I was recently reading about some Chilean startups that offered eco-friendly solutions for mass retail, but which, in a race of exponential growth, ended up going bankrupt 📉
One proposed a model for bulk refilling cleaning products; another manufactured eyeglasses from recycled materials.
I've never wanted to criticize those projects. I think they're brilliant ideas, real attempts to address our socio-ecological problems on this new, hyper-interconnected planet.
While some make efforts to offer alternatives, others simply ignore them and only evaluate their projects based on numbers, growth and monetary value, without considering externalities or consequences.
But there's something on my mind... 🤔
Perhaps these business "failures" are empirical evidence that the mass market and large-scale operations cannot be approached with ecology and sustainability. Perhaps mass and large-scale operations are, by definition, unecological and unsustainable.
I think: when something proliferates so strongly in nature, sooner or later its ecological burden unbalances the environment, depletes resources, and its existence must be regulated to return to ecosystem equilibrium 🌿
Perhaps, then, the formula is not large and global solutions, but small, localized ones... but in many places at the same time.
Mercado Vecinos is not a company that intends to grow to become international or to invoice in green dollars.
Here we believe that small formats and close interactions are what will make a handful of people a more resilient and sustainable neighborhood.
We believe that if more cities, towns, and localities organize and interconnect to supply themselves, we can have homes whose pantries depend less on ships, trucks, supermarkets, and international exchanges, and more on the climate, water, land, and the health of our own neighbors 🏠
This week we added Mrs. Angela and Mr. Juan's potatoes to the page.
Just like that: no brands, no branding, no marketing, no startup. Neighbors growing potatoes without chemicals, with love and strength. From the field, straight to your home 🥔
Don't miss the opportunity to place your orders for this week! If our homes have a little more local produce, a little more from nearby, then we'll be building a network that eats better, lives better, and depends less on external resources for a good life ✨
