A day to celebrate the unique dynamism of our bioregion and movement.
To Celebrate Cascadia Day, we are inviting anyone that feels so moved to share a picture, poem, song, story or short video in this thread that helps to share something of the essence of this amazing place we call home.
We are officially debuting Regenerate Cascadia in collaboration with Design School for Regenerating Earth and Regenerative Communities Network.
The Edge Prize is your opportunity to share what works, big or small, and find the others who want to join you, fund you, learn from you, or replicate your efforts locally. This is not a business plan competition. This is not a “pitch” competition. It’s not really a contest at all! This is about sharing what you’re already doing, why it’s working, and why it gives you hope.
Founded in March 2020, the Cooperative Gardens Commission (CGC) is a grassroots collective working to support food sovereignty efforts in response to COVID-19. The pandemic heightened the persistent injustice in our food system, falling especially hard on BIPOC, poor, undocumented, and otherwise marginalized communities. Our primary work is focused on distributing seeds to Seed Hubs, who function as central distributors of free seeds and information to their communities. In this capacity, CGC focuses on historically oppressed communities by prioritizing hubs already working with those most affected by the injustices of the pandemic and encouraging seed hub organizers who aren’t working with those groups to do so.
Tag us in a picture or post about Cascadia, and you’ll be automatically entered to win lots of Cascadia gear that we’ll be giving out during the day and next day. We'll be sharing images & reposting all day, so make sure to give us a tag at @cascadiabioregion on facebook and instagram, and @cascadiadept on twitter. and you’ll be entered to win some of our Cascadia Giveaways, including several bundles with t-shirts, flags, masks, stickers, passports and more.
Every 10 years, the United States completely erases current voting district borders, and creates new ones using census data that has tracked demographic changes over the past ten years.
How these districts are drawn is incredibly important, and in many states, is used as a tool of disenfranchisement, racism, and reinforcing voter disparities. Ensuring a fair voter redistricting process is one of the most important ways to ensure equity, transparency and accountability in our democratic institutions. This process is currently underway, and voting commissions are being formed to explore the best way to redraw these districts.
Interested in being a part of Cascadia and the Cascadia movement? Join a Cascadia Department of Bioregion organizers meeting where we discuss the basics, talk about how people want to be involved, and then plug people in. No committment needed. Hop on, check it out. Ask questions. See if it’s a good fit.
The Cascadia Open Education Summit is a unique three-day, internationally attended event where thought leaders come together to share groundbreaking ideas, research, and best practices for using open educational resources (OER). Their delegates include government officials, faculty, academic administrators and leaders, educational developers and technologists, librarians, instructional designers, student support staff, and students.
The 8th annual Summit will be digital and will be a mix of live and pre-recorded sessions delivered through the virtual platform provider, EventMobi. The event follows on the 2019 Cascadia Open Education Summit which took place in Vancouver, B.C. on April 17 & 18, 2019, co-hosted by Lumen Learning, Open Oregon Educational Resources, and the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC).
Cascadia Open Education Summit welcomed people engaged in higher ed-focused open education initiatives, including students, faculty, librarians, instructional technologists, administrators, and other campus leaders.
When we organize, we win.
Since November 3rd, we have had more than 1200 people sign up to join our Cascadia Election Response Network. More than just about any one candidate or election, we see this as a pivotal moment in history when we must start preparing networks of mutual aid, local resilience, training and preparation for times of emergency, and if ever needed, civil disobedience. Be it an emergency, man made or natural, or fighting against the rising tide of fascism, climate change, economic inequity, systemic oppression or misinformation, we will be ready.
These types of networks don’t just happen. Historically, it is often the result of serious training. Time and again, we have demonstrated the power that unified, nonviolent, mass-action can have in the face of illegitimate regimes seeking to subvert the will of the people.
https://join.slack.com/t/deptofbioregion/shared_invite/zt-e3076d36-0fT9xS0pkBtuU7r82XGPIw
When you join, use the channel browser on the left hand hand side to find your local neighborhood group, or to request one if it already hasn’t been found. Join our resiliency network, and use this as a space to plug your own groups and resources you find important that you feel are bioregional, local and ethical.
We are excited to announce that we are creating several work groups from our Envision Cascadia Conference, and would love to invite you to join us. We had more than 150 people register for 8 different sessions that took place over 2 weeks in which people gathered to explore how we can best build the Cascadia movement, and we are very excited to keep this momentum going.
As the COVID-19 outbreak disrupts nearly every aspect of our daily lives, Cascadians should double-down on bioregionalism to better support our impacted communities and mitigate health risks.
Bioregionalism is a philosophy and lifestyle which promotes personal and community well-being by using naturally defined borders, such as waterways, as a structure for making sustainable choices. Bioregions are considered the largest region one can reasonably call home, encompassing familiar fauna, flora, and human-based culture or traditions. A de-colonized way of looking at the land, bioregionalism encourages one to ask how their actions better or preserve the place that they live, not only for themselves but for their neighbors and future generations, regardless of arbitrary state or federal borders drawn on by colonizers. Cascadia is just one of many bioregions of the world and stretches from Alaska down to Northern California, with borders shaped by the Snake, Frasier, and Columbia rivers and Pacific Ocean (also known as the Salish Sea).
Cascadia and COVID-19 are now deeply intertwined, with Cascadia having a large portion of the COVID-19 cases reported in the U.S. and with Cascadian businesses and citizens currently taking the brunt of the economic fallout of the virus. Cascadia is also on the world stage, leading the charge against COVID-19 through vaccine research, providing technology infrastructure through which people are staying connected and getting their news, and setting an example of how to respond to this sudden pandemic.
At its root, biroegionalism asks people to deeply consider their connection to the place they live and to actionably engage in ways that give back to one’s own community: decreasing climate impact, eating locally-grown foods, using local energy sources (like solar, water), supporting small and independent community businesses, and generally being more self-reliant are tokens of the bioregional movement.
COVID-19 can live on surfaces for days. How many people have touched that last bag of frozen peas in the giant box store’s freezer aisle? The packer, the quality controller, the truck loader, the truck unloader, the stocker, the person (or two, or three) who picked it up and put it back before you got to that aisle yourself?
Social distancing is a great way to decrease your potential exposure to the virus, as is shopping at small mom-and-pop type businesses which have less employees, less foot traffic, and fewer items/surfaces to manage. This will not only decrease how many people you may come into contact with while purchasing what you need, but it should decrease the amount of “touches” an item went through before it got to you.
Best of the best? Buy from a local farmer, baker, or butcher who raises, makes, or handles their product themselves!
Many local businesses are struggling financially due to the economic impact of COVID-19. Let’s be real: Kroger doesn’t need your money – your neighbors do! Your patronage can go a very long way in keeping a bioregional option available in your neighborhood. This is especially true of local restaurants. If you’re ordering take-away, skip the chain and go for your closest local pizza joint.
No matter what, please wipe down and/or wash your produce, food items, and other purchases once you’ve bought them. Safety first!
Who do you think you’d have contact with first in an emergency: your neighbors who are also affected by it, or the federal government?
This NPR story does a great job laying out why and how neighbors and local pals increase the odds of surviving an emergency situation: local knowledge, personal knowledge of each other, and a shared love of place are all key factors which contribute to how neighborly connections make it more likely that you come through a disaster just fine.
Some of your neighbors might not be able to go outside right now – Hell, you might not be able to go outside right now. Having a network of people who can help each other and that is close by might mean the difference between getting hard-to-find items and going without (your neighbors are probably more likely to loan you some TP (and sooner) than FEMA is). Get connected and stay connected during these trying times. Identify if any neighbors need additional assistance or raise the flag if you are in need of additional assistance.
Plus, sharing the sense that we’re all in this very real crisis together can be really good for one’s mental health. Say hello, smile, and wave from your porch!
Buying bulk items is a great way to get affordable, healthy foods with a longer shelf life. Plus, they are less likely to have been exposed to someone unknowingly carrying COVID-19 due to being in enclosed containers.
If you are hitting the bulk aisle while stocking up for a period of social distancing, go plastic-free! Bring jars or other containers from home. If you don’t have any, buy items in jars (pickles or peanut butter, for example) and later recycle the containers into bulk-food holders during your next trip to the store. Bonus: Jars are easy to wipe down once you get home and are easy to keep clean!
Consider selecting bulk items that have smaller global impact, such as foods that were grown locally or that take less water to grow (oats are a great choice!). It’s our duty as bioregionalists to think about the long-term impact of our choices and how they will affect our bioregion and future generations.
Did you know that there might be local, bioregional options nearby for your bulk food needs? Scoop in Seattle is once example of a waste-free bulk store where you can fill your self-isolation food needs without filling the landfill at the same time. Why not break from your routine and try a new, independent bulk store the next time you need to stock up on items?
If you are one of the many people who has suddenly found themselves at home for the next few weeks, take the opportunity to learn a new skill or become more self-reliant.
You could plant an herb garden or other foods – even just a potted veg or two! – or could learn to sew (I am even thinking of learning to make my own face mask, just in case). Learn to fix your own toilet or leaky faucet. Make your own cleaning supplies. Even learning to make a fire from scratch, learning to tie new knots, or how to make your own soap could all be skills that either one day come in handy during the apocalypse, or could simply help you reduce waste in the future.
Time spent becoming more self-sufficient is never wasted! And, time spent inside and away from others in the number one defense we have right now against the unintentional spread of the COVID-19 virus. Do your part by staying in and learning something new.
As Cascadians, you know that bioregionalism is the best way to live sustainably, decrease climate impact, and keep our communities alive and thriving.
Now, it’s time for our bioregional mindsets to assist us with mitigating the risks of COVID-19, both for ourselves and our fellow Cascadians.
As we enter into 2020, our Cascadian Diplomats are organizing themselves into six different core departments they have deemed to be the highest priority for building the Cascadia movement, the independence of the Cascadia Bioregion, building a network of bioregional movements around the world, and improve the well being and liveability of our bioregion.
Join Forests for Climate Resilience and Forest Defenders for a gathering of #Forest Folk, Saturday in Portland, Oregon. The night will feature music, forest updates and movement news!
Meet Cascadia Karen! Cascadia Karen is a work-a-day superhero. Between the school run, organic gardening, yoga and Bunco, she makes time to protect the Cascadian way of life. She realized that with great power comes great responsibility, so she is here to shine a light on how local businesses and citizens can live up to Cascadian values. Don’t worry, as a women of a certain age, she’s not afraid to talk to the Man-ager.
2019 Cascadia Day in pictures! See some of the hundreds of pictures, photos, celebrations from around the bioregion. Every year, we celebrate May 18th as Cascadia Day, a day to celebrate the unique culture and dynamism that makes this region so special. Hundreds of people shared posts, pictures, photos and local businesses, libraries, elected officials and public areas put up displays and gave shout outs.
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