Cascadian History

Cascadian History

In Chinook Jargon (Chinuk Wawa) this region is called “Chinook Ilahaee” which means “land of the Chinook speakers” and now perfectly matches the demarcated “borders” of the bioregion called Cascadia. J.M.R. Le Jeune’s “Chinook Rudiments” published on May 3rd 1924 describes the geographical placement of the use of Chinook Jargon and a partial glimpse of the demographics of who were the Chinook Jargon speakers of the time: “Chinook, for a century the International Language of…

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What is Cascadia?

What is Cascadia?

  Cascadia is a bioregion. Cascadia is a noun and a place. Cascadian, as an adjective or demonym, means someone or something associated with Cascadia (the bioregion). The name Cascadia comes from the word “cascades” meaning falling water or waterfalls. In the 1820s, David Douglas named the mountain range the Cascades. The name Cascadia in various circles came to mean the whole Pacific Northwest. This bioregion was also called Chinook Illahee in the trade language…

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What is Bioregionalism?

What is Bioregionalism?

Bioregionalism is the consciousness or awareness of the interconnectedness of the water-life cycle within a given region. Even in the driest of deserts, a bioregion is defined by its water-life cycle, no matter how short and seemingly sparse a cycle may be. The great water-life cycles are actually the generation and transfer of energy. So each bioregion is a living system of interconnected communities and churning of energy. Tao philosophy ascribes the flow energy in…

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