Cool. I'm curious, what kinds of things were done to raise awareness? I come from a very small state, so the idea of regions possessing greater cultural affinity and trade within those soft boundaries has always been present in my experience. I've often encountered people that do think that the US is much more homogeneous than it is, but mostly outside of the country. For a country as large as the US is, I think that barriers of transportation would have to be seriously degraded for a more uniform culture to emerge.The first step, of course, is to get the rest of the country on board with the thought that America isn't as homogenous as people are led to believe.
It's hard to explain to people that the US is rarely homogeneous, even down to a state level. But then you have to go to the top and start with how the United States is the 3rd largest country by land mass, with a third of the population of China.
People simply started writing. You can start with Ernest Callenbach's Ecotopia. That's a favorite among people who self-identify as Cascadian. It's a bit dated, I think, and most of the ideas in there many would reject. Then in the 90's David McCloskey gave the idea some academic legitimacy.
http://paulenelson.com/2013/11/17/david-mccloskey-on-cascadi.../ A few flags were designed, and I think most people have agreed on this one:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Flag_of_C... Nowadays the idea has entered the arena of sports, particularly soccer:
http://www.thecascadiacup.com/ In our case, 'raising awareness' was really just publishing zines, running an info booth at events, being politically active or at least present at (usually) leftist protests and having meetings. I wonder if there is an enclave of Front Range thinkers whom I should get in contact with...
Thanks for the links and the book suggestion. I'll add the book to my list and check these out! I've never really been one to raise awareness, other than posting articles about things I feel are important. How often would you say your experiences made you feel like awareness had been raised?
I'm not exactly sure how to answer that question. While I thought we were pretty insular, we had enough of a web presence to attract people from over 100 miles away to a meeting. Some of these guys had been active in bioregional interest communities in the 80's. It's not so much a feeling as much as an observance that yes, people are talking about it.