connection

community/togetherness/connection

We live in a fragmented society, with huge levels of isolation and the vulnerability that comes with it.

We each find purpose and meaning in different ways, but community sits at the heart of our interactions.

It is the hub, practically and spiritually.

A concept in permaculture talks about sustainable communities, informed by the relationships between the four generations:

  • Elders

  • Adults

  • Teens

  • Children

When you map the activities performed by each generation in a sustainable society, and the interconnected relationships, you see that they are intrinsically linked with each generation providing something unique and important to each other generation. If you remove one generation (stick the elders in a home, or the kids in childcare for instance) and the system breaks down. Needs go unmet.

Our communities, the relationships they contain, and the incredible resource they represent can not be undervalued. So to see them consistently sabotaged by political and economic forces is disheartening.

Waiting for the establishment to correct things hasn’t worked so far. We believe that we have the resources embedded in our local communities to rebuild them, to work from their indomitable hearts outward and provide real connection for everyone, to meet the needs of our families and friends in a more sustainable way.

This is where the lines begin to blur here at We Make Good. All of our initiatives are rooted in human connection, where craft, obsession, talent, and love, intersect.

Be that a community food enterprise, building, teaching, entertaining. It’s about creating space in the day-to-day for connection and kindness. We build that in to all of our projects, looking for opportunities to share what we have learned and provide deeper connections and meaning.

It’s less tangible and more nuanced than our other aims, but it’s as important, and as deliverable as any other adventure we embark on.

Services

(Not so much a service as a state of mind)

  • Exploring your project with regards to your local community. Where it sits, how people relate to it. Identifying opportunities and resources

  • Building on our knowledge to forge strong links and build relationships + resilience

  • A trait lacking in our wider fragmented society. This is about deploying kindness on purpose, mindfully. Creating relationships that reciprocate and build a new common wealth of happiness.

  • Sharing skills and opportunities. Transferring knowledge into the commons to help create sustainable communities.

Circular economy

The Ellen Macarthur Foundation defines the circular economy as follows:

“In our current economy, we take materials from the Earth, make products from them, and eventually throw them away as waste – the process is linear. In a circular economy, by contrast, we stop waste being produced in the first place.

The circular economy is based on three principles, driven by design:

+ Eliminate waste and pollution

+ Circulate products and materials (at their highest value)

+ Regenerate nature

It is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy and materials. A circular economy decouples economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. It is a resilient system that is good for business, people and the environment”

Making Good’s design and materials choices reflect this thinking, and always seek to integrate these principles into our work and relationships.