The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World

by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“Store my meat? I store my meat in the belly of my brother,” replied the hunter.

These two economic worldviews, of prosperity gained through individual accumulation and prosperity gained through sharing of the commons, underpin the history of colonization in this country. The whole enterprise of dispossession and assimilation of the original peoples was designed to eradicate the notion of land as a source of belonging and to replace it with the idea that land is nothing more than a source of belongings. This required a narrowing of the definition of well-being, from common wealth to individual wealth, from abundance to scarcity.

We often lay the blame for the outcomes of cutthroat capitalism on the “System.” There’s merit in that, given the complex layered interactions, but no excuse. Let’s remember that the “System” is led by individuals, by a relatively small number of people, who have names, with more money than God and certainly less compassion.