The Department of Bioregion is a movement and capacity-building organization advancing bioregionalism, the idea that social, economic, and political systems should align with natural boundaries rather than arbitrary borders. This page sets out our vision, our mission, and the principles that guide how we work.
Vision
A world of interconnected bioregions and bioregional movements.
Mission
To research and develop bioregional frameworks and tools, regenerate our bioregions, and cultivate the conditions for place-based movements, cultures, and ways of living in place to thrive.
We want people to be a positive part of their environments, not removed from them, in recognition of past and future, and in celebration of the unique context of place. We believe the people who live in a place are best suited to lead in caring for that place.
Guiding Principles
Our work is held together by a small set of commitments. They function as a compass, not a checklist.
Place is the frame of reference
Watersheds, ecoregions, climates, and the human cultures that have grown in relationship with them are the unit of organizing. Political borders are drawn by history, conflict, and negotiation. Bioregions are drawn by the living world. We use the natural borders of bioregions as our base because, despite cultural differences, nature acts bioregionally, not anthropocentrically.
Regeneration, not extraction
At its simplest, regeneration means putting more back into the land each year than we take out, and restoring more carrying capacity and biodiversity than we destroy. It is the opposite of extractive. We measure our work by whether it moves communities, economies, and landscapes from extraction to reciprocity, from domination to participation, from short-term gain to intergenerational responsibility.
Local leadership, supported infrastructure
The people who live in a place lead the work in that place. Our role is to lower the barriers, by combining education, coordination, and shared nonprofit infrastructure so that local teams can focus on relationship-building, stewardship, and long-term regeneration rather than starting from scratch.
Two-eyed seeing
Bioregionalism is not new. It is the way humans have lived for the majority of our history, and it remains the lived practice of Indigenous peoples around the world. We hold both traditional knowledge and the insights of science as essential, and we reject the false choice between them.
Bioregionalism means seeing beyond the two way path, weaving the best of indigenous ecological knowledge and wisdom, with the best that science can offer.
Dr. Dan Longboat (Roronhiakewen), Founding Director, Indigenous Environmental Studies Program, Trent University
A movement of movements
Bioregionalism is relevant to nearly every domain of public and community life: water, food, energy, housing, education, health, cultural identity, and governance. We work across causes and sectors rather than within a single issue, and we organize for the long term.
Our Commitments
- Ecological sustainability. Living within the carrying capacity of local ecosystems.
- Social justice. Sharing the benefits and burdens of life in place equitably.
- Human well-being. Creating conditions for genuine fulfillment, not consumer accumulation.
- Accountability. Transparent decision-making, lightweight reporting, and clear public affiliation across our network of programs.
These principles are the standard we hold our own work to, and the basis on which we partner with others.