Author archive: Helena Norberg-Hodge

Unlike a Globalized Food System, Local Food Won’t Destroy the Environment

To Leave or Remain: Dichotomy or Distraction?

Localization: a strategic alternative to globalized authoritarianism

Book Review: From Global to Local – the Making of Things and the End of Globalization

Trump Trauma

Trump: the illusion of change

Why Global Capital Fears ‘Brexit’

Globalization and the American Dream

Globalization and Terror

Connecting over Soil

Helena Norberg-Hodge is founder and director of Local Futures/ISEC. A pioneer of the “new economy” movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for nearly 40 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. She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award 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.”

If you’re seeking some good news during these troubled times, look at the ecologically sound ways of producing food that have percolated up from the grassroots in recent years. Small farmers, environmentalists, academic researchers and food and farming activists have given us agroecology, holistic resource management, permaculture, regenerative agriculture and other methods that can alleviate or perhaps even eliminate the global food system’s worst impacts: biodiversity loss, energy depletion, … [Read more...]

Ever since the Brexit referendum was first announced, we have been bombarded by an array of starkly contradictory pronouncements – from the Leave camp’s now infamous claim that withdrawal from the EU would release £350 million a week for the NHS to the former Chancellor George Osborne’s assertion that Brexit would leave the UK “permanently poorer”. At first glance, the two sides seem to have almost nothing in common; these are polar opposites. Dig beneath the surface, however, and a fundamental … [Read more...]

For those who care about peace, equality and the future of the planet, the global political swing to the right over the past few years is deeply worrying. It has us asking ourselves, how did this happen? How did populism turn into such a divisive and destructive force? How did authoritarianism take over the political scene once again?From my 40 years of experience working in both industrialized and land-based cultures, I believe the primary reason is globalization. When I say globalization, … [Read more...]

You should never judge a book by its cover. Nor, I now know, by its title. From Global to Local: the Making of Things and the End of Globalization seemed to say it all. Here at last was a significant figure – an academic from Cambridge University, no less – talking the language of economic localization. I thumbed through the table of contents with real anticipation, even excitement. Perhaps I had found a new soulmate: someone who not only understood the perils inherent in globalization, but who … [Read more...]

While we mourn the tragedy that fear, prejudice and ignorance “trumped” in the US Presidential election, now is the time to go deeper and broader with our work. There is a growing recognition that the scary situation we find ourselves in today has deep roots.To better understand what happened—and why—we need to broaden our horizons. If we zoom out a bit, it becomes clear that Trump is not an isolated phenomenon; the forces that elected him are largely borne of rising economic insecurity and … [Read more...]

“Only by restoring the broken connections can we be healed.” — Wendell Berry Donald Trump’s candidacy – with its simplistic policy positions and its undercurrent of racism and sexism – left most of us believing he couldn’t possibly win. Now his victory is a visceral shock from which many have still not recovered.To better understand what happened – and why – we need to broaden our horizons. If we zoom out a bit, it becomes clear that Trump is not an isolated phenomenon; the forces that put … [Read more...]

A referendum in Britain will soon be held on the ‘Brexit’ question. While the leadership of the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ camps portray their positions as fundamentally different, neither side is challenging the stranglehold of corporations that run the global economy. Their econometric, growth-based arguments focus primarily on which alternative will enable Britain to cut a better deal within a corporate-controlled global market. If we are to have any hope of avoiding further climate chaos, fear, … [Read more...]

“... America is a new kind of society that produces a new kind of human being. That human being – confident, self-reliant, tolerant, generous, future-oriented – is a vast improvement over the wretched, servile, fatalistic and intolerant human being that traditional societies have always produced.” — Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About America Editor's note, October 31, 2018: This post has been updated to reflect the most recent statistics on child and adolescent mental health issues; school … [Read more...]

For people in the modern world, there may be nothing more difficult to comprehend than the group calling itself the Islamic State, or ISIS. The beheadings, rapes, and other acts of cruelty seem beyond understanding, as does the wanton destruction of priceless ancient monuments. Perhaps most mystifying of all is the way ISIS has been able to recruit young men — and even some young women — from the industralized West, particularly Europe: the conventional wisdom is that the cure for ethnic and … [Read more...]

« February 2019 »

It’s no secret that there’s a divide between the global North and South. Most people know about the huge wealth gap between the industrialized and so-called "developing" worlds, and that rates of pollution, resource use, greenhouse gas emissions – and much more – vary widely between them. But there’s another gap, one that’s rarely discussed in the media, or even by NGOs. It involves changing attitudes to farming, to the land and the soil – something worth considering in this UN-designated … [Read more...]