Cascadia
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Cascadia is the ecological and climatic region of North America bounded by the Cascade Range and the Pacific Ocean. Its ecoregions are distinct from those of the more arid lands to the east and south, and so its agriculture and forestry also vary.
Some claim that the region also has a shared political culture. In his book Nine Nations of North America, author Joel Garreau claimed that the Pacific Rim region he called Ecotopia had a different culture from that of what he called The Empty Quarter to the east, and was necessarily different economically as well as ecologically.
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Secessionist and autonomy movements and ideas
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The Republic of Cascadia is one proposed name for the independent sovereign state that would be formed by the union of British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon, were these states and provinces ever to successfully secede from their respective federal governments in Ottawa and Washington DC. The boundaries of this Cascadia would incorporate those of the existing province and states.
The idea for an autonomous or independent Cascadian state first arose after World War II, and has since been embraced by a number of different groups with generally similar aims. Some groups have sought to extend the interpretation of "Cascadia" to embrace parts of Northern California and Alaska, while others are more closely aligned with such related concepts as the State of Jefferson.
Two novels by Ernest Callenbach, Ecotopia (1975) and Ecotopia Emerging (1981), are fictional portrayals of the secession of the region from the United States. Callenbach's novels include Washington, Oregon, and the northern half of California in the new country (with the dividing line between northern and southern California drawn roughly through Santa Barbara and Bakersfield). Seriatim was a short-lived magazine published in El Cerrito, California in the late 1970s which also promoted the secession of the region along the lines portrayed by Callenbach.
Political motivations for the secession and autonomy movements deal mostly with perceived shared Cascadian political culture, values and interests, which the eastern federal governments are accused of ignoring and being out of touch with.
The region is already served by several cooperative organizations and interstate or international agencies, especially in forestry and fishery management and emergency response - the whole region being prone to earthquakes. These organizations are thought by some to be precursors of a bioregional democracy, perhaps along the 'Republic' lines.
Other meaning: proposed county in Washington
Cascadia is also the suggested name for a proposed county in Washington State formed from the Eastern portions of King and Pierce Counties, whose residents lean more towards conservative political views than their counterparts in Western King and Pierce Counties (namely in the cities of Seattle and Tacoma).
See also
External links
- AltaColumbia (http://altacolumbia.com/pages/autonomy.html) A comprehensive list of Cascadian autonomy and secessionist movements and groups.
- The Cascadian National Party (http://www.angelfire.com/wa3/cascadia/) proposes an independent state consisting of Washington and Oregon.
- The Cascadia Institute (http://www.columbiana.org/cascadia_institute.htm) promotes consciousness of a bioregion extending along the coast from northern California up to northern British Coumbia and extending east into parts of Idaho and Alberta.
- The Republic of Cascadia (http://zapatopi.net/cascadia.html) is a tongue-in-cheek parody of secessionist movements in general.