Economies driven by individual needs, not community needs, are ultimately harmful.

Kimmerer argues that in order for a community to flourish, all members need to flourish, not just some individuals. Modern economies encourage individualism through institutions such as private property, with a cultural emphasis on individual accumulation as the path to success. This commodifies the earth’s abundance, limiting equitable access and destroying the earth’s gifts as people attempt to extract the most profit and retain possession of their belongings. It also harms individual relationships, isolating people from one another through purely material exchanges that begin and end with money, forming no community through the process.

Cooperation and generosity are inherent human traits.

Kimmerer uses Genevieve Vaughan’s idea of the maternal gift economy as her primary example of this. From birth, a child is nourished by its mother, who gives her milk and her energy freely without consideration for profit. Kimmerer also mentions the flourishing of gift economies in crisis situations, when gift-giving is encouraged and even celebrated, so that the greatest number of people possible may benefit from community abundance. Kimmerer argues that these natural impulses are suppressed by our current economic system, which encourages individualism over communalism.

Gift economies create wealth that is more than material.

According to Kimmerer, a gift economy functions through a web of reciprocal relationships which ensure that everyone is served. All people do their part and uphold their responsibilities in order that all may thrive. These gift economies not only serve a practical function, spreading abundance and gifts where they are needed most, but also create social ties through reciprocal relationships that satisfy the innate human need for community. In this way, gift economies create a general sense of happiness and well-being that cannot be quantified merely with money.

The earth has given us the gift of abundance, and commodifying it tarnishes that gift.

Kimmerer argues that gifts are treated with more respect than simple commodities, and that treating the earth’s gifts as commodities disrespects them and the earth. For example, buying a knitted hat from a store would give it no value beyond what one paid for it. In contrast, receiving a hand-knitted hat as a gift from one’s aunt inherently ties that hat to a relationship, meaning that the hat will be treated with more value than a purchased hat. In this way, recognizing the earth’s gifts for what they are restores the proper value and care due to them.

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