Name: Lauren

Reading: The Serviceberry, Robin Wall Kimmerer

Why did you want to read this? Sometimes I feel exhausted by systems dictated by ''more'' (do more, have more). Usefully, The Serviceberry asks us to consider "enoughness". The presiding economic system we live in (in the modern Western world anyways) is founded on competition, perpetual growth and the hoarding of wealth and resources. 

This book poses a simple question: what can we learn from alternative economic models as they exist in the natural world and in the cultures of indigenous peoples?

Kimmerer returns to this question by offering insight into the cycles of the serviceberry plant which is characterised by reciprocity, gratitude and interconnectedness with other citizens (human and non-human). 

How did you record yourself? I lit a candle (scent=bay+rosemary), propped my laptop up beside me and tried to ignore the sound of my own voice. At first I felt uncomfortable - it is unusual to read aloud and alone after all I guess? Whilst i was reading it grew dusky outside and the smell from my candle filled the room. After the first few pages, it became kind of meditative and I forgot what I was doing.