Bioregional Anarchism
by Michael Lewis
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The twin challenges of Peak Oil and global climate change are making it increasingly clear that our present civilization, if that's what it is, which I doubt, will not long survive.
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No human social system can long continue that exploits other species and destroys critical habitat without regard for the needs of non-human species. Access to land, natural resources and "labor" necessary for all species survival cannot favor one species over all others. Humans cannot destroy the natural habitat necessary for other species without destroying our own ability to survive. Humans do not live in a biological vacuum. The success of Homo sapiens depends on the success of all other species.
If humans are to take their place as co-inhabitants of this earth, rather than rulers over all, we must extend the idea of the commons to embrace all species. Historically, socialism was conceived of as the social system in which the means of production are held in common by the people. A sustainable socialism, then, would be a socialism embracing all life, with no one species having preferential access to the necessities of life over any other species.
This socialism, if that's what it is, cannot be conducted at the global level of organization. It is meaningless for a local society in Botswana to live in keeping with the biological and geophysical limits of the salmon of the Northwest Coast of North America. It is impossible for the people of New York City to know and live with the biological interrelationships among species of the coastal plain of Chukotka.
This biological socialism, this all species economic system, will be regional, living within the biological and geophysical limitations of specific regions. Another term for this is bioregionalism.
No national, international or global political or governmental system, that is no centralized, authoritarian, coercive political system, can deal with the variability in requirements for living in place in bioregional economies. Any hierarchical system creates inequality and division which destroys stability. Hierarchy and central authority are antithetical to a stable, diverse and living ecosystem. As cheap and easily centralized energy sources decline, future social systems will develop in decentralized, anti-authoritarian, non-hierarchical fashion, that is, towards anarchy, as the decline of centralized government is precipitated by Peak Oil and global climate change.
The Roman Empire found it increasingly difficult to supply and manage far-flung outposts, such as what became Great Britain, especially Siluria or Wales. Centralized authority quickly gave way to local decentralized rule, resulting in the Roman withdrawal from the island. When the Romans withdrew their military, social systems quickly readjusted to local decision-making and local economies. No chaos ensued. Order was maintained through decentralized structures in the absence of centralized, authoritarian rule.
We can expect that central authority will, over time, lose control of the periphery, first in client states, then within its own boundaries. Eventually, as energy continues to decline, and central authorities can no longer organize national rule, bioregional organizations will continue to pick up the slack left by the decline of central organization.
Bioregional anarchy mimics natural relationships among members of all species. Interrelationships among all life on this planet are organized through stable ecosystems in dynamic equilibrium within the range of biological diversity. Stable, diverse species in dynamic equilibrium. Stable, diverse societies in dynamic equilibrium. Constant change, in balance.
How do we get there from here?
"Let our actions form our doctrine, thus ensuring precise theoretical coherence." - Doc Sarvis, in The Monkeywrench Gang by Ed Abbey
The Government, whatever and wherever that is, is not going to bail us out of this one. They've opened the sea cocks and taken all the life boats, leaving us to cling to the fantail as we sink gloriously beneath the waves. It's think or thwim from here on out.
Since we're left to our own devices, we may as well work our own way out of this mess. Centralization and industrialism are the core problems, so decentralization and local, small-scale production are the answers.
We start at home. Choose a place to live that requires the smallest heating and cooling budget. Choose or modify our homes for maximum solar gain in the winter, minimum solar gain in the summer, well insulated with good non-metallic double pane windows. Grow as much food as possible around and in our homes.
Choose our work places close to home so we can walk or bicycle to and from work, including at noon so we can enjoy a good nutritious vegetarian meal with our loved ones, and a glass of good wine. Choose our homes within walking or bicycling distance to markets, library, schools and live music and entertainment.
Eschew television and other propaganda devices. Listen to local, independent radio, read progressive journalists, cruise the internet for alternative sources of news and information. Don't believe anything we hear and only half what we see.
Participate in neighborhood associations, home owners associations, volunteer fire departments, neighborhood road associations. Attend local civic councils and assemblies and testify regularly in defense of neighborhood and community values. Run for local office. Work for local candidates for local office who support community values, democracy, local self-reliance and mutual aid.
Buy what food we cannot grow at local farmers markets. Participate in food co-ops and community supported farming programs. Buy local until it squeaks. Do not darken the doorsteps of big box stores, food chains, fast food emporiums or malls for any reason whatsoever.
Get rid of all but one small fuel efficient vehicle and drive it only once a week for 10 miles or less. Make use of the wonders of electronic media to confer with colleagues, share pictures with family and friends, visit exotic foreign lands. Get rid of every gadget around the house and neighborhood that has a gas motor attached to it. Yes, that includes the leaf blower. Especially the damned leaf blower!
Get to know our neighbors, work with them on neighborhood and community projects. Block off the street and throw a block party. Organize a child care co-op for families where both parents work.
Learn real practical skills: plumbing, electricity, home repair, car repair, appliance repair. Soon we won't be able to buy a new toy when the old one breaks; we'll have to fix things instead of pitching them in the "trash." Work on a farm, apprentice to a car mechanic, build a house, install a toilet. It's fun, it's cheap and it's empowering!
Change our work from full-time to part time. Reduce our income drastically; that way we won't have to give so much money to the war machine. Sell our oversized houses and move into a rental home half its size. Hold a garage sale and get rid of all that stuff in the garage where our cars were supposed to park. Strive to never buy anything new except toothpaste and underwear. Everything we really need can be found used and in great condition at the flea market or thrift store. We'll know we're on the right track when we don't spend any money for three to four days at a stretch. Soon we won't know what to do with all the money that piles up around the place. Chuck it away, invest it in a home place that produces energy and food.
When we lower our standard of living, we increase the quality of our lives. We don't own Things, they own us.
The process has begun. Bioregional organizations are building throughout the world, organizing people in systems of mutual aid, community organization and self-reliance, building tools for the people to take care of ourselves as we turn away from centralized governmental authoritarian rule.
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- Michael Lewis (Hayduke)
Live Oak
Pacific Plate
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