Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
To relocalise effectively we need to map the productive potential of our regions and communities, including resource, material, waste and energy flows and identify threads and opportunities for relocalising production and consumption.
The world’s first bioregional-scale regenerative hubs were launched in July of this year. A gathering of experts from more than 20 organizations gathered at the eco-tourism retreat center of Rancho Margot in the high mountain rainforests of northern Costa Rica.
Xarxa per la sobirania energètica (Xse) Catalonia brings like-minded groups together to fight for change in the energy sector locally, and collaborates with similar initiatives elsewhere in Spain, Europe and Latin America.
It is essential that as many local/regional “hubs” as possible be set up for regeneration of ecosystem functions that address the most critical planetary boundaries… namely geochemical cycles of nitrogen/phosphorous, land-use practices, and climate change.
The sustainability consultants Pooran Desai and Sue Riddlestone of the London based consultancy BioRegional suggest that we need to reconsider the scale of our production systems and create more locally self-sustaining communities in compact cities.
To put it another way: modern citizens today use more energy and physical resources in a month than our great-grandparents used during their whole lifetime.
Why do so many expos, festivals and biennials promise to change the world for the better – only to end up as trash?
“It’s time to consider that bioregional self-sufficiency—the principle of meeting human needs within the constraints of resource areas—is really what leads to democracy and prosperity.”
Bioregionalism is one possible vision of a future that works for people and for the Earth.
Resilience – ‘the capacity to bounce back’ … is a desirable condition. The trouble is that a lot of people perceive resilience…to be a new variety of risk management that gives them the opportunity to carry on with business-as-usual.
Rather than being protest-based, like the mainstream environmental movement (and most of Venice’s heritage groups), bioregionalism promotes an active harmony between human culture and the natural environment. It emphasises solutions that are based on local populations, knowledge, and solutions – not on global markets.
