Bioregional Congress

A Welcome to Bioregionalism and the Bioregional Congress

A growing number of people are recognizing that in order to secure the clean air, water and food that we need to healthfully survive, we have to become guardians of the places where we live. People sense the loss in not knowing our neighbors and natural surroundings, and are discovering that the best way to take care of ourselves and to get to know our neighbors is to protect and restore our region.

Core Bioregional Beliefs:

- We live in a specific place on Earth, this place can be called a “Bioregion”

- The Earth is sacred and we are so deeply interconnected to all things that we are all in essence one being

- We are all representatives of our respective Bioregions and can speak on their behalf

- We are responsible for the Bioregions in which we live

- We are in awe, admiration, respect, and veneration of our Earth, so we cannot permit abuse

Goals of the Bioregional Congress:

- Bring together people from many different bioregions, social movements, cultures, backgrounds

- Form a ceremonial peace village to celebrate our earth and embody a new way of loving our place in the universe and communally expressing our intentions

- Exchange ideas and develop a collective vision for actions over the next two years

Bioregional Congress Process:

- We work together to enact a parallel process for group decision making and the co-creation of collective resolutions for social and ecological change

- We work in small groups to refine directional resolutions to be presented to the Congress that help us work together as one Continental Congress

- We come to consensus about which resolutions the Congress would like to adopt

- We develop local action plans to fulfill resolutions at the local level

- We have sharing sessions (~Open Space) where people can share their topics of interest/experience with smaller groups

- We facilitate break out sessions based on resolutions and particular bioregion where people can brainstorm and collaborate to form action plans for resolutions of their interest

- We spend time in ritual and celebration, growing our Bioregional family around group sharings, Council of All Beings, Plays, Artistic expression, etc

- Than in two years, we meet again to share our successes, challenges, failures, innovations and stories.

Taking Bioregional Congresses Home:

After a Bioregional Congress, participants go home with an understanding of the basic Bioregional principles, an experience using Bioregional Congress consensus methodology, and many new bioregional friends. Our hope is that participants learn new ecological and social techniques that they can apply in their Local Bioregions and that the ideas and practices of Bioregional congresses can be spread to new locations and new groups of people. All in all, we hope that everyone leaves with a desire to return, celebrate and share ideas with other Bioregionalists