“The Serviceberry,” written by the author of “Braiding Sweetgrass,” Robin Kimmerer, teaches us to imagine an alternative way of understanding relationship and exchange in economics. The wisdom of Indigenous gift economics is found in relationships, the serviceberry tree of wealth, serves as metaphor for freely sharing its “fruit” with the community which it depends on for its own survival.
Transactional economics manufactures scarcity, creates instability and funnels accumulation of wealth to a few. Corporate capitalism’s drive for profit extracts wealth from nature without giving back. People are dehumanized as objects and commodities. Domination and exploitation separate people from the land, each other and from themselves through alienation, authoritarianism and extreme inequality.
Transformative economics is based on the currency of reciprocity, recycling and gratitude to create abundance in the natural world where “all flourishing is mutual.” A gift economy gives freely in an interconnected web for well-being derived from the reward of sharing. Economics based on ecological principles of relationship found in the natural world teaches us about values of cooperation, equity and justice.
Zero-sum thinking (my loss is your gain) turns us against each other and does harm to what we hold dear, embrace, and love. The sole purpose of economics ought to begin with respect, caring and giving back. For centuries, capitalism has extracted resources without return, exploited human labor and now stripped of all humanity, predatory monopolies concentrate power in the hands of ruthless oligarchs.
To Indigenous people, this human bond and relationship with nature is sacred and inseparable, with all parts integrated into wholeness of being.
Earthly reverence requires balance and reciprocity of sustainable practice that replenishes, recycles and regenerates to enable nature’s resilient power. Nature’s web of life offers all of the foundational principles necessary for an economy that serves all people and sustains earthly gifts.
Harold Honkola
Stillwater