A permaculture friend Facebook-posted the question: How many of you are willing to sacrifice your lives, your kids’ lives, grandkids’ lives, for the economy?
I would add to that question, And how many of you are willing to continue to sacrifice the Earth’s ecosystems, and the wellbeing of indigenous communities and marginalized populations, for “the economy”?
And here’s the answer I gave:
Absolutely NO. And in fact, it is not necessary to sacrifice the economy to safeguard our health. Contrary to popular belief, “the economy” is not Wall Street or big corporations. The economy is everyday people trading goods and services to meet each other’s needs.
Might it require sacrifice? Might those of us who can afford to do so, want to cut unnecessary expenses and instead channel our money & energy to helping out neighbors and family members who are less well off? And do extra legwork to support local farmers, local businesses? Yes, and it’s a sacrifice I’m happy to make, because that is the REAL economy.
And rather than being at odds with public health and wellness (as the “big economy” has often been shown to be), the REAL economy is 100% aligned with public health and wellness. We can use our innate human creativity to help one another develop new, more localized livelihoods; ones that are less dependent on government and big corporations. And we will all be better off.