Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In short — the key to the profound changes that our current polycrisis is calling for lies in the cultivation of the social soil. Every one of us can be (and is) a gardener or farmer of that soil.
As we – humanity, corporate civilization, the USA – flip over in a lethal tailspin, everything that radiates its cosmic beauty has been flourishing with overdrive.
What happens when you leave your ordinary life behind and put your attention on the vast mysterious being that surrounds our homelands in a time of disruption and loss?
Most big-think essays like this end on a note of inspiration and hope. For once, I’ll resist the temptation to go that route. Can we humans make ourselves useful to the rest of life? It’s an open question.
Now that we have another four years of supreme stupidity, it seems all the more important to follow this small path, to turn away from the things that are harming us, to build up our communities, to live our lives — because this is all we get and the idiots do not get to take that from us, not even four years.
We see the potential for a national support programme – but this will require major funders – and our own sector – to see the value in the recovery and renewal of social clubs as a unique opportunity to expand the democratic economy in our everyday lives.
Our team at the Climate, Health and Energy Equity Lab at Vanderbilt University has been exploring the possibility of corporate offset dollars paying to improve energy efficiency in low-income housing, starting with a pilot study in our hometown of Nashville.
Humility, like all virtues, is a capacity that must be developed with practice. Symbolic rituals can be a way of editing our scripts to shift our habitual behaviors. In other words, symbolic humility can lead to real humility, but only if a genuine desire is there.
Erin’s work with Fertile Ground, and Carrie’s with Black Family Land Trust, are part of the multidimensional aspect of regenerative agriculture. Regenerative agriculture renews both urban and rural communities, and it nourishes both human bodies and the planet.
Although the majority of voters can’t imagine true system change, this is precisely what we need – movement toward the ecological civilization.
Ultimately, The Serviceberry is a hopeful book. It offers a way out of what Kimmerer calls a “cannibal economy”, where endless consumption depletes the world around us. Instead, she imagines a system where resources circulate through communities, creating webs of independence that nourish both humans and nature.
All told, climate progress has been unfolding on so many fronts for so many years — often without enough support from the federal government — that it will persist regardless of who occupies the White House.
