Gifts of Community or Commodity?

‘Tis the season, when we celebrate holidays in our traditions that are meant to bring light to a dark time of year. And ‘tis the season when we are inundated with images of the gifts we should give or receive to bring joy to ourselves and our loved ones. Research shows that the average American can recognize 1000 corporate logos but can’t identify 10 plants growing within a mile of their home.

In her new book, “The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World,” Potawatomi evolutionary biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer connects our disregard for the species and systems right outside our front doors to a national epidemic of anxiety, loneliness, and alienation. At this season of gift giving, she explains the concept of gift economies, in contrast to those which are commodity-driven. Gift economies reflect a kinship worldview in which we are all in this together, and no one is any more or less important than anyone or anything else. Market economies reflect a worldview in which the few are entitled to extract the most resources from the many. Gift economies cultivate gratitude for and connection to each other, our community, and the land. Market economies reinforce isolation, insatiable craving, and loneliness.

At a time when climate change and degradation of foundational natural systems are destroying Earth’s biodiversity and ecosystems, making it dangerous or impossible for many living species to survive, complicity in the market economy feels hedonistic and irresponsible, and also impossible to reverse. One only needs to visit Sam’s Club or Costco and ask, “how many AAA batteries do I actually need?” to realize we are headed for disaster if we don’t demand a reset button. But what will happen to all those batteries, even if I don’t buy a pack of 40?

Human nature is instinctively acquisitive. We are programmed to assume “more is better.” One of the functions of religion is to help us channel our instincts in ways that mitigate their negative consequences. Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dream in Genesis is a good example.

“In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile, when out of the Nile came up seven sturdy and well-formed cows and grazed in the reed grass. Presently there followed them seven other cows, scrawny, ill-formed, and emaciated — never had I seen their likes for ugliness in all the land of Egypt! And the seven lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven cows, the sturdy ones; but when they had consumed them, one could not tell that they had consumed them, for they looked just as bad as before.”

Joseph advises Pharoah to store surplus resources produced in a time of abundance so that they can be distributed at a time of scarcity. Pharoah’s dream is a metaphor for our subconscious alerting us to the fact that an endless supply of AAA batteries should not reassure us that all is well. We need to find ways to recognize, acknowledge, and protect the gifts that the earth provides for us, rather than extracting all we can without regard for the non-human species we take for granted. Wall Kimmerer suggests that when we do, we also connect to community, finding security and nourishment in relationships built on interdependence and mutual respect.

Examples in the book include modifying our diets to preference foods that are grown locally, in season, and adopting the model of libraries to other commodities. We don’t need to eat raspberries in December. We can wait until July. We don’t have to own everything. We can share things. Books. Garden tools. Bassinets. We can split up that pack of 40 batteries and distribute them to people who only need 4.

And here is a gift you can give yourself and others that will offer joy and agency in this time of despair and helplessness. Watch the documentary film, “Wisdom of Happiness: A Heart-to-Heart with the Dalai Lama about Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” Because human nature is not only acquisitive. It is also kind, and compassionate. We have an inherent wisdom that responds to love. We have the capacity to create a politics of joy, and to wake up in the morning and resist harmful actions and rhetoric with positive energy and a vision of how we can live together happily and sustainably. We can shift our focus from commodities to communities, and we can make those communities thrive. Try to watch the film with others rather than by yourself. You’ll feel more ready for 2026.

Happy Holidays.

~ Nancy Kasten