Consider the words of poet and farmer Wendell Berry: "To those who still uphold the traditions of religious and political thought that influenced the shaping of our society and the founding of our government, it is astonishing, and of course discouraging, to see economics elevated to the position of ultimate justifier and explainer of all the affairs of our daily life, and competition enshrined as the sovereign principle and ideal of economics."
It is frustrating to be stranded in a system that is dependent on unemployment, the change of interest rates and cheap goods that end up in a landfill. Our current system leaves the majority of people in debt their entire life, and we are forced to compete with each other economically for our very existence.
When we compete with each other for jobs and money, it means one person wins and another one loses. That means someone is unemployed, has to find other work or may have to move. This someone is your neighbor, friend or maybe a member of your family. The Native people of this land have questioned the humanity of this system ever since it was forced upon them.
The city of Homer currently is discussing economic issues centered on maintaining the regional economy. Elements of the discussion include retail building size, taxes, growth, jobs and affordable goods. Elements not being discussed are equality, local sovereignty, poor quality goods, the creation of unnecessary solid waste and freedom in relation to time.
We should all try thinking of the retail building size issue in relation to equality among people and quality of goods. Currently the existing large retail buildings in the region are marketing some products that are cheaply made and end up in the landfill within a few months. More importantly, many of the food products sold are unhealthy and most were brought to market by paying migrant workers unlivable wages and using agriculture practices that destroy land fertility and water quality.
What if we as a community had the courage to trace the making of these products back to their source? Could we live with what we will find: mothers and fathers trying to raise a family off an unlivable wage, the polluting of other people's land and water? What if we eliminated these products from the local economy? If we did, we would not need buildings to be 66,000 square feet.
What if we use only products in which all people involved with the product are paid a livable wage and the resources used to produce them are extracted or used without harm to other people's land, flora, fauna, air and water? What if we identified all the unemployed in the region and discussed how to employ them by creating jobs that develop, manufacturer and sell products locally?
The people of the Kachemak Bay region should begin discussing our current economic system. We should decide what resources we have to share and how to use and extract them without causing harm. All the people from Anchor Point, Diamond Ridge, Fritz Creek, Fox River, Halibut Cove, Homer, Kachemak City, Kachemak Selo, Nanwalek, Nikolaevsk, Ninilchik, Port Graham, Razdolna, Seldovia and Voznesenka should meet until we have developed and implemented a local economy that employs everyone and uses services, products and resources that are exchanged and manufactured by people who are paid livable wages and done in such a way as to not cause harm. If anyone can pull this off, it is the people of Kachemak Bay.
How do we afford such a process? We have faith. Faith that we as a people can accept the economy for what it is, just a tool, like a hammer or a chainsaw, not the "ultimate justifier and explainer of all the affairs of our daily life." Faith that we can get by on the exchange of our trust, our love, our knowledge and our skills and without the control of supply and demand economics. I have faith we can do this.
And when we do, I have faith we will begin to live in peace with each other locally and globally.
Joel Cooper has lived in the Homer area since 1992. He served on the large retail store impact task force.
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