When things start to look gloomy, I’ve gotten into the habit of shifting perspectives to see the silver lining from a different point of view. Sometimes that means zooming out and seeing the bigger picture when I’m tempted to sweat the small stuff. At the moment, it’s the wide shot I’m sweating. I’ve been struggling not to feel downright despondent about the state of our planet and our country. It’s a natural way to feel when you see things that conflict with your core values on a daily basis.
So this time I’m zooming in, and I think it’s a valuable place for all of us to give at least some our our attention to right now. I’d like to make the case for thinking smaller.
While the darkness abounds in the national and international news, there’s light beaming from the statewide and local levels, and we all have the opportunity and power to help that light grow brighter. We’ve seen communities rally together and show up for each other in the aftermath of natural disasters – in Kerrville, Texas, in Los Angeles, California, and in St. Louis, Missouri. While climate policies are being rolled back at the federal level, states are still making progress. And some of the biggest areas of opportunity for resilience, resistance, and regeneration work best when they are seeded and supported at the individual and community levels. It’s not the first time I’ll say it, nor will it be the last – we each have the power to contribute to the collective good with our seemingly small, individual actions.
One area of opportunity I’d like to shed some light on – the value in choosing to support small businesses over the big guys. Allow me to use a metaphor.
Think of Target, Walmart, and Amazon as monocrops like corn, soy, and wheat. While there are some short-term benefits to this style of farming where the same crop is planted in large swaths of land season after season – simpler and more efficient to plant and maintain, low costs, and high volumes – it also depletes the soil, makes the harvested crops less nourishing, harms local ecosystems, and carries higher risks to farmers if there’s a crop failure due to a certain pest, disease, or climate event. Not to mention the potential economic risks of relying on one crop that’s subject to market fluctuations and geopolitical factors.
Whereas regenerative agriculture, which is based on rotating a diverse set of crops, including livestock to help fertilize the land, produces more nutrient-rich food, increases biodiversity, soil health, and carbon sequestration, and ultimately builds more resilient farms that are less vulnerable to all of the aforementioned risks.
Supporting small businesses is the same. Our communities and economies are more resilient when they are diversified, when our dollars are spread between a variety of nutrient-rich crops aka small, value-aligned businesses. We see the consequences of monocrop company towns all across the country – communities that relied on one industry or business for the majority of their jobs and wealth. When that company leaves, the entire community crumbles. We don’t want to be at the mercy of any one or handful of companies whose primary motives are profit maximization.
We can choose which crops to water and fertilize with our dollars. We can choose to support the small, local, value-aligned businesses whose collective successes create greater abundance for our communities.
Here’s to zooming in and watering the crops that nourish us,
Alex
