Local Futures
Local Futures’ 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, Local Futures develops innovative models and tools to catalyze collaboration for strategic change at the community and international level.
World Localization Day is back!
June 20th 2021 marks the return of the international WLD campaign, which aims to galvanize the worldwide localization movement into a force for systemic change. This movement is made up of myriad initiatives and groups on every continent working to rebuild community fabric, reduce ecological impact and increase human wellbeing, by bringing the economy back…
After Paris: Climate Change or System Change?
In the wake of the Paris climate talks, Local Futures has released a 16-page action paper entitled Climate Change or System Change? In this paper we argue that globalization – that is, the deregulation of trade and finance through an ongoing series of “free trade” treaties – is the driving force behind climate change. As…
Mental Health and Globalization: An Alternative Theory on the Mental Health Crisis
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a sick society.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti I have a secret that I usually keep locked up inside of myself, hidden from even those who know me well: I suffer from depression. At times it is a deep, bottomless depression, an intense loneliness, serious end-of-the-world-thoughts…
An Eco-Farm in Myanmar (Burma): Saving the World with Organic Agriculture
The sun has risen over a misty, damp plain where, not long ago, wild elephants roamed. We have walked home through fallow paddy fields after a hot cup of tea at the little teahouse on the road to the monastery. It is the cool season and we can see our breath in the air of…
Big Picture Activism
This piece is excerpted from Localization: Essential Steps to an Economics of Happiness, a new publication from Local Futures. Despite the countless grassroots projects already under way, the global economic juggernaut can seem too powerful to stop. But because more and more of us are becoming aware of how disastrous the global economy is…
Loving Local: Place, Economy and Community
A block of brownstone row houses in West Philadelphia became my place in the world – a place where I aspired to start a business, raise a family, and help build a strong and joyful community. Making a commitment to this place and taking responsibility for its well-being was the first step I took toward…
Stories and Seeds: Excerpts from Seedtime
The third article in our series by the speakers of Voices of Hope in a Time of Crises, a one-day event, which will explore localized solutions to our global problems and launch the International Alliance for Localization. Join the discussion on November 8th at The Cooper Union in New York City. “There is a fabric…
Permaculture and the Myth of Scarcity
This is the second article in our series by the speakers of Voices of Hope in a Time of Crises, a one-day event, which will explore localized solutions to our global problems and launch the International Alliance for Localization. Join the discussion on November 8th at The Cooper Union in New York City. At a…
Ice Cream, Shamans, and Climate Change
In the summer of 1969, I was 18 years old with a job driving an ice cream truck in a small New England town. One July afternoon the weather was hot and humid – ideal for ice cream – but business was dismal, the streets almost deserted. Eventually someone ran out and flagged me down,…
#Occupy Happiness
Occupy Wall Street has captured the imagination of people all over the world with the prospect of a more participatory, people-powered future. We at ISEC are particularly excited that the Occupy Movement is focusing its critique on corporate control. We have been working for many years to scale back the power of corporations by building…