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Welcome Home Statement
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.
Bioregionalism recognizes, nurtures, sustains and celebrates our local connections with:
Land, Plants and Animals, Springs, Rivers, Lakes, Groundwater & Oceans, Air,
Families, Friends, Neighbors, Community, Native Traditions and Indigenous Systems of Production & Trade.
It is taking the time to learn the possibilities of place. It is a mindfulness of local
environment, history, and community aspirations that leads to a sustainable future. It relies on safe and renewable
sources of food and energy. It ensures employment by supplying a rich diversity of
services within the community, by recycling our resources, and by exchanging prudent surpluses with other regions. Bioregionalism is working to
satisfy basic needs locally, such as education, health care and self-governance.
The bioregional perspective recreates a widely-shared sense of regional identity founded upon a renewed critical awareness of and respect
for the integrity of our ecological communities. People are joining with neighbors
to discuss ways we can work together to:
1. Learn what our special local resources are
2. Plan how to best protect and use those natural and cultural resources
3. Exchange our time and energy to best meet our daily and long-term needs
4. Enrich our children's local and planetary knowledge
Security begins by acting responsibly at home.
Welcome home!
This statement was adopted by the first North American Bioregional Congress
(NABC) in 1984 and reaffirmed at NABC II and III.
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