D i s c u s s i o n C o u r s e o n

discovering asense of place

I n t r o d u c t i o n / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

Copyright © 2007

By

Northwest Earth Institute317 SW Alder, Suite 1050

Portland, OR 97204(503) 227-2807

E-mail: contact@nwei.orgWeb site: www.nwei.org

See “Permissions” pages for informationon reading materials; these cannot be

reproduced without separate permission.

Four artists contributed original illustrations to this course book.NWEI is deeply grateful for their generosity.

Illustrations on pp. I-1, II-1, and III-14 were contributed byVirginia Church, 823 S.E. 45th, Portland, OR 97215.

Illustrations on p. IV-1 and p. VI-1 were contributed byJere Grimm, 2774 N.W. Thurman, Portland, OR 97210.

Illustration on p. III-18 contributed by Joy Prideaux.

This publication was printed on 100% recycled, 100% postconsumer paper with soy-based ink.

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E C o n t e n t s / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e

coUrse evalUaTion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

gUidelines for THe WeeKlY faciliTaTor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

inTrodUcTion (with map) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 "TheUnitedStatesof Nature"byWilliamStolzenburg

discUssion gUides and readings

session i . a sense of place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I-1 “LivingWhereYouLive”byHannahHolmes “TheSenseofPlace”byWallaceStegner “Everybody’sDitch”byRobertMichaelPyle “TheSpiritofPlace”byWadeDavis “InPraiseofHometowns"byMaryPipher “MyEmptyLot”byJosephKastner

session ii . responsibiliTY To place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . II-1 “TheLandEthic”byAldoLeopold The Rediscovery of North AmericabyBarryLopez “Homeplace,”byScottRussellSanders “NotesonLivingSimplyintheCity”byMarilynWelker

session iii . KnoWing YoUr bioregion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III-1 “Initiation”byTomJay “WhereCurrentsMerge:TheMaritimeNorthwest”bySteveJohnson “Valleyof theLongGrasses”byPeterBoag “SauvieIsland:ARemnantof theOldTime”byFlorenceRiddle “Geologyof Portland”byMarshallGannett

session iv . living in place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IV-1 “Bioregionalism:ThePoliticsof Place”byDanielColeman “SpeakingforDouglasFir”byGarySnyder “CraftingNativeness"byJeff Bickart “GardeningattheSeam”byJudithLarnerLowry “There’sNoSpecializationLikeHome”byJohnK.Bullard “ReweavingOurSoulConnectionwithFood”byPaulConrad

session v . Mapping YoUr place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V-1 “MappingtheBiosphere”byGeneMarshall “MappingtheSacredPlaces”byJanDeBlieu “RaisetheGrates!”bySabrinaMerlo

conTenTsT A B L E O F

C o n t e n t s / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

session vi . bUilding local coMMUniTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VI-1 “TheWebof Life”byScottRussellSanders “HomeisOtherPeople"byMaryPipher “Community-BasedRestoration”byChristineSchneider “AWatershedRunsThroughYou"byFreemanHouse “AGreenArchitectFallsinLove...withFrogSongCohousing"byJosephF.Kennedy “HelpGroups”bySteveWhitson Neighborhoodconnectionsworksheet

session vii . eMpoWerMenT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII-1 “MakingaDifference”byKatrinaShields The Power of OnebySharif Abdullah “MakingtheConnection"bySusanCerulean "PushforChange"byAnnSihler “FactsaboutGeese”byAngelesArrien

session viii . celebraTion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VIII-1

appendiX InstructionsforLocalSupplementsforSessionIII . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1 BioregionalQuizAnswerSheet(ExampleforPortlandarea) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1 ScriptfortheMappingExercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1 Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-1

TheNorthwestEarthInstitutecurrentlyofferssevendiscussioncourses:

• Discovering a Sense of Placefocusesonknowingandprotectingtheplaceyoulive.• Choices for Sustainable Living offerspracticalwaystopreservetheEarthforfuturegenerations.• Globalization and Its CriticsexplorestheimpactsoftheglobaleconomyontheEarth.• Healthy Children/Healthy Planetexaminestheissuesparentsfaceraisingchildrenina

consumer-drivenculture.• Global Warming: Changing CO2urseaddressestheurgentneedforchangeinordertorespondeffectivelytoclimatechange.

Thecoursesareintendedtopromotedialogue,notconsensus.Withtheaidofreadingsinthecoursebookandthediscussionformat,participantslearnfromthemselvesandfromeachother.

Inofferingthefollowingcourses,NWEIhasasingularpurpose:motivatingpeopletoacceptgreaterresponsibilityfortheEarthandtoactonthatcommitment.Becauseparticipantscomeintothecoursewithdiversevalues,attitudes,andhabits,acceptinggreaterresponsibilityisanindividualmatter.

As you begin this course, we urge you to make it a high priority for the next eight weeks.Considercarefullyyourreactiontothereadingsandthethoughtsofothersintheclass.

ThisrevisedcoursebookistheresultofworkbyadedicatedcommitteeofNWEIvolunteers.Forthosewhowillbenefitfromtheirefforts,wethankKathyBrewer,BethHeins,EliseLind,DanaGreyson,JonHoff,CharolotteMeyer,KateStephenson,JanLorahandJeanneRoy.

Benefitsof thiscoursewillbegreatestwherever there isa localsupplement forcommunitiesoutsidetheWillametteValley,particularlyforSessionIII,KnowingYourBioregion.Ifyoudonotreceiveasupplement,theNorthwestEarthInstitutehasdevelopedaguideforgroupsinterestedin creatinga local supplement forSession III.Theguide canbe foundonpageA-1 in theAppendix.

Pleasecompletetheevaluationformatthebeginningofthecoursebook.Thecoursewillberevisedbasedontheseevaluations.

Thankyou,ThestaffofNWEI

preface

P r e f a c e / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e

8

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

9

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E G u i d e l i n e s / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e

gUidelines FORTHEFACILITATORANDOPENER

Foreach sessionof this course,oneparticipantbringsan“opening,”anda secondparticipant facilitates thediscussion.Therolesrotateeachweekwithadifferentgroupmemberdoingtheopeningandfacilitating.Thisprocess is at the core of the Earth Institute culture —it assumes we gain our greatest insights through self-discovery,promotingdiscussionamongequalswithnoteacher.

for THe session faciliTaTor:

Asfacilitatorforonesession,yourroleistostimulateandmoderatethediscussion.Youdonotneedtobeanexpertorthemostknowledgeablepersonaboutthetopic.

Yourroleisto:• Remindthedesignatedpersonaheadof timetobringanopening.• Beginandendontime.• Askthequestionsincludedineachchapter,oryourown.• Keepdiscussionfocusedonthesession’stopic.Adelicatebalanceisbest—don’tforcethegroupinto

thequestions,butdon’tallowthediscussiontodrifttoofar.• Managethegroupprocess,usingtheguidelinesbelow:

Aprimarygoalisforeveryonetoparticipateandtolearnfromthemselvesandeachother.Drawoutquietparticipantsbycreatinganopportunityforeachpersontocontribute.Don’tletoneortwopeopledominatethediscussion.Thankthemfortheiropinionsandthenaskanotherpersontoshare.Beanactivelistener.Youneedtohearandunderstandwhatpeoplesayif youaretoguidethediscussioneffectively.Modelthisforothers.Thefocusshouldbeonpersonalreactionstothereadings—onpersonalvalues,feelings,andexperiences.Thecourseisnotforjudgingothers’responsesorproblemsolving.Consensusisnotagoal.

for THe session opener:

• Bringashortopening,notmorethanfiveminutes.Itshouldbesomethingthatexpressesyourpersonalappreciationforthenaturalworld.Examples:ashortpersonalstory,anobjectorphotographthathasspecialmeaning,apoem,avisualization,etc.Youcanbecreative.

• Thepurposeof theopeningistwofold.First,itprovidesatransitionfromotheractivitiesof thedayintothegroupdiscussion.Second,sincetheopeningispersonal,itallowsthegrouptogetbetteracquaintedwithyou.Thisaspectof thecoursecanbeveryrewarding.

1 0

Indigenouspeoplesaroundtheworldhavealwayshadasenseofplace.Theirsurvivaldependedonanintimateunderstandingof and respect for their bioregion: the distinctive climate, soils,watersources,plants,andanimalsoftheplaceswheretheylived.CaringfortheEarthwascaringforthemselves.

Sincetheindustrialrevolution,oursurvivalneedshavebeenmetinwaysthatdonotrequireanintimateconnectionwiththeEarth. We have become separated from nature, seasons, andtheplaceswelive,asourdailyactivitieshavemovedindoorstoschools,factories,andoffices.Timeoncespentoutdoorsisnowspentinteractingwithmachines.Wheretheoriginalinhabitantsof our homeplaces gained their sustenance from the land, wepurchasegoodsinstores,oftenaftertheyhavebeentransportedfromdistantplaces.Wherepeopleoncehadnochoicebuttofocustheirenergiesontheirimmediatecommunity,wehavetheuseof automobiles,airplanes,andelectronicmediatoextendourreachacrosstown,acrossthecountry,acrosstheocean.Consequently,wearemuchlessawareofourimpactonthenaturalworld.

In our mobile society, human artifacts — shopping malls,office towers, restaurants, and supermarkets — arise with norelationshiptotheenvironmentaroundthem.Similarly,wehave

refined methods to transport mass culture everywhere, ratherthanallowadiversityofculturestogrowfromnature’sabundantvariety. Theresult isanincreasingnumberofcitiesandtownsthataresimilarinappearanceandfeel.

The readings in this course describe an alternative future.Theauthorssuggestthatweconsciouslyimmerseourselvesinourplace,bylearningasmuchaswecanaboutitandconcentratingour energies there. The more we receive our sustenance from,andtakecareofourwastesin,ourownbioregion,thebetterwecanseetheeffectsofourlivingpatternsonthewater,soil,andlivingbeingsaroundus.Whenwehaveastakeinourownplaceandarecommittedtomakingitlastovertime,thebenefitscanbeimmense—toourselves,ourcommunities,andtotheEarth.

Thecurriculum isdivided intoeight sessions,designed forweeklydiscussions. Eachsessionexcept the last includesbrief readingsandtopicsfordiscussion. Eachfocusesonadifferentaspectoflivinginplace.Asthecourseprogresses,youmaywantto identify your own bioregion. What watershed, landforms,vegetation, animal life, and traditional culture do you identifywith? On the next two pages is a map of the United Statesdividedintoregionsthathavethesefactorsincommon.

inTrodUcTion

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E I n t r o d u c t i o n / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c eI n t r o d u c t i o n / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

The UniTed STaTeS of naTUre

ByWilliamStolzenburg

Longbeforethemap,therewastheland.Beforekingdomsand their cartographers, the land had etched borderlines of its own. These were visible, ecological boundaries hewn byclimate, geology and corresponding vegetation, into states of desert,steppe,forestandtundra.Anyonewhohastraveledupasouthwesternmountainofsomesize—feelingthetanandspinydesertgivewaytofragrantfoothillsdappledgreenwithjuniper, to parklands of tall pines, to forests of spruce andfir, theyfinallywitheringbeneaththeblastingwinterwindsandblinkinglybriefsummersofthealpinemeadow—haswitnessed,inminutescale,whatecologicaljurisdictionsareallabout.

As they are more scientifically viewed, ecologicalregions transcend single mountains; they encompassentire ranges of mountains. They circumscribe wholeplains, plateaus, prairies, deserts, basins, foothills andcoastlines, each with a correspondingly distinct coveringofplants andwildlife.Across the country, as theEarth’sactive crust pushes up mountain ranges or spreads intobasins, as latitudealters average temperatures fromswelterto frostbound, as airstreams dictate realms of monsoonor drought, ecological regions grade from one to the next,conspicuously.Interrelated,theyarenonethelessindividuals.

And so, each ecological region would naturally requirecustomized attention. In the Conservancy’s evolving practiceofconservationbiology,wherethemissionistosavetherichestdiversityofspecies,thepoliticalboundariesarelogicallygivingway to those set by these ecological criteria. Within each arespecialized conditions for life, hence specialized prescriptionsforcare.Theyhavebecomethenaturalframeswithinwhichtheseemingly impossible taskof shelteringa continent’sworthof biologicaldiversitybecomesworkable.

To that end, the Conservancy has outlined 63 suchecologicalregionswithintheLower48,fromaBlackHillsislandofforestnearlytwicethesizeofDelaware,toaspreadofnorthernGreatPlainssteppelargerthanCalifornia.Withineachregion,conservation professionals are carrying out plans individuallytailored to the life and the land, yet collectively coordinatedtowardsupportingthegreatestvarietyofhealthyspecies,humansamongthem.

— This essay and map appeared in NatureConservancy, May/June 1998

continental u.s. ecoregions1-WestCascadesandCoastalForests2-PugetTroughandWillametteValley3-NorthCascades4-ModocPlateauandEastCascades5-KlamathMountains6-ColumbiaPlateau7-CanadianRockyMountains8-IdahoBatholith9-Utah-WyomingRockyMountains10-WyomingBasins

MapillustrationbyMattKania.Copyright©1998theNatureConservancy.Allrightsreserved.

11-GreatBasin12-SierraNevada13-GreatCentralValley14-CaliforniaNorthCoast15-CaliforniaCentralCoast16-CaliforniaSouthCoast17-MohaveDesert18-UtahHighPlateaus19-ColoradoPlateau20-ColoradoRockyMountains21-Arizona-NewMexico

Mountains22-ApacheHighlands23-SonoraDesert24-ChihauhuanDesert25-BlackHills26-NorthernGreatPlains

Steppe

27-CentralShortgrassPrairie

28-SouthernShortgrassPrairie29-EdwardsPlateau30-TamaulipanThornscrub31-GulfCoastPrairiesand

Marshes32-CrosstimbersandSouthern

TallgrassPrairie33-CentralMixed-GrassPrairie34-NorthernMixed-Grass

Prairie35-NorthernTallgrassPrairie36-CentralTallgrassPrairie

37-OsagePlains/FlintHillsPrairie

38-Ozarks

39-OuachitaMountains40-UpperWestGulfCoastal

Plain41-PineyWoods42-MississippiRiverAlluvial

Plain

43-UpperEastGulfCoastalPlain

44-InteriorLowPlateau45-NorthCentralTillplain46-Prairie-ForestBorder47-SuperiorMixedForest48-GreatLakes49-WesternAlleghenyPlateau50-CumberlandsandSouthern

RidgeandValley51-SouthernBlueRidge52-Piedmont53-EastGulfCoastalPlain54-TropicalFlorida

55-FloridaPeninsula56-SouthAtlanticCoastalPlain57-Mid-AtlanticCoastalPlain58-ChesapeakeBayLowlands59-CentralApplachianForest60-HighAlleghenyPlateau61-LowerNewEngland/

NorthernPiedmont62-NorthAtlanticCoast63-NorthernAppalachian/

BorealForest

1 2

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E I n t r o d u c t i o n / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c eI n t r o d u c t i o n / D i s c o v e r i n g a S e n s e o f P l a c e N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

The UniTed STaTeS of naTUre

ByWilliamStolzenburg

Longbeforethemap,therewastheland.Beforekingdomsand their cartographers, the land had etched borderlines of its own. These were visible, ecological boundaries hewn byclimate, geology and corresponding vegetation, into states of desert,steppe,forestandtundra.Anyonewhohastraveledupasouthwesternmountainofsomesize—feelingthetanandspinydesertgivewaytofragrantfoothillsdappledgreenwithjuniper, to parklands of tall pines, to forests of spruce andfir, theyfinallywitheringbeneaththeblastingwinterwindsandblinkinglybriefsummersofthealpinemeadow—haswitnessed,inminutescale,whatecologicaljurisdictionsareallabout.

As they are more scientifically viewed, ecologicalregions transcend single mountains; they encompassentire ranges of mountains. They circumscribe wholeplains, plateaus, prairies, deserts, basins, foothills andcoastlines, each with a correspondingly distinct coveringofplants andwildlife.Across the country, as theEarth’sactive crust pushes up mountain ranges or spreads intobasins, as latitudealters average temperatures fromswelterto frostbound, as airstreams dictate realms of monsoonor drought, ecological regions grade from one to the next,conspicuously.Interrelated,theyarenonethelessindividuals.

And so, each ecological region would naturally requirecustomized attention. In the Conservancy’s evolving practiceofconservationbiology,wherethemissionistosavetherichestdiversityofspecies,thepoliticalboundariesarelogicallygivingway to those set by these ecological criteria. Within each arespecialized conditions for life, hence specialized prescriptionsforcare.Theyhavebecomethenaturalframeswithinwhichtheseemingly impossible taskof shelteringa continent’sworthof biologicaldiversitybecomesworkable.

To that end, the Conservancy has outlined 63 suchecologicalregionswithintheLower48,fromaBlackHillsislandofforestnearlytwicethesizeofDelaware,toaspreadofnorthernGreatPlainssteppelargerthanCalifornia.Withineachregion,conservation professionals are carrying out plans individuallytailored to the life and the land, yet collectively coordinatedtowardsupportingthegreatestvarietyofhealthyspecies,humansamongthem.

— This essay and map appeared in NatureConservancy, May/June 1998

continental u.s. ecoregions1-WestCascadesandCoastalForests2-PugetTroughandWillametteValley3-NorthCascades4-ModocPlateauandEastCascades5-KlamathMountains6-ColumbiaPlateau7-CanadianRockyMountains8-IdahoBatholith9-Utah-WyomingRockyMountains10-WyomingBasins

MapillustrationbyMattKania.Copyright©1998theNatureConservancy.Allrightsreserved.

11-GreatBasin12-SierraNevada13-GreatCentralValley14-CaliforniaNorthCoast15-CaliforniaCentralCoast16-CaliforniaSouthCoast17-MohaveDesert18-UtahHighPlateaus19-ColoradoPlateau20-ColoradoRockyMountains21-Arizona-NewMexico

Mountains22-ApacheHighlands23-SonoraDesert24-ChihauhuanDesert25-BlackHills26-NorthernGreatPlains

Steppe

27-CentralShortgrassPrairie

28-SouthernShortgrassPrairie29-EdwardsPlateau30-TamaulipanThornscrub31-GulfCoastPrairiesand

Marshes32-CrosstimbersandSouthern

TallgrassPrairie33-CentralMixed-GrassPrairie34-NorthernMixed-Grass

Prairie35-NorthernTallgrassPrairie36-CentralTallgrassPrairie

37-OsagePlains/FlintHillsPrairie

38-Ozarks

39-OuachitaMountains40-UpperWestGulfCoastal

Plain41-PineyWoods42-MississippiRiverAlluvial

Plain

43-UpperEastGulfCoastalPlain

44-InteriorLowPlateau45-NorthCentralTillplain46-Prairie-ForestBorder47-SuperiorMixedForest48-GreatLakes49-WesternAlleghenyPlateau50-CumberlandsandSouthern

RidgeandValley51-SouthernBlueRidge52-Piedmont53-EastGulfCoastalPlain54-TropicalFlorida

55-FloridaPeninsula56-SouthAtlanticCoastalPlain57-Mid-AtlanticCoastalPlain58-ChesapeakeBayLowlands59-CentralApplachianForest60-HighAlleghenyPlateau61-LowerNewEngland/

NorthernPiedmont62-NorthAtlanticCoast63-NorthernAppalachian/

BorealForest

1 3

M E N T O R ’ S C O P Y — N O T F O R D I S T R I B U T I O NI - 1

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E S e s s i o n 1 / A S e n s e o f P l a c e

Goals of the session

• Togetacquaintedduringtheintroduction;toobservea class“opening.”

• Toestablishascheduleforfuturemeetingdatesforthe classandidentifytwovolunteersforeachsession: (1)someonetoleadtheopeningand(2)afacilitator.

• Tointroducetheconceptsofasenseofplaceanda bioregion.

• Towidenourperceptionof“place”beyonda geographicsiteorpoliticalsubdivision;toexplorewhat itmeanstobelongtoaplace.

BackGround

Thenotionofa“senseofplace”findsitsroots inhumanawareness and consciousness. In indigenous societies, theindividual and place have no separate identity because theydefineeachother.

In NorthAmerican culture,we view ourselves as separatefromour land,and land isa commodity inaworlddefined byeconomicvalue.Mapsoflanddelineatepoliticalboundariesandroadsystems.InwesternNorthAmerica,wehaveatraditionof usinglandandmovingon.Knowingourplaceisnotpartofourtradition.

The American bioregional movement takes a radicallydifferentviewofland.Bioregionsaregeographicareasdefined

To be rooted is perhaps the most important but least understood need of the human soul.

—Simone Weil

Of all the memberships we identify ourselves by (racial, ethnic, sexual, national, class, age,

religious, occupational), the one that is most forgotten, and that has the greatest potential for

healing, is place. We must learn to know, love, and join our place even more than we love our own ideas. People

who can agree that they share a commitment to the landscape/cityscape — even if they are otherwise locked in

struggle with each other — have at least one deep thing to share.

—Gary Snyder

a sense of place

S E S S I O N 1

M E N T O R ’ S C O P Y — N O T F O R D I S T R I B U T I O N

by natural features like watersheds, landforms, vegetation, animal life, and indigenous cultures. Wisdom comes from truly knowing the place we live.

Bioregionalists seek to create lifestyles and social institutions in harmony with their unique place, fitting culture to nature rather than the reverse. This means providing for energy, food, shelter, and transportation in a manner that promotes local self-reliance and long-term sustainability.

This session begins with an introduction to the concept of bioregionalism by Hannah Holmes. In “The Sense of Place,” Wallace Stegner comments on rootlessness and notes what must happen to develop a sense of place. Robert Pyle tells how everyone has a connection to nature in “Everybody’s Ditch.”

In “The Spirit of Place,” Wade Davis describes native people who are intimately connected to their place and the traditions and rituals that cement that relationship. Mary Pipher describes her deep appreciation and loyalty to the place she calls home in her essay “In Praise of Hometowns.”“In Praise of Hometowns.”In Praise of Hometowns.””

“My Empty Lot” focuses on a type of place that is common but that most people ignore — a vacant lot. In his article, Joseph Kastner describes how he came to appreciate the richness of an undeveloped patch of New York City.

PossiBle discussion Questions

1. Simone Weil is quoted, “To be rooted is perhaps the mostimportant but least understood need of the human soul.”

• Do you feel this need? If so, is the feeling pronounced or something that comes up from time to time?• Is Weil’s statement relevant in a modern society?

2. Wendell Berry says, “If you don’t know where you are, youdon’t know who you are.” Has a place helped to shape yourpersonal identity?

3. Stegner says we have tendencies to be a “placed” person(like Thoreau) and a “displaced” person (like Daniel Boone). (p. I-3) Which tendency is the strongest in you?

4. Do people in the U.S. tend to be more restless and rootlessthan those in other societies? If so, why? Have you beeninfluenced by these forces?

5. What are your feelings about living in one place for the restof your life?

6. For your next vacation (if cost were not an issue), would youchoose to spend time in a foreign country of your choice, or timein your bioregion? Why?

7. Davis suggests that indigenous people possess a unique spiritualconnection with the place they inhabit. What does he mean? Cana non-indigenous person hope to achieve such a connection?

8. Davis describes rituals of the Quechua (in southern Andes)honoring their connection with place through ritual. Whatare your thoughts about such ritual? Has ritual been part ofyour experience of place?

9. Mary Pipher writes "with our state, the trick is knowing howto find its beauty." Describe a special place near you that avisitor might overlook.

PuttinG into Practice

• If you made an annual run around your village (neighborhood) as the Chinchero Indians did, consider the route you would take. Walk or run that route.

• Establish a new ritual that reminds you of your connection to your natural surroundings. You might trace the source of your food before starting the evening meal, or go outside each morning to hear which birds are singing or to see what the clouds are doing.

• Walk to the store instead of driving. What do you see, feel, hear, and smell that you didn’t notice before?

• Choose a spot in nature to sit for one hour. Record your observations.

S e s s i o n 1 / A S e n s e o f P l a c e

I - 2

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

( E a c h M e m b e r A n s w e r s )

In considering places you have lived, to what place (land area) do you feel most connected? Briefly describe the nature of your connection, and

why this place stands out for you.

CirCle Question

M E N T O R ’ S C O P Y — N O T F O R D I S T R I B U T I O NI - 3

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E S e s s i o n 1 / A S e n s e o f P l a c e

excerpt from livinG Where you live

By Hannah Holmes

I live on a granite substratum, topped with sandy soil, formed into a ridge by heavy glacial traffic, and located in the Gulf of Maine bioregion, which is distinguished by a watershed that empties into the Atlantic and which is populated by mixed hardwoods and evergreens — but you can send my mail to Portland.

Bioregionalists, a breed of environmentalists who live the “Think globally, act locally” bumper sticker, hold that the state and city lines by which we normally locate ourselves are about as silly as the SaladShooter. Nature has its own systems of boundaries and divisions, and we’d do well to understand it and fit in unobtrusively.

Bioregionalists don’t agree on how to divide up the map — nor need they. All their methods respect natural divisions, not the arbitrary straight lines that political boundaries often observe. Some advocate bioregions defined by species — grasslands or evergreen forests, for instance. The Ozark Area Community Congress holds the oak tree near and dear. Others organize regions around major formations, like a big mountain or a lake — hence the Shasta Bioregion in California. Most common is the watershed approach, defining a bioregion by a system of streams and rivers that drain a particular patch of earth. Among the areas organized on this model are the Kansas Area Watershed and the Ish River subregion of the Cascadia Bioregion in British Columbia.

Much more important than making maps, though, is the ethic of living in the land, not on it. The first order of bioregional business is to learn so much about your habitat that you can live within its seasons and its soil conditions, and with its other species — not in spite of them. This living in the land might take the form of planting trees to counteract erosion and restore wildlife habitats in your area. Or you might be digging in the garden, coaxing your own food from the native soil, thwarting the global network of trucks and airplanes and agribiz. In the evening you might go to the local planning board meeting, to be sure that the needs of the environment are considered. While this is easiest in rural areas, even in the city you can tune into which way the wind blows, when the first frost comes, which species of trees in the park are native to your area, and where you can find locally grown produce.

“Home” is a key word in the movement. “Find your home,” bioregionalists advise. “Go home and stay there.” This means that you need to study one place. You need to learn the ecological history of your place and know its rhythms and its weaknesses, its wounds and its strengths. Only by becoming intimate with the species and natural conditions that share your patch of ground will you be able to make decisions that truly benefit your part of the planet.

— This article appeared in Ms., Sept/Oct. 1993. Ms. Holmes is the author of Suburban Safari: A Year on the Lawn.

the SenSe of place

From Where the Bluebird Sings, by Wallace Stegner

If you don’t know where you are, says Wendell Berry, you don’t know who you are. Berry is a writer, one of our best, who after some circling has settled on the bank of the Kentucky River, where he grew up and where his family has lived for many generations. He conducts his literary explorations inward, toward the core of what supports him physically and spiritually. He belongs to an honorable tradition, one that even in America includes some great names: Thoreau, Burroughs, Frost, Faulkner, Steinbeck — lovers of known earth, known weathers, and known neighbors both human and nonhuman. He calls himself a “placed” person.

But if every American is several people, and one of them is or would like to be a placed person, another is the opposite, the displaced person, cousin not to Thoreau but to Daniel Boone, dreamer not of Walden Ponds but of far horizons, traveler not in Concord but in wild unsettled places, explorer not inward but outward. Adventurous, restless, seeking, asocial or antisocial, the displaced American persists by the million long after the frontier has vanished. He exists to some extent in all of us, the inevitable by-product of our history: the New World transient. He is commoner in the newer parts of America — the West, Alaska — than in the older parts, but he occurs everywhere, always in motion.

To the placed person he seems hasty, shallow, and restless. He has a current like the Platte, a mile wide and an inch deep. As a species, he is nonterritorial, he lacks a stamping ground.Acquainted with many places, he is rooted in none. Culturally he is a discarder or transplanter, not a builder or conserver. He even seems to like and value his rootlessness, though to the placed person he shows the symptoms of nutritional deficiency, as if he suffered from some obscure scurvy or pellegra of the soul.

Migratoriness has its dangers, unless it is the traditional, seasonal, social migratoriness of shepherd tribes, or of the academic tribes who every June leave Cambridge or New Haven for summer places in Vermont, and every September return to their winter range. Complete independence, absolute freedom of movement, are exhilarating for a time but may not wear well. That romantic atavist we sometimes dream of being, who lives alone in a western or arctic wilderness, playing Natty Bumppo and listening to the loons and living on moose meat and moving on if people come within a hundred miles, is a very American figure but he is not a full human being. He is a wild man of the woods, a Sasquatch.

He has many relatives who are organized as families — migrant families that would once have followed the frontier but that now follow construction booms from Rock Springs to Prudhoe Bay, or pursue the hope of better times from Michigan to Texas, or retire from the midwestern farm to St. Petersburg or Sunshine City, or still hunt the hippie heaven from Sedona to Telluride to Sand Point. These migrants drag their exposed roots and have trouble putting them down in new places. Some don’t want to put them down, but at retirement climb into their RVs and move with the seasons from national park to national park, creating a roadside society out of perpetual motion. The