Decoupling ‘The Good Life’ from Capitalism
I want ‘The Good Life’ to be inclusive of everyone, to be truly pluralistic in not leaving anyone behind across ideological and geographic lines.
I want ‘The Good Life’ to be inclusive of everyone, to be truly pluralistic in not leaving anyone behind across ideological and geographic lines.
Deglobalization is proceeding apace for many reasons. Here’s one more.
Democracy is built in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, our neighborhoods. We can join with our neighbors to build communities of care that meet our direct needs and show that another world is not only possible, it is already blooming.
I am not sure that my employer quite understands the changes that have been set in motion. The gossip chain spread that story within days. Now, we all know that we have leverage. We can demand. Wouldn’t it be great if such a thing were to happen in your community! So what’s stopping you…
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.
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.
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.
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.
Founded by Nana Kwesi Osei Bonsu in response to land grabs and environmental degradation, Land Rights Defenders provides legal support, advocacy, and education to those most affected.
In today’s Frankly, Nate describes some of the battles – or polarities – of our time: the tensions and dichotomies we face from the global macro level all the way down to the level of individual metacognition.