In the tension between ecology and economics lies an uncomfortable truth: while both words share a root in “eco” (from the Greek oikos, meaning home), our modern economies often seem to overlook the home we all share – the natural world.
In her new book The Serviceberry: An Economy of Gifts and Abundance (published by Allen Lane), Indigenous scientist and author Robin Wall Kimmerer, renowned for her previous bestseller Braiding Sweetgrass (2013), invites readers to rethink this link by looking to an unlikely teacher – the serviceberry tree.
So, what exactly is a serviceberry? More than just a flowering tree native to North America, the serviceberry is deeply rooted in Indigenous calendars and knowledge systems. Its blossoming signals the arrival of spring, and its berries have sustained human and non-human (or as Kimmerer more aptly refers to them, “more-than-human”) communities alike for generations. For Kimmerer, a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and a scientist, the serviceberry becomes a lens for understanding what it means to live abundantly on this planet.
