Who we are

 Advisory Board

Wendell Berry, Fritjof Capra, Diana Rose, Jonathan Rose, Vandana Shiva, Michael Shuman, 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 Local Futures. 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 the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, described as “an inspirational classic”. She has given public lectures in seven languages, and has appeared in broadcast, print, and online media worldwide, including MSNBC, The London Times, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Guardian. She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award (or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for her groundbreaking work in Ladakh, and received the 2012 Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.” See a more complete biography.

John Page, International Programs Director

Trained as a barrister, John Page was instrumental in establishing Local Futures’ partner organizations 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, Managing/Programs Director

Steven Gorelick is the author of Small is Beautiful, Big is Subsidized, co-author of Bringing the Food Economy Home, and co-director of The Economics of Happiness. 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.

Anja Lyngbaek, Associate Programs Director

Anja Lyngbaek is an Associate Programs Director with Local Futures, and coordinator of the International Alliance for Localisation. She currently lives in Mexico on a small-holding with her family. She co-founded Microcuenca del Rio Citlalapa – a local NGO in Veracruz, focused on sustainable community development, and a rural primary school with similar goals. Anja gives talks, holds workshops and teaches on a variety of subject related to food and farming, localization and eco-technologies.

Kristen Steele, Associate Programs Director

Kristen Steele began working for Local Futures in 2000 as Assistant to the Director and has since worked in fundraising, writing and program coordination. She also organized the 2012, 2013 and 2015 Economics of Happiness Conferences. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies and a Master’s degree in Wild Animal Biology from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Royal Veterinary College, University of London. She regularly participates in wildlife-related activities, including rescue and rehabilitation, and has a particular interest in the intersection between economics and conservation.

Marjana Kos, Executive Assistant

Marjana Kos began working for Local Futures in 2006. She holds an Master’s degree in Holistic Science from Schumacher College and focused her studies on the topic of money.  She lives in Slovenia and spends her free time revitalizing a derelict hectare of land with her partner and young son, creating a forest garden and building a low-impact, natural home made of local materials.  She is also active in raising awareness about issues of globalization, new economics, the money system and complementary currencies.  She writes articles, keeps a blog and gives talks and workshops on these topics.

Sean Keller, Media and Outreach Coordinator

Sean Keller first worked with Local Futures as an intern in 2014, helping to coordinate partner outreach for the Voices of Hope in a Time of Crisis Symposium. He received his bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, where he studied Anthropology and Russian Studies with a focus on linguistics and language diversity. In the past, Sean has enjoyed interning for a local Timebank and volunteering on small farms near his family home in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Isabel Marlens, Researcher/Social Media

Isabel Marlens first became involved with Local Futures in 2006, when she traveled to a conference in Ladakh with a crew that filmed some of the interviews for The Economics of Happiness. She studied Ecology and English Literature at Bennington College and has worked doing native plant conservation, forest ecology research, social media and outreach for the film Schooling the World, and on various independent writing projects. She can most often be found rock climbing among the mountains and deserts of the Southwestern US.

Victoria Clarke, US Administrative Coordinator

Victoria Clarke has worked with Local Futures since 2004.  She spent four months in Ladakh 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 worked abroad, she now resides in San Francisco where she grows vegetables on her rooftop and explores possibilities for urban permaculture.

Samantha Salmon, UK Administrative Coordinator

Samantha Salmon completed her degree Culture, Organization and Management at the University of Amsterdam in 2001 and the study Management, Economics and Law at the Institute for Business, Administration and Economics in 1997. She worked for five years as a Commercial Assistant at Royal Ahold N.V. in The Netherlands after which she traveled to Asia where she did voluntary work in a orphanage and primary school in Nepal. Samantha founded the Laxmi Support foundation in 2006 and ever since she’s been going back to Nepal for carrying out charity projects. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Devon, England.

Richard Hendin, Operation Manager (Ladakh)

Richard Hendin was born on a tea plantation in Assam, India. He served a short service commission as a Royal Naval pilot, on completion of which he diverted to university to study philosophy. In 2003 he travelled back to India as part of a journey “wwoofing” his way around the world, joining Local Futures’ Learning from Ladakh programme en route. Since then he returns to Ladakh on behalf of Local Futures, helping to offer other travellers the same transformative experience.

Anja Light, Social Media Coordinator

Anja Light has spent most of her life as an environmental and indigenous rights campaigner, project manager and presenter/workshop leader. She is a co-founder of the Sloth Club of Japan – the leading organisation of the ‘Slow’ movement in that country. Strongly influenced by deep ecology philosophy and through living with tribal peoples and local communities around the world, her work with Local Futures has a strong foundation in direct campaign and life experience.

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.

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.