Author archive: John Page

John Page is Programs Director of Local Futures. He was the producer of the award-winning documentary, Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, and co-director of The Economics of Happiness. His series of photographs depicting the spread of the global monoculture has been used by NGOs around the world.

Building a Village: Lessons in Urban Living from South Korea

“This is a very special house. It’s called the House of Happiness through Communication. People live here like a big family.” Our guide was 12 year-old Seon Jae, and we were standing in front of an unremarkable-looking 3-story brick building in Mapo-gu, a district of the high-rise metropolis of Seoul, South Korea. We were there to learn about Sungmisan, an “urban village” that is forging an alternative model of twenty-first century living. Seon Jae is a student at the Sungmisan School, and was … [Read more...]

Rambo, Barbie and Wordsworth

By John Page The scene is a classroom in Leh, Ladakh, twelve thousand feet up in the western Himalayas. A young teacher stands in front of her class of 12 year-olds. "I appreciate the poetry of ...", she starts, inviting her students to complete the sentence. Milarepa? Nagarjuna? Tagore, perhaps? But no. "Wordsworth", they dutifully respond. This scene from the documentary film Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh would be funny if it weren't so sad. But sad it undoubtedly is … [Read more...]

Globalisation Explained

Globalisation Explained By John Page "Globalisation is really a code name for corporatisation. It's an attempt by the largest corporations in the world, and the largest banks in the world, to re-engineer the world in such a way that they won't have to pay decent wages to their employees, and they won't have to pay taxes to fix potholes and to maintain parks, and to pay pensions to the old and handicapped." — Paul Hellyer, former Deputy Prime Minister of Canada The global marketplace … [Read more...]