Articles

“In the future, we will have centers where information and models about resources and the environment are housed. There would need to be many of these centers, all over the world, each one responsible for a discrete bioregion. They would contain people with excellent minds and tools, but they would not be walled off, as scientific centers so often are, either from the lives of ordinary people or from the realities of political processes. The people in these centers would be at home with farmers, miners, planners, and heads of state and they would be able both to listen to, and talk to, all of them.”

Donella Meadows, 1982
MacArthur Fellow & Author of The Limits to Growth

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.

Over the next several months, we will now be recruiting and training several senior leadership teams of 3-5 folks to make these departmetns happen.

Currently we have adopted six Departments:

• Department of Education: Create tools and resources, provide education that grow the efficacy of the Cascadia Movement, through our diplomats, members and supporters and creating easier pathways to connect people with ways to get involved. 

• Chamber of Commerce: Connecting and supporting local businesses and organizations that represent bioregional values, and creating resources that connect groups with Cascadia, and in turn strengthen a bioregional economy. 

• Legislative Outreach: Writing Op-Eds, contacting officials by email, phone and mail to gauge support of Cascadia Independence or autonomy, and supporting or proposing initiatives in line with bioregional principles. 

• Public Relations: External relationships with cultural leaders, media, the Cascadia movement, and folks who have never heard of the idea. Manage the blog, website, social media and print materials. 

• Indigenous Sovereignty: Exploring a confederation of the nations that inhabit the Cascadia bioregion, what decolonization and reconciliation look like to each, and building recommendations for pathways forward. In addition, growing access to indigenous ways of living, and providing support, mutual aid and solidarity.

In addition, we maintain two other Departments which are Administrative and Special Projects. 

• Special Projects: serve as a catchall for all other projects – and is designed for motivated self starters and managed diplomats who has a special project in mind that might not fit in with our current departments.

• Administrative: Handles the budgeting and does everything to try and help all other departments and diplomats run as smoothly as posssdfible. 

For those not familiar Departments and Embassies are work groups of diplomats and projects that share the same theme or geographic area. Departments can be bioregion wide, but are specific to one issue or purpose, while embassies are geography specific, and carry on the mission of bioregionalism and the Department of Bioregion on a local level. 

Key Takeaways: 

• Each Department has a senior leadership team. Their goal is to support and mentor the diplomats and projects within that department, as well as provide a basic administrative support in addition to their own work they find important.

• Every project is part of a department. Departments can choose to undertake projects, and diplomats themselves can undertake projects.

• Every diplomat is part of an embassy. Embassies are work meetings that happen regularly, where diplomats can get together with other diplomats, divide and work on group projects with other folks in their departments, or around a campaign or upcoming event, or own their own if they so choose.

• Every Department has a Category and Page on the website. Each department is a working group (or collection of groups) that coordinate activities, create budgets, and maximize impact.

• As new diplomats and projects join, Departments should subdivide to better support the specific needs of each type of project. Subdivision should happen when a small group is willing to step into the role of a leadership team.