Slow Money Gathering

“The world will be saved by the western woman” – The Dalai Lama

We talk about conscious consumerism but few of us realize the power that we, as western women, have as a whole to create change on this planet simply in the ways we shop. One area that is still frequently overlooked pertains to the food we buy. Increasing interest in farmer’s markets, CSA’s and local foods is steadily growing. It’s popular, tastes good and builds community. But it is more than that. 

Supporting local small food enterprises grows the local economy. There is an international movement based on the book Slow Money by Woody Tasch. The mission is to build local and national networks, and develop new financial products and services, dedicated to:

• investing in small food enterprises and local food systems;

• connecting investors to their local economies; and,

• building the nurture capital industry.

Soil fertility, carrying capacity, sense of place, care of the commons, cultural, ecological and economic health and diversity, nonviolence -- these are the fundamentals of nurture capital, a new financial sector supporting the emergence of a restorative economy. These are the fundamentals of the Slow Money Principles. Slow Money's goal is: a million Americans investing 1% of their assets in local food systems within a decade. Let us, as western woman, be part of that 1 percent!

The second national Slow Money gathering is happening at Shelburne Farms in Vermont on June 9-11th. For more information about Slow Money go to www.slowmoneyalliance.org

Comfortable Consumerism

Ah...tis the season when consumerism is in full swing. I have emersed myself the past few years with trying to understand this complicated position we human beings have manifested for ourselves. We have become so comfortable with the convenience of having practically "everything we need" at our disposal here in America and yet remain blind to the cost.

We showed the film The 11th Hour last night for our free film series at the co-op (one of my favorite films ever) and the same feelings flooded my mind as the first time I watched it. The film brilliantly depicts the relationship between our current crisis on the planet and the incessant greed humans have for more. It clearly correlates our role as consumers and the impact our consumption has had (and continues to have) on Nature.

The question is...how do we wean ourselves from our addiction to convenience? How do we shift the mindset of millions to a worldview that embraces frugality - not scarcity, but rather frugality where there is a balance...where we actually consider the economic value of what Mother Nature herself contributes on a daily basis rather than just taking and taking.

It is this call to action that I am constructing with every insight I have come to understand as I reach out to other mothers through the pages of my book. It is a sense of values, a getting back to what is real, an appreciation of life itself that so many of us are yearning for but not knowing quite how to find.

In our states of consuming, we have become numb and dumb. Our brains are foggy. Yet, slowly, we can begin to clear our minds by eating less packaged, processed foods...by watching less tv....by trusting our own inner selves.... In time, we come across information that resonates some cord of truth and we let go of yet another artificial habit that we have been sold.

We begin to question. We begin to say no. We meet others who share similar ideas. We find our voices and in time we change the world.