In this week’s episode Helena Norberg-Hodge speaks with Joanna about: localizing, a systemic path to Nature and community; the learning dance of the ancient local and the new local; the structural shift needed to create a happier, healthier way of life; localization can do away with ideological, political divides; local food economies produce much more than monoculture; localizing allows people to engage in a meaningful and joyful way; remarkable, rapid restoration of life can happen; listening to our hunger for reconnection to Nature and community; the artificial sense of competition and scarcity imposed on us; the rich sense of personal identity and ability to share and care in traditional societies; moving in a personal and ecological direction with intimacy and vulnerability; practicing big picture activism, locally.

Author and filmmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge is a pioneer of the local economy movement. Through writing and public lectures on three continents, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than 30 years. She is a widely respected analyst of the impact of the global economy and international development on local communities, local economies, and personal identity, and is a leading proponent of ‘localization’, or decentralization, as a means of countering those impacts. Helena is the founder and director of Local Futures and the International Alliance for Localization (IAL). Based in the US and UK, with subsidiaries in Germany and Australia, Local Futures examines the root causes of our current social and environmental crises while promoting more sustainable and equitable patterns of living in both North and South. Her most recent book, “Local is Our Future: Steps to an Economics of Happiness”, outlines how a systemic economic shift from global to local can address the world’s social, economic, ecological and spiritual crises. It has been described by author David Korten as “a must-read book for our time”.

“I Can’t Sit Still”, original music by Evarusnik

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