Heartbreak and Hippies

So the heartbreak is coming hot and heavy these days. Crickcrack. When things around me unfold in ways that are deeply challenging I don't start to lash out at others or whine and criticize. Instead I feel the little cracks in my heart getting larger.

This week I dealt with a common problem of small, young and successful businesses - the aggressive approach of someone intending to start a business like mine. With a frontal attack from an entrepreneur - Crickcrack - accompanied by a full explanation as to why they would be more successful at this business than I (of which one of the given reasons was that they would make the place look more welcoming to the elite of the country) I could feel the internal tears building and the fissures expanding. How could it be that this is what someone who wants to operate an organic shop thinks - that it is just a business and the focus of all businesses is profitability? Time to get some Paul Hawken - one of the most successful entrepreneurs worldwide - on the shelves of this country. Even the title of his most recent book - Blessed Unrest - is a breath of fresh air. http://www.blessedunrest.com/video.html. I am not alone.

Our maturation regarding issues of commerce and sustainability is long overdue and its time to stop indulging with our wallets or our respect (including awards like Entrepreneur of the Year) businesses who insist on remaining in infancy around these ideas. We no longer have time for this type of behaviour. Environmental healing and social justice are two of the largest markers of a truly successful business. The ability of a successful business to achieve its financial goals is a given assumption and does not have to become the mantra of any project. I think most of us tested the edible qualities of money as children and found it sorely lacking.

There was a time when all the people involved in organics (which ultimately is within the business of sustainability) were committed to what they were doing despite the lack of governmental support, the marginalisation that they experienced and the financial lack of support of environmentally and ethically sound businesses. But then organics began to get wider consumer support, and soon you saw the eyes of many outside of the field turn to dollar bills. Even in Trinidad the feeding frenzy has begun.... And to think that this is happening at the 11th Hour for us globally, a time when we could excitedly be making the major changes that make our lives, the lives of our communities, and the lives of other life forms and the planet, stand a chance! (Crickcracks become deafening).

I am committed to sustainability - of which organics is one aspect. But in my understanding of sustainability, the end does not justify the means. And developing anything - a business, a relationship - anything, from a position of greed does not give one the slowly unfolding moments that are supportive of sustainability. Hard cold meetings with banks, vendors, clients, and with products which one sees as pure commodities is part of what has gotten us in the mess that we are in now. Inescapable in coming to clarity are many moments spent enjoying the hairy caterpillars, engaging in uncomfortable conversations about race, class and gender, developing respect for pioneers, and ruthlessly participating in a self-examination of whatever cockiness we may still be feeding in our own spirits.

So where entrepreneurs should be congregating right now is not over bottles of imported wine, but in breezy front porches at BYOB functions fleshing out what it will take for ALL of us to survive and for our children to thrive in tomorrow's world. Please join Sun Eaters Organics over the next few months as we intensify the pace of these conversations, but help organize the practical sessions to help us engage with the environment around us. Express your interest. Drop by the shop to leave a note that says - I hear you. Let me know what hidden talents you have and /or how your commitment to sustainability is slowly building and changing your life. Unleash the hippie inside of you.