A couple of years ago, I started reading Wendell Berry’s Port William novels and some of his essay collections. His thoughts and values have made a tremendous impact on me, which I’ll try to explain briefly.
His book The Unsettling of America (1977) makes an argument for what people today might call de-growth or at least systems thinking aiming for sustainability.
He asks us to question the assumptions of our modern capitalistic society. “What are people for?”
Berry points to the self-sufficient communities that used to exist across rural America as holding the answer. His work shows us the beauty and meaningfulness of such communities, where people were committed to one another and the land. When you bring in a lot of expensive equipment and get into debt, then turn away from the land to seek money, you lose a lot. In his fictional community of Port William, Kentucky, we see what we’ve lost and what we might recover if we wake up and change our values. I read somewhere that if you enjoy a local farmers’ market, you probably partly have Wendell Berry to thank.
I remember watching an interview he did on YouTube one night and just breaking down sobbing. I think it was this interview and I can’t remember what particularly moved me: https://youtu.be/e4qoIGUd0IA?si=JdAY6fImC9JDHEbV&t=1475 Admittedly, I might have been a little drunk at the time.
I hadn’t thought about what we had lost with our current prosperity until I finished his books. It’s led me to be very intentional about forming relationships with my neighbors and supporting local businesses. I will probably never be self-sufficient in terms of food (it’s too much work!), but just having the skills is enough and important. I want to re-purpose and fix quality things. I want to reduce my spending so that we have more options for how we live. I want to take care of the ecosystem on our property and advocate for the land that I inhabit with my community. All these are things that I might have done before anyway, but that I’ve come to see as part of a coherent vision thanks to Wendell Berry’s work.
The man is still alive, but he’s 91 this year. What a treasure for our nation. If you’re interested in an alternative vision for society, check him out!
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