Urban Patchwork Neighborhood Farms

One area the sustainability movement could really enhance its image is in overall approach and attitude.

How many times have you heard doom and gloom preached in the name of the environment, local food or green building? It often sounds like, “If you don’t do what I say, the world will end!”

So what other approaches are there? Two attitudes I’d like to contrast are the creative vs. the competitive mindsets.

A competitive mind believes in lack and limitation. The world isn’t big enough for everyone, and if someone gets a piece of the pie, that’s less for someone else. It’s a zero sum game where if one person wins, someone else has to lose. For sustainability, that means someone is competing for your attention by trying to take you away from something else; by telling you why what you’re doing isn’t good enough.

A creative mind believes in abundance and opportunity. There’s plenty to go around because not everyone wants the exact same thing. If we run out of pie, we enjoy baking another one. No one has to lose because we all win together. For sustainability that means we’re all doing what we can and working toward a better tomorrow each in our own ways. If you want to pick a different way, that’s okay, too. Even if sustainability hasn’t crossed your radar, we still love you. Maybe someday you’ll see our example and want to join in on the fun.

Another way to look at it was written up by marketing expert Perry Marshall. He calls it arbitrage vs alchemy. In arbitrage, you compete by trying to build a little bit better widget. A little tweak here, a little tweak there. Cut your costs and you can undercut your competition. Alchemy is about creating value where there was none before. While arbitrage often gets us better products, in the end it’s the alchemists that make the world a significantly better place.

What does that mean for Urban Patchwork? We’re not competing with local farmers. In fact, it seems to us that more people would eat local food if it were available. We want to create more abundance so more people can enjoy fresh produce and eggs. If there’s a way we can help another farmer, we’re all for it. We’re in this together.