Date of Award
Spring 2022
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Historical & Political Studies; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Jennifer Riggan
Abstract
The urgency of the climate crisis requires an immediate revisioning of our society in order to mitigate the worst environmental consequences. This paper explores one possible climate mitigation strategy, bioregionalism, a theoretical vision of re-localizing economies and defining their reach by natural boundaries (Curtis 2003; Cato 2011). This idea of relocalization emerges from an understanding that globalized capitalism has exacerbated, if not engendered, the climate crisis. Local communities represent an alternative method of organizing in which people are more directly connected to the land that they live on. One major critique of bioregionalism, made by Albo (2007) and Hahnel (2007), is that bioregionalism falls short in offering a governing strategy to accompany its economy or what it will take to get there. However, case studies such as the Cascadia Bioregion and the Terran Collective reveal that bioregionalism in practice is less about challenging the socio-economic system of capitalism, and more about taking accountability for environmental practices in their local areas. This paper argues that bioregionalism can not be the revolutionary framework that emerges in a post-capitalist world, but it can be an organizing philosophy that mobilizes people to practice accountability to the land they live on.
Recommended Citation
Johnston, Zoe, "In My Backyard: Bioregional Communities as a Climate Mitigation Strategy" (2022). Capstone Showcase. 1.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/showcase/2022/is/1
In My Backyard: Bioregional Communities as a Climate Mitigation Strategy
The urgency of the climate crisis requires an immediate revisioning of our society in order to mitigate the worst environmental consequences. This paper explores one possible climate mitigation strategy, bioregionalism, a theoretical vision of re-localizing economies and defining their reach by natural boundaries (Curtis 2003; Cato 2011). This idea of relocalization emerges from an understanding that globalized capitalism has exacerbated, if not engendered, the climate crisis. Local communities represent an alternative method of organizing in which people are more directly connected to the land that they live on. One major critique of bioregionalism, made by Albo (2007) and Hahnel (2007), is that bioregionalism falls short in offering a governing strategy to accompany its economy or what it will take to get there. However, case studies such as the Cascadia Bioregion and the Terran Collective reveal that bioregionalism in practice is less about challenging the socio-economic system of capitalism, and more about taking accountability for environmental practices in their local areas. This paper argues that bioregionalism can not be the revolutionary framework that emerges in a post-capitalist world, but it can be an organizing philosophy that mobilizes people to practice accountability to the land they live on.