About Us

Our Mission

ISEC’s mission is to protect and renew ecological and social well being by promoting a systemic shift away from economic globalization towards localization. Through its ‘education for action’ programs, ISEC develops innovative models and tools to catalyze collaboration for strategic change at the community and international level.

Our History

ISEC’s work began as The Ladakh Project more than thirty years ago in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. The organization initially focused on supporting Ladakh’s indigenous culture by bringing information to balance the idealized images of the consumer culture flooding into the region through tourism and development. In 1986, ISEC’s director Helena Norberg-Hodge won the Right Livelihood Award for groundbreaking sustainability work in the region.

Over the years, the organisation’s focus has expanded to address more global concerns and in 1991 changed its name to the International Society for Ecology and Culture to reflect that shift. We have made advocating for localization the main priority of our work. ISEC is almost unique in promoting localization from an international perspective – showing the benefits for the Third World as well as for the First World, and promoting the local, globally.

ISEC: A Brief History: An outline of ISEC’s activities and achievements from 1975 to 2005.

Advisory Board

Wendell Berry, Frijof Capra, Peter Matthiessen, Diana Rose, Jonathan Rose, Vandana Shiva, David Suzuki, Alice Waters

Who We Are

Helena Norberg-Hodge, Founder and Director

Author and filmmaker Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of ISEC. A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than thirty years. She is a widely respected analyst of the impact of the global economy on identity, community and local economies, and is a leading proponent of ‘localization’, or decentralization, as a means of countering those impacts.

Since 1975, she has worked with the people of Ladakh, or “Little Tibet”, to find ways of enabling their culture to meet the modern world without sacrificing social and ecological values. Trained as a linguist, she was the first Westerner in recent times to master the Ladakhi language, and co-produced the first Ladakhi-English dictionary. Her book, Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh has been described as “an inspirational classic”, and sold almost half a million copies. Helena has given public lectures in seven languages and appeared on broadcast, print and online media worldwide, including MSNBC, The London Times, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. Her work has been the subject of more than 300 articles worldwide. She is on the International Commission on the Future of Food and Agriculture, and is a co-founder of both the International Forum on Globalization and the Global Eco-village Network.

For a fuller bio, click here

John Page, Programs Director

John Page is ISEC’s Programs Director. Trained as a barrister, he was instrumental in establishing ISEC's partner organisations in Ladakh. In addition, he produced and directed the award-winning film Ancient Futures, as well as the short documentaries The Future of Progress and Local Futures. He is co-author of From the Ground Up: Rethinking Industrial Agriculture. His series of photographs depicting the spread of the global monoculture have been used by NGOs around the world.

Steven Gorelick, US Programs Director

Steven Gorelick is ISEC’s Chief Financial Officer and US Program Director. An adjunct professor at Sterling College, he is the author of Small is Beautiful, Big is Subsidized and co-author of Bringing the Food Economy Home. His writings have been published in The Ecologist and Resurgence magazines. He frequently teaches and speaks on local economics around the US. He also runs a small-scale organic farm with his wife and two children in Vermont.

Tracy Worcester, Associate Director

Tracy, the Marchioness of Worcester, is a well-known environmental campaigner and film-maker in the UK. She is former patron of the Soil Association, former trustee of Friends of the Earth and trustee of the Gaia Foundation. She is founder of the Price of Progress Productions and her most recent film is Pig Business.

Zac Goldsmith, Associate Director

Zac was editor of The Ecologist magazine from 1997 until 2007 and launched campaigns on climate change, GM food and pesticides, among other issues. In 2003, he received the Beacon Prize for Philanthropy and in 2004 received Mikhail Gorbachev’s Global Green Award for 'International Environmental Leadership'. Zac was invited to oversee the Conservative Party’s Quality of Life Policy Group in 2005, which helped develop the Party’s policies on issues ranging from transport, housing and energy to food, farming and the countryside. In the 2010 UK elections, he was elected Member of Parliament for Richmond Park and North Kingston in London.

Kristen Steele, US Programs Coordinator

Kristen holds a BA in Environmental Studies and a Master's degree in Wild Animal Biology from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).  She began working for ISEC in 2000 as Personal Assistant to the Director and has since worked on fundraising, program coordination and writing. In addition to coordinating ISEC's activities in the US, she edits the organisation's Newsletter and Annual Reports.

Marjana Kos, Personal Assistant to the Director

Marjana began working for ISEC in 2006. She holds an MSc in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and focused her studies on the topic of money.  She lives in Slovenia and in addition to her job as PA, works as a freelance translator.  She is also active in raising awareness about issues of globalisation, new economics, the money system and complementary currencies.  She writes articles, keeps a blog and gives talks and workshops on these topics.

Victoria Clarke, Administrative Coordinator

Victoria manages ISEC's Berkeley, California office and coordinates participants in the Learning From Ladakh program.  She spent four months in Ladakh in 1998 as part of her MA from the School for International Training. Upon completion of her degree, Victoria worked on the United Nations' 10-year review of the Earth Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Having lived and traveled abroad, she now resides in San Francisco where she grows vegetables on her rooftop and explores possibilities for urban permaculture.

We are a 501(c)3 organization incorporated in California.  We adhere to Bylaws adopted in 1991, including oversight by a Board of Directors. Our funding comes largely from individual donors and foundations, as well as from the sale of publications and videos, and lecture and writing fees.