Bioregional Literature at the "Continent's End": California Writers, Agenda-Setting, and Citizen Mobilization for Local Environmental Protection

Throughout the 20th century, California set the national standard in environmental policymaking. By the 1970s, California’s uniquely attractive natural scenery had become a major part of its residents’ identity, creating a high degree of citizen mobilization for stringent environmental regulation. An under-researched driver of this citizen mobilization is California’s robust tradition of regional environmental literature. Media scholars have examined the agenda-setting function of mass media, but have not paid as much attention to the ways in which literature influenced public opinion. Literary scholars argue that literature that deeply engages with the local “bioregion” engenders environmental thinking in its readers, but these scholars have struggled to articulate how cultivating a sense of place actually creates policy outcomes. This project analyzes a narrow corpus of regional literature that I define as “bioregional”—works that elevate California’s unique landscape to become absolutely integral to the narrative's plot, such that readers come away with a deeper conviction that their region is worth protecting. Through a bioregionalist perspective, I read my assembled corpus of prose and poetry from the Central Coast and Owens Valley, two regions with robust local literary cultures. I find that literature has influenced policymaking in California by serving an agenda-setting function, fostering awareness and prioritization of a bioregional perspective among citizen-policymakers.