ABSTRACT
Having done ecology work in Ecuador for six years, Berg steps back in this 2006 essay to reflect on significant differences between countries of the northern temperate zone and less industrially developed places nearer the equator. In Ecuador Berg notes two active economic systems, one based on money, the other on the nonmonetary lending and borrowing of goods and services among kinship and friendship networks. Berg invents the term “lagalou” to describe this nonmonetary society that is able to manage without the industrial-style infrastructures of the North, structures that, while efficient, are impersonal and create isolation. In contrast, societies with lagalou are highly social, and the exchanges that sustain life—picture a bustling marketplace, a crowded public bus, a boisterous family gathering— are pervaded with feeling, “the music that moves bodies in a dance that gets things done.” Berg wonders how the North might relearn lagalou, speculating that the post-peak oil future may accelerate beneficial changes of this sort much faster than we can presently imagine.
