Hi Daniel — this piece is bursting at the seems with great insights on bioregionalism and place. I was not aware of Geddes and his profound contributions to this space. Thank you for tipping me off to his work.

I particularly enjoyed your comments here:

Sustainability requires a fundamental change in worldview resulting in a change in self-perception that reintegrates humanity into natural process as a conscious participant and integral part of nature. Such changes can be facilitated by transdisciplinary education of the whole person. Profound societal change emerges from the bottom up through direct participation of citizens in their local communities and the ecological context of their regions.

This insight into economics is also profound:

Rooted in his biological conviction of the fundamental unity of nature and culture, Geddes argued that the ʻkey objective of the biological principles of economics was not food and shelter but culture and educationʼ

Culture and education as the basis for a new economy rooted in place! This is such a deep, subversive alternative to the dominant political-economic paradigm of neoliberal monocultures. In my mind, this also aligns with the work of Capital Institute and RARE to foster economic system change through the development and design of healthy human networks. A question I hold in my head is how do we deploy the organizing patterns and principles universally shared by healthy living systems of all scales towards cultural-political-economic transition and ecological re-integration at the local, bioregional level? Geddes’ profound contribution here can help reframe the global development paradigm from placelessness and abstraction to intentional community (re)integration through bioregional specific education and awareness.