Judith Plant introduces two pivotal words to the reader from the title onward in her piece Searching for Common Ground: Ecofeminism and Bioregionalism. Ecofeminism stems from the common dominating relationship men exert on ecosystems and women around the world. Plant equates the violence and sexual abuse conducted towards women as analogous to the “rape of the earth” that corporations carry out to turn living ecosystems into dead natural resources. In opposition to this violence, the author calls for women and men alike to take on a view that combines ecology and feminism to establish and maintain a protective, compassionate relationship with all living organisms and ‘Mother Earth’. Plant then defines at length a concept called bioregionalism. Her best summary of this word follows:
“Bioregionalism means learning to become native to a place, fitting ourselves to a particular place, not fitting a place to our predetermined tastes.”
She claims that sustainable ways of living come from cultures that live in harmony with the land and each other. These cultures change from location to location, however, so as to fully utilize, restore and conserve the native communities present. Each culture is unique because it comes from the land itself, a particular biome with species specialized for that environment. How might central Illinois utilize bioregionalism to provide for the population of Urbana Champaign? Firstly, our society must adopt a savanna based agroforestry system to provide its staple crops. Though many enjoy foods from all over the world at the local supermarket, this method of food production ultimately leads to an enormous amount of waste and carbon emissions. Staple crops such as chestnut, hazelnut, apple, raspberry and grape may all be produced in an integrated manner that provides forage for livestock and habitat for wildlife. Decentralized government must also come into play so that a participatory democracy gives a voice to all members of the city. This somewhat mimics the decentralized nature of the prairie ecosystem. A crucial factor of bioregionalism involves a revitalization of the indigenous cultures of the area. These cultures originally lived on the land in a sustainable manner.