In order to move global society towards a sustainable "ecotopia,"
solutions must be engaged in specific places and communities, and the
authors here argue for re-orienting environmental anthropology from a
problem-oriented towards a solutions-focused endeavor. Using case
studies from around the world, the contributors--scholar-activists and
activist-practitioners-- examine the interrelationships between three
prominent environmental social movements: bioregionalism, a worldview
and political ecology that grounds environmental action and experience;
permaculture, a design science for putting the bioregional vision into
action; and ecovillages, the ever-dynamic settings for creating
sustainable local cultures.