(3) My step: exchange
I am taking another type of step into the interdependence of our socio-economo-ecosystem: the gift economy. The best part about this alternate economy is that it is not necessarily about direct exchange. It’s about one thing leading to another and playing with the integration of many aspects of our daily and larger picture lives.
For example, when I sent out my Community Supported Activist (CSA) announcement, one of the responses that came back was from a friend offering his cabin as a retreat space. (This is where I now sit to write these thoughts.) But, it’s not as straightforward as going to a cabin for a writing getaway—it’s a chance to live in his rural permacultural setup, to experience what he has learned about creating sustainable infrastructure, to gain insight into the real life details of his neighbor’s logging expeditions and to cross-pollinate ideas with another changemaker in a variety of settings. I still get my peace and quiet to write, but instead of paying for a cabin somewhere, I get to integrate this aspect of my life (the need to get away) with the whole picture of my life (weaving tighter the interdependence of people). And, he gets my stories and ideas, yummy meals, and the things I can do around his property to help. There are a lot of levels of exchange.
1 comment:
I think a fascinating type of “exchange” for you to be open to or search for would be some kind of exchange where you step out of the “alternative” lifestyle - economy - network and try to have that exchange be between your world and more mainstream Americana though I don’t really have any grand suggestions of what this might look like. I like the metaphor of inter species cross pollination -if we cross pollinate within our own species (lifestyle - economy - network) we increase variability and viability, but if we can cross pollinate between species there is the possibility (rare but real) that a new beautiful beast could arise!
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