Author archive: Alex Jensen

Alex Jensen is a Researcher and Project Coordinator at Local Futures. He has worked in the US and India, where he co-ordinates Local Futures' Ladakh Project. He represents Local Futures on the core group of the Vikalp Sangam/Alternatives India initiative. He has worked with cultural affirmation and agro-biodiversity projects in campesino communities in a number of countries, and is active in environmental health/anti-toxics work.

Tosepan: Resistance and Renewal in Mexico

Since the mid-1980s, Mexico has been a poster child for globalization. Through free trade treaties and structural adjustment policies imposed by international financial institutions, the country has been “liberalized” – opened up to unfettered corporate investment and imports – to an extent matched by few other countries. Though the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is the most well-known trade treaty to affect Mexico, it is but the first and largest of numerous multilateral and … [Read more...]

Globalization’s Deadly Footprint

That pollution is bad for our health will come as a surprise to no one. That pollution kills at least 9 million people every year might. This is 16 percent of all deaths worldwide – 3 times more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined, and 15 times more than all wars and other forms of violence. Air pollution alone is responsible for 6.5 million of these 9 million deaths. Nearly 92 percent of pollution-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. All this is according to the … [Read more...]

Globalization’s Blowback

A recent study of air pollution in the western United States made a startling finding: despite a 50 percent drop over the past 25 years in US emissions of smog-producing chemicals like nitrogen oxides (NOx), smog actually increased during that period in the rural US West – even in such ‘pristine’ environments as Yellowstone National Park. Most of this increase was traced to “the influx of pollution from Asian countries, including China, North and South Korea, Japan, India, and other South Asian … [Read more...]

Trump’s Populist Deceit

While misogyny, racism, and ethnic taunts were conspicuous signposts on Donald Trump’s path to the White House, much of that road was paved with “populist”, “anti-establishment” and “anti-globalization” rhetoric. Trump’s inaugural address featured numerous populist lines (e.g. “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people”), attacks on the status quo (“The establishment protected itself, not the citizens of our country”), … [Read more...]

The Great Deceleration

In 2015, a major study of 24 indicators of human activity and environmental decline titled ‘The Great Acceleration’ concluded that, “The last 60 years have without doubt seen the most profound transformation of the human relationship with the natural world in the history of humankind”.[1] We have all seen aspects of these trends, but to look at the study’s 24 graphs together is to apprehend, at a glance, the totality of the monstrous scale and speed of modern economic activity. According to lead … [Read more...]

A Tribute to Eduardo Galeano

“Plastic delights, plastic dreams. In the paradise promised to all and reserved for a few, things are more and more important and people less and less so. The ends have been kidnapped by the means: things buy you, cars drive you, computers program you, television watches you.” — Eduardo Galeano, from Upside Down: A Primer for the Looking-Glass World Local Futures wishes to pay tribute to the Uruguayan writer, Eduardo Galeano, who passed away on April 13th. In a style that was at the same … [Read more...]

From Global to Local in India

"The Future is Fast. We are Faster." This ubiquitous billboard for a tech company neatly captures the zeitgeist in modern-day Bangalore, and rapidly-urbanizing India generally. Today, Bangalore’s erstwhile appellation as India‘s ‘garden city’ seems sadly anachronistic. To arrive at the Visthar Academy of Justice and Peace Studies on the outskirts of Bangalore – where we would be lodging for the next three days for the 3rd Economics of Happiness Conference – requires a painstakingly slow creep … [Read more...]

Planet Local: Bhaskar Save, the Gandhi of Natural Farming

We are pleased to introduce our new Planet Local series, showcasing localization initiatives around the world. This blog is the first of three by authors from India to celebrate the occasion of our upcoming Economics of Happiness conference in Bangalore, March 15. Excerpted by Alex Jensen On the 27th January, 2014, Bhaskar Save, aka Save-guruji – the acclaimed “Gandhi of Natural Farming” – turned 92 years old. He has inspired and mentored three generations of organic farmers. Masanobu … [Read more...]

Davos: peeling back the veneer

Scrolling through the website of the World Economic Forum – convening this week in Davos, Switzerland – one might confuse the premier platform for global capital with a savvy and hip think tank, or perhaps a philanthropic aid and development charity. The content is carefully curated to sedate and comfort. The right buzzwords are there: “impact investing”, “embracing democracy”, “our oceans”, and “sustainability.” In the Issues section, one finds Environmental Sustainability, Health for All, and … [Read more...]

Leaving Leaves

A motorized whine emerges from somewhere in the distance. Soon another whine, slightly different in pitch, joins the first, then another, and another, straining towards a ghastly cacophony. In a few moments, the acrid-smell of two-stroke exhaust wafts over the neighborhood, settling down on garden beds, on heads, in lungs. It is a leaf-blower quartet, hounding leaves. Wherever in the US there are deciduous trees, this scene is repeated countless times every autumn. For landscaping companies, … [Read more...]