Earth
"We do not want to sell a foot of our land, that is the opinion of our people. The whites can go and take the land, and come out again. We do not want them to build houses here."
- Ouray - Uncompahgre Ute
A scroll down this short page is barely a drop in the ocean of the history of and responsibility we have for the land we are on. Here you will find some notes on why we work to center this earth in our work along with some linked resources. Please also see the News & Info tab for blog posts offering more resources and information regarding the earth in real estate writ large and at weave & seed in particular.
context
Well, we know we’ve messed it up already (“we” being all of humanity & where we are right now). This planet is all we have, and our industrial revolution in concert with our insatiable consumption habits is severely harming it. We are currently seeing:
Record heat, wildfires, & drought. Record floods. Rapid climate change. Species extinction. Monocropping and nutrient-depleted soils. Contaminated water.
All of that while not even creating a world that supports our human existence. Despite all of that misuse and abuse of this land and its abundance, we are living in a fraught time, and we’ve got an inkling here that there might be correlations between how we treat our planet and its plants, animals, and organisms and how we treat one another.
Food deserts/food apartheid. Houselessness. Lack of access to healthcare. Systemic oppression of many varieties.
We’ve established an entrenched system of commodifying the earth and buying and selling it by the square foot of its surface area, despite much resistance from the indigenous folx who stewarded this land before some of our ancestors colonized it. We see this paradigm, one of use and abuse, in so many of our norms and we are witnessing some of its worst ramifications. Our charge now is to recenter those indigenous values and wisdom which were ignored, to tap directly into both our innate and learned knowledge about how to work together with the earth and our fellow earthlings, and to take action to steward these stolen and disconnected lands to the best of our abilities.
practices
Stewardship Guide: Available to our clients purchasing property is our Stewardship Guide, a resource that is designed to inform and support folx moving into neighborhoods that are new to them, stewarding land that is new to them, and taking care of a home that is new to them. Our homes and everything that comes with them — yards and gardens (or balconies and windowsill container gardens), heating and cooling systems, water consumption, neighborhood associations, neighborhood histories, local service providers — are such massive centers to our impacts and ways of life. If you have not recently been a client of ours but would like a stewardship guide for you and the property you are stewarding, don’t hesitate to reach out. Note that the Guide is in a constant state of reformation and updating as we learn new language, tools, and information that help us better serve the community and the earth.
Continuing Education: If there’s one thing that came out of the heightened direct action of the activism in the Portland area in 2020 for us, it’s to always remain open to learning new information and to normalize changing one’s behaviors and beliefs when presented with new information (non-shaming, non-hierarchy, non-linear perspectives). Many of our daily habits have huge impacts on the earth and, early in one’s earthly and environmental “awakening,” for lack of a better term, it can be easy to become dogmatic and judgmental about others’ behaviors and even one’s own. There is so much to be done, so many practices and habits (and arguably more importantly, systems rather than only individual choices) that need radical transformation. We know we can only do our best and constantly seek out new information, new spaces and places for shift, and be collaborative with one another. This is a part of our philosophy, our practices in the office, and our continuing education.
dollars & cents
Currently 4% of all earned commission checks are immediately re-allocated to the equity & earth needs of our communities. Given heightened needs of certain groups at certain times, some months may weight the distribution of funds accordingly. In general, donations are made as follows:
1% of all earned commission checks are re-allocated to one or all of the tribes on record as having been the original stewards of the land that was sold or to Native American Youth and Family Services (NAYA)
1% of all earned commission checks are re-allocated to Taking Ownership PDX
1% of all earned commission checks are re-allocated to 1000 Friends of Oregon
1% of all earned commission checks are re-allocated to Black Food Sovereignty Coalition
Additionally, we have an opportunity in our small business materials purchasing to put our money where our mouths are and keep our dollar vote in line with our values. We don’t do much purchasing, but here is some insight into what we do purchase:
All marketing printing is done in-house or by local print shops — no national printing companies — and on PCW (post-consumer waste) recycled paper and with soy-based inks as often as the projects allow
All business cards are on compostable and plantable seed paper (our last run was seeded with wildflower seed)
Our listing signs are made only with wood (no plastic or vinyl) and a wood-burn marking method and a zero-VOC finish — no decals or paints
Our office stationery is entirely PCW recycled paper