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Viewpoint

Inspiring and provocative thoughts from essayist Wendell Berry

9/1/2015

 
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I’ve recently re-read Wendell Berry's 2010 collection of essays, What Matters? Economics for a Renewed Commonwealth  (Counterpoint). Berry--a farmer, agrarian champion, societal observer, essayist, poet--is inspirational!  He challenges us to think clearly and substantively about what we mean by "economy" and how we, in our “modern world,” have failed to practice an economy that accounts for our life and well-being in our homes—on our planet and in our communities.  He challenges our own personal responsibilities to reform our economy and restore a healthy environment. For instance, from “Money Versus Goods” (2009):

If "economy" means "management of a household" then we have a system of national accounting that bears no resemblance to the national economy whatsoever, for it is not the record of our life at home but the fever chart of our consumption. . . .  As our economy has been showing us . . . we have become a nation of fantasists. . . .  We think shopping is a patriotic act and a public service.  We tolerate fabulous capitalists who think a bet on a debt is an asset. . . .  (We need to) remember . . . that our lives depend upon the economics of land use, and that the land-using economies depend, in turn, on the ecosphere.  It is a fact that we cannot have life or health or wealth apart from the health of the natural world—of land, water, and air.  A further and more demanding fact is that land, water, and air cannot be healthful apart from a healthful human economy, beginning with farming, forestry, and mining. . . .”
What do Berry's words inspire in you as you think about economy and the state of our home?  Send us an email! For more excerpts from Berry's collection, click on "Read More" below. . . and be sure to check out Berry's entire book. (Patronize your favorite local, independent bookstore to purchase a copy!)  We also invite you to offer inspirational and thought-provoking essays from other southern writers.

Read More

    Conservation, viewed in its entirety, is the slow and laborious unfolding of a new relationship between people and land.
    --Aldo Leopold
    ​There is in fact no distinction between the fate of the land and the fate of the people.  When one is abused, the other suffers.
    --Wendell Berry

    From the President

    SCP President Chuck Roe looked at land conservation along the route of John Muir's "Southern Trek."​
    ​READ ABOUT IT


    About Viewpoint

    This blog offers views of our Board and partners. We invite  your viewpoint on the following questions:
      --How can we work together to overcome isolation among groups working to protect and conserve land, water, wildlife, biodiversity, urban green spaces, productive farms and forests, and communities?
      --How can we devise means to conserve more natural and rural land resources in corporate ownership (even in "syndicated" partnership ownership)? Can that be done ethically, responsibly, effectively?
      --Is there substantive interest in creating a new regional association of nonprofit groups engaged in land conservation and environmental protection in the southern U.S.--for mutual support and exchange ?
      --Is there a need for a regional approach to promote, assess, recognize, and certify operational standards and practices, and performance excellence for nonprofit environmental resource conservation groups?

        Your thoughts on other topics are welcome as well. Email us to submit a "Viewpoint" essay.

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Southern Conservation Partners
​P.O. Box 33222,  Raleigh N.C. 27636-3222
    Phone: 919-500-6598
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