The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Review for HS4N by Ann Sheppard 

This slim beautiful book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a member of Potawatomi Nation, brings Indigenous wisdom to the destructive problem of an economy based on scarcity and driven by inequality, and instead proposes an economy of ‘gifts and abundance’. Transition Tynedale’s very own Apple Pressing Day would be a perfect example of this – a glut gifted, processed with shared tools not available to all and redistributed for free.

You may be familiar with Kimmerer’s bestselling ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’ in which Indigenous knowledge of ecology is ‘confirmed’ by the results of her academic experience as a Professor at New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

There are unavoidable echoes of that work in this slim volume but here she is concentrating on economics, with reference to Charles Eisenstein, Kate Raworth and Katherine Collins – on how we navigate the gap between supply and demand in a ‘western’ market economy. Kimmerer argues that the competitive drive for profit inherent in this system is destroying not only what we love but also what we absolutely rely on for survival. If we see the supply of Serviceberries as a gift from nature our relationship with nature changes to one of mutual dependance – not extraction for maximum profit. The giving and receipt of gifts will foster close relationships, tighten community bonds and ensure that, when times are hard, any goods are shared for the benefit of all. E.g. When a neighbouring farm has a glut of fruit, they invite the community in to pick all they want for free. Instead of hoarding the fruit and selling on later for greater profit at a time of scarcity this act of preemptive generosity has nurtured positive feelings which will pay back later in terms of customer loyalty. A circular economy bounded by ecological limits and based on social justice. As George Monbiot calls it ‘private sufficiency, public wealth’.

It would be easy to say that this cuddly model of sharing is only viable in small communities and Kimmerer makes that point herself but she argues that we need to find ways of fostering stronger, tighter knit communities where we can, at neighbourhood if not national level. Sharing skills, tools, seeds and gluts (very much like Transition Tynedale’s various projects) ensures that All Flourishing is Mutual.

The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Published by Allen Lane

ISBN 9780241721308