stopthedevelopmentoffarmlandforbusiness,residentialandothersuchpurposesandd)cutfoodwastewhich,in2008,wasrunningatanamazing33%offoodpurchasesintheUK.xiiihttp://cascadianow.org/society.html;.http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/cascadia/xivhttp://bioregion.ucdavis.edu/xvhttp://www.ecocitycleveland.org/index.htmlxviSeehttp://www.carpates.org/index.htmlxviFor‘localised’economicalternatives,seeDouthwaite,R.(1996).ShortCircuit:StrengtheningLocalEconomiesforSecurityinanUnstableWorld.ResurgenceBooks.