Director, Environmental Studies
Professor of English

ENV STDS 390: BIOREGIONALISM

Fall 2007, TuTh 3:00-4:30 pm, Swart 301

 

“We don’t have to engage in grand heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
--Howard Zinn, “The Possibility of Hope”

The real work of planet-saving will be small, humble, and humbling, and (insofar as it involves love) pleasing and rewarding. Its jobs will be too many to count, too many to report, too many to be publicly noticed or rewarded, too small to make anyone rich or famous .
--Wendell Berry

 

Course description
Over the past three decades, bioregionalism has become a complex and important movement in environmentalism. Bioregionalism has three basic meanings: scientific analysis of the distinctiveness of local biogeographies (bioregions); current practices that individuals and groups are engaging in as ways to live more harmoniously with both nature and people within the local bioregion; and radical ideals of utopian communities. Informing these practices and ideals are social, political, and environmental philosophies that integrate human life with the natural world. As such, bioregionalism incorporates the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities, it is both a theoretical subject and an on-the-ground social experiment, and it is both a guide to practical activism now and a vision of truly ecological society.

 

SYLLABUS

 

STUDY AIDS (Print those with asterisks and bring to class on the appropriate days)

Arguments against bioregionalism and anarchism*

Anarchism and the bioregional tradition*

Aspects of bioregionalism*

Bibliography: books on bioregionalism in Polk Library

A Brief Introduction to Bioregionalism*

Carr, Bioregionalism and Civil Society: Glossary

Ecoregions and natural communities of Wisconsin

Ecoregions of North America and the world

Field Guides

Glossary: descriptive bioregionalism

Glossary: Carr

Introduction to Bioregionalism PowerPoint outline

Major Natural Communities of Wisconsin*

Natural Communities at the UW Arboretum

"Nature"*

A Ridiculously Brief History of Bioregionalism

A Ridiculously Brief Outline of Deep Ecology*

A Ridiculously Brief Outline of Ecofeminism*

A Ridiculously Brief Outline of Social Ecology and Ecosocialism *

Six Bioregions of Wisconsin*

Websites on bioregionalism

 

ASSIGNMENTS

Reading response

Species descriptions
>> web sources for species descriptions

Bioregional analysis of a site,
>> template for the analysis
>> example
>> list of locations found in Hoffman (locations crossed out have already been done)

Resarch paper proposal and an example of a proposal

Class presentation and suggestions for PowerPoint presentations

Research paper

Peer editing evaluation form

Terms for test on bioregionalism

 

STUDY QUESTIONS

Aberley, Doug, “Interpreting Bioregionalism: A Story of Many Voices,” Bioregionalism, ed. McGinnis. 13-38.

Berry, Wendell, "The Gift of Good Land," The Gift of Good Land. 267-281.

Carr, Mike, “Narrative Accounts of Reinhabitation in Rural and Urban Settings.” Bioregionalism and Civil Society. 185-196, 220-234.

Clark, John. "A Social Ecology." Environmental Philosophy, 2nd edition. Ed. Michael Zimmerman. 416-440.

Silko, Leslie Marmon, "Landscape, History, and the Pueblo Imagination." At Home on the Earth. Ed. David Barnhill. 30-42.

Snyder, Gary "The Place, the Region, and the Commons," The Practice of the Wild. 25-47.

 

• Descriptive bioregionalism.
• Scientific descriptions of natural communities and ecosystems in Wisconsin (as used by, for instance, the DNR in its environmental management).
• Social ( anthropological, sociological, historical) descriptions of
• the relationship to nature in indigenous cultures of the area
• the relationship to nature in non-indigenous (settler) cultures of the area
• Visionary bioregionalism
• Personal philosophy and spirituality : an individual’s bioregional values and world view
• Social (or utopian) ideal :imagined societies that embody bioregional ideal.
• Applied bioregionalism
• Individual practices that integrate human life more harmoniously with the local bioregion, such as community sustained agriculture, community gardens, sustainable forestry, and land trusts.
• Ecological communities of the past and present that reflect the bioregional ideal.

• Active, informed discussion. 20% of grade.
• Journal: responses to readings (study questions, abstracts, critical responses) and course events (e.g., the field trip). 15%.
• Class presentation of case studies. 5% of grade.
• Test on bioregionalism.10% of grade.
• One page (double spaced) responses to each of two Earth Charter or related events. 5% of grade
• Bioregional analysis of one location in Wisconsin , plus a bioregional description of one native plant species and one native animal species. 5% of grade.
• 6-7 page case study of a particular bioregional practice or ecological community. 20% of grade.
• 6-7 page analysis of bioregional theory. 20% of grade.
• Or instead of the two papers above, one paper 12-14 pages that covers both a case study and bioregional theory. 40% of grade.

>> Attendance : Both because of the difficult nature of the material and the importance of class discussion, regular attendance is crucial to all concerned. Students will be allowed two absences due to circumstances other than illness [bring note on the illness]. Each subsequent absence will result in a reduction of the final grade one mark, e.g. BC to C, per absence. More than six [6] absences for any reason will result in removal from the class. Absences on days when there is peer editing will count double. Classes missed on account of athletic contests or family emergencies do not count as absences due to illness – save your “free days” for such emergencies.