Reader

Hoping you and yours had a wonderful holiday season; all the best in 2025.

Just before Christmas I joined the Hops & Hedges Podcast with Heather Jerrard to discuss the AVESI story so far...

Lessons from 'The Serviceberry'

'The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World' by Robin Wall Kimmerer is a book likely to be on every nature lovers reading list at some point. I just finished it and really enjoyed it; but I feel it's missing something.

Robin has also authored 'Braiding Sweetgrass' which I have not yet read but have heard high praise for. The Serviceberry gives an inspiring take on the concept of a 'gift economy' where human share, rather than hoard their abundance. This concept is based on building strong societal and economic ties with neighbours by sharing what you have. The natural world operates as a gift economy (as noted by the gifts given by the serviceberry tree that inspired the book) so it makes sense for humans to be more common-good focused than we seem to be these days.

Robin mentioned the possibility of a hybrid economy where a gift economy can exist alongside the capitalist free-market economy we live in now. Any system centred around extraction or exploitation without rationing or replenishing is likely to end badly for all involved. Capitalism certainly is not perfect, but it's not realistic to assume that it can be thrown out tomorrow. We will have to work within the structure of capitalism to bring modern culture towards one that is more conscious about caring for natural resources, the planet, and each other. This is something I believe we are already seeing as I discussed in the article I wrote on 'Why do People Buy Rainscapes?'

The over-exploitation of communally-owned shared resources is known as 'The Tragedy of the Commons' and it is really well explained throughout the book. I appreciate the author highlighting that an ideal future can be one centred around sharing and even regenerating communally-owned shared resourced so the broader group, rather than just the individual, can benefit. Permaculture and rainscaping are examples of regenerative systems in a landscape management context.

Note: 'Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed' by Jared Diamond is a great book on the over-exploitation of shared resources.

A hybrid style gift / capitalist economy sounds ideal based on where the world is currently and how people yearn for stronger bonds with their communities and neighbours...

So what's missing?

The reality is a gift economy can only work if the individual members of that economy possess skills, resources, knowledge, etc. worth gifting. What is missing from The Serviceberry is the acknowledgement of the role of the individual. A gift economy made up of individuals who have nothing of real value is just a bunch of people exchanging nothing. The gifts have to be more than hugs and high fives.

There has to be a value in the gift or it will become the same extraction based system we live in now where the valuable resources will be exploited until they are diminished beyond redemption. Skills, resources, knowledge, etc. that have some degree of real world value have to be gifted (i.e shared or circulated) with frequency on both sides or what is being gifted will become another victim of the tragedy of the commons.

The concept of a gift economy places more onus on the individual to become someone who can bring value to the whole. It forces people to build themselves into someone who has an abundance of gifts that are actually worth sharing. And to be clear, I believe it a noble and necessary pursuit to strive to be the best versions of ourselves as individuals because without successful individuals there cannot be a successful group. Our goal with the introduction of broad scale gift (or even hybrid) economy should be to thrive, not just to survive. If an individual has no drive to improve their circumstances and become someone who can share their abundance with others, their involvement in a gift or hybrid economy will be purely extractive and not one that is contributing to the greater good.

Our current society can be very isolating for people as the mentality of 'I can make it on my own' is glorified in culture. A gift economy can bring people together so many hands can lift us up in times of struggle - which we all experience from time to time. But the drive to contribute positively to the whole has to be alive in every individual at least to some degree, or the system fails.

Overall I really enjoyed learning about the gift economy concept and would say the book is worth reading.

That's all for now,

Michael